Latest news with #NathanielLowe
New York Times
29-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
After a fifth consecutive loss, Astros' Framber Valdez questions defensive positioning
HOUSTON — A makeshift lineup has manufactured a five-game losing streak while forcing perfection from the Astros' pitchers. On Monday night, they became the fifth staff since 1901 to strike out 19 batters in a nine-inning game and lose, an impossible outcome that fueled frustration from starter Framber Valdez. Advertisement Valdez, Houston's ace who struck out his 1,000th career batter, took issue with the team's defensive positioning during a candid postgame interview in which he claimed through an interpreter that 'baseball is a game of common sense.' Common sense, in Valdez's words, is that left-handed hitters do not hit fly balls against him. No batters do. Valdez is one of three qualified major-league starters with a groundball rate higher than 60 percent. Yet, in the sixth inning of Monday's 2-1 loss, the Astros positioned their outfielders in preparation for a fly ball from the left-handed hitting Nathaniel Lowe. The tying run stood on first base and, ostensibly, the Astros were in a 'no doubles' defense to prevent any fly ball from getting over their defenders' heads. Instead, Lowe bounced a full-count breaking ball through the four-hole and into an unoccupied part of right field. 'When he hit the grounder, I thought it was going to be an out,' Valdez said through an interpreter. 'When I saw it went through, I said 'Oh, it's going to be a hit.' But then I saw the right fielder playing center field and, you know, we have a center fielder for that. I feel like the right fielder should have been playing right field. I was uncomfortable with that.' The baseball reached the warning track before right fielder Taylor Trammell could secure it. Lumbering designated hitter Josh Bell, he of a sprint speed in the fifth percentile, scored the game-tying run from first base. Bell averages just 24.9 feet per second when he sprints. League average is 26.2. 'You have to do everything you can to score, and he did,' Lowe told reporters after the game. 'Really grateful for that, even though he's not a burner, but he touched the plate at the right time and we're happy scoring more than them.' Valdez voiced his concerns without being asked directly about the play, but about the frustrations of pitching with such a small margin for error. The Astros have scored 21 runs in their past eight games while reeling from the loss of leadoff man Isaac Paredes. Five of the nine members of Houston's Opening Day lineup are on the injured list, including Paredes, slugger Yordan Alvarez and All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña. Advertisement 'It was a little bit uncomfortable to be honest,' Valdez said. 'It doesn't make sense that was a double. It doesn't make sense that the right fielder was playing in center field with a lefty that was hitting. 'It doesn't make sense that the right fielder was playing all the way in center field. That should have been a single. That shouldn't have been a double. The runner should have been at third and not at home. I felt a little bit uncomfortable about that.' Manager Joe Espada did not get asked about the play after the loss, but he held his news conference before Valdez conducted his postgame interview in the clubhouse. Quality assurance coach Jason Bell and first-base coach Dave Clark are Houston's two outfield instructors and are responsible for positioning during games. Valdez said he did not approach the coaching staff with his concerns. 'I don't have to ask the coaches about that. I feel like baseball is a game of common sense,' Valdez said. 'With me as a lefty pitcher, they don't hit a lot of fly balls against me. If they do hit a fly ball, it's going to either be a home run or in front.' Spray charts do show that, of the 26 fly balls Lowe has hit against left-handed pitchers this season, a large cluster have gone to either center field or right center field where Trammell was positioned. Prior to Monday, left-handed hitters had hit just 12 fly balls off of Valdez all season, according to FanGraphs spray charts. Just two of them had been pulled at all into right field. For his career, though, the rare fly ball from a left-handed hitter did land in right center field. 'I feel the positioning, that wasn't the positioning it was supposed to be when it was a lefty hitter against a lefty pitcher,' Valdez said. Valdez's candor came after he struck out 12 Nationals across seven otherwise superb innings, lowering his ERA to 2.62. Washington whiffed 22 times on the 45 swings it took against him. Seventeen of the Nationals' swings and misses came against Valdez's curveball, which finished all 12 of his punchouts. Advertisement In three months, Valdez is scheduled to be the top starter available on the free-agent market. Nothing in the Astros' past suggests they will make a serious effort at retaining the 31-year-old homegrown southpaw and one of the team's most successful player development stories.
