Weekend Review: Jackson Kent Earns First Career Win in Victory over the Marlins

Weekend Review:

Jackson Kent Earns First Career Win in Victory over the Marlins

Friday, August 28th

Washington’s Jackson Kent picked up his first career victory tonight while pitching the Nationals to a 9 to 2 victory over the visiting Miami Marlins.

The Marlins, however, did score first in the top of the 2nd. Javier Sanoja led off with a double to right field. Xavier Edwards followed with a single to right, scoring Sanoja. 1-0 Miami.

The Nationals came back in the bottom of the 3rd. Andres Chaparro, Jacob Young, and CJ Abrams all drew walks, loading the bases. With two outs, Chaparro and Young both scored on a wild pitch. Then Daylen Lile walked. Brady House followed with a 445 ft. three-run home run, his 10th, to left field. 5-1 Washington.

Washington added a few runs in the bottom of the 7th. Harry Ford led off the inning with his 3rd home run to center field. Andres Chaparro walked and then, with two outs, went to 3rd off a single by Abimelec Ortiz. Dylan Crews followed with a double to left, scoring Chaparro and Ortiz. Daylen Lile continued the inning with a triple to center, scoring Crews. 9-1 Nats.

Miami got a run in the top of the 8th courtesy of Heriberto Hernandez, who led off the inning with his 21st home run. 9-2 Washington.

And that’s the way the ball game ended…Washington Nationals 9 – Miami Marlins 2. The Nats scored their 9 runs on only 7 hits. Those walks get you every time…

Eury Perez started the game for the Marlins. Perez had some control problems during his three innings of work, as the Nats scored 5 runs on only 2 hits. Perez gave up 4 walks and struck out 5.

Tyler Zuber pitched an inning of scoreless relief and then gave way to Patrick Monteverde. Monteverde was touched up for 4 runs on 5 hits in 4 innings of work.

Jackson Kent pitched a great game for the Nationals. Kent threw 7 innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits. He was followed by Max Kranick who gave up a run on 2 hits over the last 2 innings.

That’s a great way to pick up your first career victory. He was called up to the Nationals on August 12th from the Rochester Red Wings. Kent actually started the year with the Double-A Harrisburg Senators. He was bumped up to the Triple-A Red Wings on May 21st and then the Nationals in earlier this month. Good job, Jackson!

CJ Abrams started at shortstop tonight and looked good in the field.

The win leaves Washington with a 64-73 record. Miami fell four games behind San Diego in their fight for the final wild card spot.

Game Two tomorrow at 4:05 ET.

Washington Wins in Extra Innings Courtesy of Dylan Crews

Saturday, August 29th

The Washington Nationals got a big two-out single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat the visiting Miami Marlins 5 to 4. They are up 2-0 in the four-game series against Miami and have now won three straight games overall.

The Nationals scored first in the bottom of the 3rd. Abimelec Ortiz led off the inning with a single but was forced out at second base by Jose Tena. Daylen Lile then walked. Dylan Crews beat out an infield single. Both Tena and Lile scored on Joe Mack’s throwing error. Brady House later singled to center, scoring Crews. Jorbit Vivas followed with a double to left, scoring House. 4-0 Washington.

The scored stayed that way until the top of the 7th. That’s when the Marlins got busy. With two outs, Leo Jimenez singled to right field. Agustin Ramirez drew a base on balls. Kyle Stowers then doubled to right field, scoring Jimenez and Ramirez. Heriberto Hernandez followed with a two-run homer to center field. It’s tied 4-4.

The game then needed to go into extra innings in order to decide the winner.

Now we come to the bottom of the 10th. Remember, in extra innings a runner is placed on 2nd base before that inning begins. So, with Nazim Nunez standing on 2nd base, CJ Abrams struck out and Abimelec Ortiz popped out to the infield. Then Jose Tena worked a base on balls. Daylen Lile also walked, loading the bases. Dylan Crews then became the instant hero of the game with his single to center field, scoring Nunez.

Three in a row for our Nationals. Keep it going, guys!

We had a little scare today as far as our ace pitcher is concerned. Cade Cavalli started strong, going 4 innings without allowing a run or a hit while striking out 8 Marlins. With two outs in the 4th, Cavalli was struck on the leg by a ground ball off the bat of Javier Sanoja. Cavalli was able to throw out Sanoja, but left the game with right calf discomfort. Let’s hope he makes a quick recovery.

Orlando Ribalta picked up his first career major league victory by pitching a scoreless top of the 10th inning. Congrats, Orlando!

That’s two games in a row where a Washington Nationals’ pitcher picked up his first win. I’ll take that as a good sign.

Game 3 of the 4-game series starts tomorrow at 12:15ET.

Marlins Sink Nationals with 9th Inning Comeback 6-2

Sunday, August 30th

Yes, it’s true…the worst way to lose a baseball game. Going into the top of the 9th at home with a shutout going, and a two-run lead, just to watch it all evaporate before your eyes. And that’s what happened to our team this afternoon, as the Miami Marlins staged a heartbreaking six-run rally in the top of the 9th to defeat and deflate the home town Washington Nationals.

The game started as a pitcher’s duel and went into the bottom of the 5th before the Nationals scored. With two outs Jacob Young singled to center field. Nasim Nunez followed with a double to right field, scoring Young. 1-0 Nats.

