Washington Nationals: Three Takeaways From 7-6 Loss To Royals

Roark Puts Up Good Performance

Even though the Royals lineup had been struggling heading into last night’s game, this was an interesting test for Roark, who was coming off back-to-back shutouts. This Kansas City team has a way of working up the pitch count and making you work for every out.

With that being said, he had the one bad inning in the third, but was able to put together a good stat line. He went 7.1 innings, gave up four runs (three earned runs) on six hits (all singles), struck out four, and walked two on 101 pitches (64 strikes) in the no-decision.

As I mentioned, the tough inning for Roark was that third inning when his command of his two-seam fastball was off as he walked two of the first three batters he faced. Then, Alcides Escobar hit a fastball to right for a base hit for Kansas City’s first run. Two batters later, Eric Hosmer hit a 1-2 two-seamer past Daniel Murphy for a two-run single.

However, when you look at Roark’s pitch count, he only had one inning in which he threw more than 17 pitches and that was in the third inning (29). He was able to go deep into the game, but he gave up the back-to-back singles to Escobar and Lorenzo Cain in the eighth.

Since the home opener against the Marlins, Roark has pitched into the seventh inning or later in four of his last five outings. While the walks are something he has to fix, he still had a good opportunity to win last night’s game.

Next: Offense Stands Out In The 6th