Washington Post
29-07-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Nathaniel Lowe, Riley Adams come through to lift Nats past Astros
HOUSTON — Just about everyone knew what was coming: Houston starter Framber Valdez, who stood on the mound staring down the Nationals' Nathaniel Lowe; Lowe, facing a full count with two outs; Josh Bell, who stood on first base as the tying run; and many in the crowd of 28,786 at Daikin Park, which had turned raucous by the sixth inning. All evening, Valdez had carved the Nationals up with his curveball. So it was little surprise when he went to it in that crucial spot against Lowe. Only this time, Lowe smacked it down the right field line for a double. Bell chugged around to score, knotting the game. An inning later, catcher Riley Adams launched an opposite field solo home run that stood up in a 2-1 victory. The Nationals won almost in spite of themselves — they struck out 19 times, marking just the fifth time in MLB history that a team has won with at least that many strikeouts. 'You just got to keep grinding out good at-bats,' Lowe said. 'He's one of the best in the league. Thankfully, I got a pitch to hit, I hit it hard, it found a hole and obviously we got a run across at a big moment.' Brad Lord, making his second start since the all-star break, was dominant for Washington (44-62). He retired the first 14 batters he faced before wobbling ever so slightly with a two-out walk to Yanier Diaz. Mauricio Dubon hit an RBI double on the ensuing pitch and the AL West-leading Astros (60-47) had their first lead. Lowe made sure it didn't last, Adams turned the momentum and four relievers — Konnor Pilkington, Luis Garcia, Jose A. Ferrer and Kyle Finnegan — combined to pitch 3⅔ scoreless innings. The Nationals won for the fifth time in seven games. '[Lord] got ahead of guys all day,' Lowe said. 'Obviously a base runner happened fast and a run happened fast, but we were able to bounce right back. Was a really well-pitched game from both sides.' Valdez has one of the best curveballs in baseball. Entering Monday's contest, the Astros' lefty had produced whiffs on 42.9 percent of the curveballs he threw — the fifth-highest mark among qualified pitchers. 'He's a really, really good pitcher,' Adams said. 'Mixes all of his stuff really well, throws it where he wants it and it's not a comfortable at-bat.' 'All the players, all the hitters were like, 'It looked like a fastball,'' interim manager Miguel Cairo said. Valdez struck out 12 — 10 swinging and two looking — all with his curveball. Before Lowe's double, the Nationals swung at 19 curveballs. They whiffed on 14 of them. They fouled off five. They hadn't put a single curveball in play until Lowe's swing produced a double. 'Especially for guys facing him the first time, he's super tough,' Lowe said. 'It really doesn't get any easier. You just have to be very disciplined with your approach. And I guess, in a sense, hope that he throws it in a good place where you can hit it.' The Nationals traded for Lowe during the offseason hoping he'd produce at the heart of the order. But Lowe, the highest-paid player on the team at $10.3 million, has struggled, batting just.226, his lowest average since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He is producing the lowest slugging percentage of his career, struggling against left-handers. But he's shown a knack for producing in the clutch, hitting .303 with a .894 OPS with runners in scoring position. As the trade deadline nears, the Nationals have an opportunity to move a handful of veteran players. Ahmed Rosario was dealt Sunday and pitchers Michael Soroka and Finnegan could also be on the move. Other possibilities include Bell, hot after a dismal start, and outfielders Alex Call and Jacob Young. And then there's Lowe, 30, who is arbitration eligible in 2026 before he is due to become a free agent in 2027. His salary makes him a non-tender candidate for the Nationals, which also makes him a strong trade candidate for a Nationals team hungry for prospects. Notes: Derek Law had surgery Monday afternoon to repair a partial tear of his right flexor tendon. ... Trevor Williams returned to Washington to begin his rehab as he recovers from an internal brace procedure. ... Josiah Gray is scheduled to throw his next bullpen Tuesday as he continues his rehab from Tommy John surgery.