Washington scored what they thought would be an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th. Brady House walked and went to 3rd on a single courtesy of Andres Chaparro. House then came home on a sac fly off the bat of Daylen Lile. 2-0 Nationals.

And then came the top of the 9th. The Marlins’ last chance. And did they take advantage of it…

Esteury Ruiz led off with an infield single. Griffin Conine drew a base on balls. With one out, Leo Jimenez walked, loading the bases. Jakob Marsee then took one for the team, scoring Ruiz from 3rd. Joe Mack hit a sac fly to deep left field scoring Conine. Jimenez also scored on a throwing error by Andrew Pinckney. Heriberto Hernandez walked. The Marlins then executed a double-steal to perfection as Hernandez stole 2nd and Marsee raced to the plate. Otto Lopez then smacked a two-run home run to left field, his 10th, scoring Hernandez. 6-2 Miami.

All the shellshocked Nats could muster in the bottom of the 9th was a single, a double-play ground out, and a strike out. Game over…

In an interesting development, CJ Abrams started at second base today with Nasim Nunez playing shortstop.

Janson Junk started the game for the Marlins, giving up a run on 4 hits while pitching 4 2/3 innings. Dax Fulton ended up with his first career win in relief. That’s three games in a row with a pitcher picking up his first ever win in the majors. Only this time it was with the wrong team. But congrats, anyway, Dax.

Andrew Alvarez had a great start for the Nationals, throwing six shut-out innings with only 2 hits and 6 strike outs. Clayton Beeter followed with 2 innings of no-hit relief. Then it all came to a tragic end. Max Kranick ended up with the loss for Washington, giving up 3 runs on only 1 hit and walking 2, while recording only 1 out.

The fourth and last game of the series starts tomorrow at 6:45 ET.

Dave’s Dime… “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”

The above quote has been credited to that great American author, Mark Twain. Research has showed that he never said that, but it doesn’t really matter. I read somewhere how many adages attributed to Twain were just done so because he was known to be a witty guy, and we have no clue who actually came up with that bit of wit, so why not say he did? He’s not around anymore, so we can’t get a definitive answer anyway.

So now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me get to the subject at hand…Golf.

The PGA Tournament Championship is going on this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, on the East Lake Golf Club. These lucky guys who get to play golf for a living, and what a living it sometimes is, get points for how they finished in various tournaments throughout the year. Then, in August of each year that group of pros is cut down to the top 70 in points, who then get to participate in the first of three tournaments that produce the overall Tour Champion.

After the first tournament on August 13-16, those 70 golfers were cut down to the top 50 finishers at the end of the four-day event. Then, the field was cut down to the top 30 after last week’s event. Those top 30 are playing this weekend for the grand prize. And what a prize it is…the winner of just this one tournament takes home a purse of $10 million dollars. The player who finishes 30th gets a paltry $355,000.

Of course, other bonuses are paid out during the three events, so even if a golfer doesn’t win the whole thing, believe me, he is very well-compensated.

Pro golfers receive income from other sources besides just their individual tournament earnings. Scottie Scheffler, one of the top players on the tour today, has earned over $53 million this year from various sources.

His official winnings from tournaments so far this year is $20,937,525, putting him at the top of the PGA tour money list.

Scottie also received a $10 million bonus from the Comcast Business Tour for finishing the regular season in first place before the playoffs began three weeks ago.

He also received an additional $23 million for leading in the points race heading into the playoffs.

And this total is not counting endorsements and appearances and other such money-making opportunities. All for hitting a little white ball…

Your baseball fan might know that there are actually some similarities between striking a golf ball and hitting a baseball.

The two swings are similar in that they come from the same power source; turning your hips and shifting your weight from the ground up. But the main difference is that a baseball swing is level and horizontal, while a golf swing is aimed down toward the ground.

Now, of course, the golf ball is a stationary target until struck by the golf club. The baseball is coming at a batter at different speeds and angles and the batter has to make a split-second decision as to swinging at the ball or letting it go by.

Interestingly, the average speed that a home run leaves a bat is between 103 and 107 miles per hour. Elite MLB sluggers can get that speed up to 120 mph. Compare that to a drive hit by a pro golfer. The clubhead speed at impact is between 113 and 115 mph. Interesting.

I’ve been an avid golfer for decades. I started playing back in junior high and was on the golf team in high school. I always told myself that the only thing I wanted to make sure I could do when I retired was live in an area of the country where I could play golf every day. How I ended up in Montana is a story I save for my psychiatrist.

When I did finally retire a few years ago, I did become a member of a very nice golf club in Missoula, Montana, near my home. I took lessons for the first time in my life and watched tons of golf videos on YouTube. I’ve never played worse in my life.

I do remember one of the videos suggested swinging your golf club the way you would a baseball bat. So, I’d stand up straight and swing my driver like I would a Louisville Slugger and then just drop the club behind my golf ball on its little wooden tee and use that same swing. It didn’t help a bit.

After Covid hit, and everyone started relocating to Montana because they could work remotely, my favorite golf course turned into a country club and priced me out of my membership.

These past couple of summers I’ve only played a few times; my dreams of growing old on those green fairways and riding around in my own personalized golf cart lost in the mists of time.

Oh, Scottie Schefler did end up winning the PGA Tournament Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. A fitting ending to the best golfer going these days. Congrats, Scottie. I’ll just continue playing vicariously through you every time you tee it up, my man.

Dave Carter