The Washington Nationals had lost eight straight games against the Miami Marlins, and the matchup tonight had the Nats as deep Vegas underdogs. There’s a reason they play the game.

The Nats knocked out Eury Perez after just 3.0 innings and five earned runs. His ERA shot up to 3.44. And the pitching star of the game was LHP Jackson Kent who entered the game with three MLB starts and a 8.03 ERA. He exited with a 5.59 ERA after he went 7.0 full innings of 1-run baseball. Kent faced these same Marlins five days ago, and today he dominated with deception as he made noticeable adjustments.

How the Nats scored the five runs off of Perez was odd as he only gave up two hits but also gave up four walks. Five of his six base runners scored. Two came via one wild pitch, and the other came on a 3-run bomb by Brady House that was initially measured at 474 feet and later revised to 445 feet. The ball literally bounced and rolled out on the concourse in center field past the opening to the ‘Red Porch’ seats. Time to remeasure. ❝It’s the furthest I’ve ever probably hit a [home run],❞ House said after the game.

The score was 5-1 in favor of the Nationals leading into the top of the 7ᵗʰ inning. Were you shocked when Kent came out for another innings with a pitch count nearing 90 pitches? He had not pitched more than 4⅔ innings for this Nationals team in his 3-game MLB tenure. Every new inning adds generally 7-pitches to warm-up. Every pitch counts at that point.

The last time Kent had gone 7.0 innings was way back on May 12ᵗʰ in Double-A as he had a final pitch count of 81 to finish that game. Today he was facing MLB hitters and throwing high octane pitches. He seemingly emptied the tank in the 6ᵗʰ inning. Was this another case of the Nats shoving for more when they didn’t need to?

In the end, those 7.0 innings and 106 pitches thrown by Kent are a high for him as a pro. As they say, “you can win the battle and lose the war” if Kent falters in his next start or can’t make his next start. So this is a wait and see. This was a choice for manager Blake Butera who had already warmed up Tom Cosgrove and Clayton Beeter while neither ended up coming into the game. Relievers hate that and unaffectionately refer to that as ‘dry humping.’ And Max Kranick pitched the final two frames of the game allowing the other relievers to rest.

Every Nats player contributed offensively whether it was taking a walk or getting a hit. Harry Ford hit a home run that can hopefully lead him out of his long hitting slump. The Nats would add four more runs to add-on to their 5-1 lead to make it a final score of 9-2.

If you read my writings, I have been almost begging for the coaches to get Kent to add either a 2-seam sinker or a cutter to his repertoire because his 4-seam fastball has placed him into trouble in the past. In his last start, he experimented with the sinker for the first time and only threw seven of them. This start, the sinker became his primary fastball per Statcast that created 12 groundouts that included one key double-play. Contrast to five days ago, Kent got only five groundouts. Today, he threw 36 sinkers, 23 4-seam fastballs, 24 curveballs, 16 changeups, and 7 sliders.

Another adjustment that Kent made was that all of his pitches were coming out at the same tunneling except for the curveball which he still releases higher. But this was also something I have written about in his prior starts as an issue — and this showed marked improvement. Adding the sinker as his primary pitch worked. Cleaning up the release point worked. This was all encouraging. Now if Kent’s arm isn’t fatigued going forward, he might turn a corner on his season and his career. While this should have been cleaned up in the minor leagues, this is all a welcomed sign.

In this game, Kent recorded 21 outs, and maybe the only criticism was that he relied too much on contact as he only recorded three strikeouts. BABIP (.176) worked this time for Kent as 18 outs came on balls in-play. On those balls in play, the sinker induced numerous groundouts and 13 outs in total. The other five outs came via two flyballs, two lineouts, and one popup.

The only run on Kent’s boxscore was due to a leadoff double in an 0-2 count — and Kent should have thrown a chase pitch or two instead of consecutive fastballs in the zone. That was really Kent’s only mistake besides his four walks — but three of those walks came in Kent’s final 2.0 innings as he was tiring.

Another special mention on the Nats defense. Abimelec Ortiz turned a key groundout into an out at home, and CJ Abrams had a Web Gem from deep on his backhand. This was Abrams first game in the field in over a week. Abrams was also part of two well-turned double-plays in this game.

With this win, the Nats are now at 64 wins, and got encouraging news that their best offensive player, James Wood, is expected to return within a week. He’s been out since August 4ᵗʰ when he was placed on the 10-day IL.

There are now just 25 games remaining in the season. The Nats want to finish strong. These past two games are a real good start towards that goal of finishing strong.

Photo by Marideth Sandler /Nats.Talk