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lowe homers as Nationals defeat Padres 4-2 to snap 5-game skid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nathaniel Lowe homered and the Washington Nationals snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday with a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. Mitchell Parker earned his first win at home since May 20 for Washington, which had dropped nine of 10. Martín Maldonado and Luis Arraez each drove in a run for San Diego (53-45). Lowe ripped a fastball to center field off reliever Yuki Matsui in the sixth inning for his 15th homer — one shy of his total last year with Texas. Parker (6-10) allowed two runs in six innings while striking out four. The left-hander had lost seven of his last nine starts, with the only victory in that span coming June 23 at San Diego. Kyle Finnegan worked the ninth for his 19th save. Washington went up 2-0 on Drew Millas' two-run single in the second. The Padres evened it in the third when Maldonado's double to deep left-center glanced off Jacob Young's glove to bring in Jose Iglesias. Two batters later, Maldonado scored on Arraez's single. CJ Abrams' run-scoring grounder in the fifth put the Nationals ahead 3-2. Yu Darvish (0-2) allowed three runs in five innings, the longest of his three outings since missing the first three months of the season with elbow inflammation. The threat of rain delayed the start of the game by 65 minutes. Key moment With one out in the eighth, Nationals reliever Jose A. Ferrer fielded Gavin Sheets' comebacker and threw home to trap Fernando Tatis Jr. in a rundown. Tatis was initially ruled safe back at third, but the call was overturned and Ferrer then got Xander Bogaerts to fly out on the first pitch to end the threat. Key stat Finnegan ended the Nationals' streak of 34 games without a save. Finnegan recorded Washington's previous save June 6 against Texas. Up next San Diego RHP Nick Pivetta (9-2, 2.88 ERA), who threw seven shutout innings June 25 against Washington, faces LHP MacKenzie Gore (4-8, 3.02) when the three-game series concludes Sunday. ___ AP MLB:
Associated Press
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Lowe homers as Nationals defeat Padres 4-2 to snap 5-game skid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nathaniel Lowe homered and the Washington Nationals snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday with a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. Mitchell Parker earned his first win at home since May 20 for Washington, which had dropped nine of 10. Martín Maldonado and Luis Arraez each drove in a run for San Diego (53-45). Lowe ripped a fastball to center field off reliever Yuki Matsui in the sixth inning for his 15th homer — one shy of his total last year with Texas. Parker (6-10) allowed two runs in six innings while striking out four. The left-hander had lost seven of his last nine starts, with the only victory in that span coming June 23 at San Diego. Kyle Finnegan worked the ninth for his 19th save. Washington went up 2-0 on Drew Millas' two-run single in the second. The Padres evened it in the third when Maldonado's double to deep left-center glanced off Jacob Young's glove to bring in Jose Iglesias. Two batters later, Maldonado scored on Arraez's single. CJ Abrams' run-scoring grounder in the fifth put the Nationals ahead 3-2. Yu Darvish (0-2) allowed three runs in five innings, the longest of his three outings since missing the first three months of the season with elbow inflammation. The threat of rain delayed the start of the game by 65 minutes. Key moment With one out in the eighth, Nationals reliever Jose A. Ferrer fielded Gavin Sheets' comebacker and threw home to trap Fernando Tatis Jr. in a rundown. Tatis was initially ruled safe back at third, but the call was overturned and Ferrer then got Xander Bogaerts to fly out on the first pitch to end the threat. Key stat Finnegan ended the Nationals' streak of 34 games without a save. Finnegan recorded Washington's previous save June 6 against Texas. Up next San Diego RHP Nick Pivetta (9-2, 2.88 ERA), who threw seven shutout innings June 25 against Washington, faces LHP MacKenzie Gore (4-8, 3.02) when the three-game series concludes Sunday. ___ AP MLB:
Reuters
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Nationals ride Mitchell Parker's gem to win over Padres
July 20 - Mitchell Parker tossed six solid innings and Nathaniel Lowe homered to help the Washington Nationals record a 4-2 victory over the visiting San Diego Padres on Saturday night. Drew Millas added a two-run single as Washington snapped a five-game losing streak and won for just the second time in its past 11 contests. Luis Arraez and Jose Iglesias each had two hits for San Diego, which lost for just the second time in the past six games. The game was delayed 65 minutes at the outset due to inclement weather. Parker (6-10) allowed two runs on five hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked one while winning for the first time since beating the Padres in San Diego on June 23. Kyle Finnegan worked a perfect ninth for his first save since June 6 and his 19th of the season. He induced Jackson Merrill to ground to second, then struck out Iglesias and Jake Cronenworth to end it. San Diego's Yu Darvish (0-2) gave up three runs on five hits over five innings. He struck out one and walked one. The Nationals manufactured a run in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead. Daylen Lile walked, moved to second on a groundout and advanced to third on Jacob Young's single. CJ Abrams then hit into a fielder's choice to score Lile. Lowe came up with two outs in the sixth and hit a drive to center off Yuki Matsui that narrowly cleared the wall and the leap of Merrill. Washington jumped ahead with a two-out, two-run second inning. Brady House singled and Lile followed with a double. Millas then delivered a two-run single to right to score both runners. San Diego tied it by scoring twice in the third. Iglesias led off with a double and scored on Martin Maldonado's one-out double. With two outs, Arraez singled home Maldonado. --Field Level Media
