Washington Nationals: Gio Gonzalez Continues Surprising Strong April

Yesterday, the Washington Nationals got another good performance on the mound from Gio Gonzalez against the New York Mets.

The Washington Nationals have taken the first two games in this series against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Citi Field has become a comfortable place to pitch for Gio Gonzalez in his career and he showed that once again yesterday (9-1 in 14 career starts).

Heading into this matchup, it looked as though Jacob deGrom had the edge on paper, but that’s why they play the games. While deGrom looked dominant early with seven strikeouts in the first three innings, the Nats left-hander stayed right with him after a rough first inning.

If there is one word I had to use to describe Gonzalez this month, it would be confident. When he gets into jams, he doesn’t let himself get too down and the jam doesn’t turn into a big inning for the opposition.

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Salvaging the first inning yesterday set the tone for Gonzalez’s start. While he needed 30 pitches to finish the inning in which he walked two batters, he got Neil Walker to fly out to center and immediately settled into the game. He went 6.1 innings, gave up one run on two hits, struck out six, and walked three on 107 pitches (66 strikes) in the win.

For the next four innings, Gonzalez kept a short-handed Mets lineup without a hit until a Juan Lagares single in the sixth. While Asdrubal Cabrera got New York on the board that inning, Gonzalez used his changeup to strike out Jay Bruce and Walker swinging to get out of further trouble.

When Gonzalez is able to locate his fastball, the changeup becomes more of a tougher pitch to hit for opposing hitters. According to Brooks Baseball, 12 of the 18 changeups he threw were for strikes. Out of his six strikeouts, three of them came via the changeup.

On the other side, deGrom threw 54 of his 101 pitches in the final three innings of the game. He did strike out ten, but the Washington Nationals lineup drew six walks, which eventually led to run scoring opportunities. Two players saw 20 or more pitches in this game. Leadoff hitter Adam Eaton saw 20 and third baseman Anthony Rendon saw 27.

For more on the offense’s approach against deGrom and another good day by the bullpen, listen to Ron Juckett’s breakdown of the game on yesterday’s postgame show as the Nats have now won six in a row.

One pattern that has stuck out in all of Gonzalez’s starts this year is that Jose Lobaton is no longer his personal catcher. Matt Wieters has had defensive problems this year in terms of pitching getting by him, but he has called good games when Gonzalez is on the mound.

Thursday will be a tough test for Gonzalez to close out the month as he will be taking on the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. It’s only been four starts, but Gonzalez looks different and it’s a good thing for the Nats.

Next: Our Interview With ESPN's Buster Olney

If Gonzalez can keep these kinds of performances up for a couple more starts, it might be time to buy in on him for the rest of the season.

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