Washington Nationals: Tanner Roark has success with modified mechanics

Just when they least expected it, the Washington Nationals watched Tanner Roark deliver an absolute gem of an outing against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Tanner Roark had been in the worst stretch of his career entering Wednesday. And because baseball has a funny way of doing these things, he was the hero in a big 7-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Roark delivered eight dominant scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and one walk. The right-hander also struck out a season-high 11 in a game where he always looked in control.

Before the game, Byron Kerr of MASN Sports wrote about Roark’s work with Brandon Kintzler before this start. They worked a little bit on some of his mechanics to get his sinking two-seamer down in the zone again.

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The article by Kerr talks about the two trying to get Roark’s back leg down and making sure his arm action stayed on top of the ball. The results were fantastic with six groundouts compared to five flyouts, as well as the lofty K total.

Next up, Tanner Roark will face off against the light-hitting New York Mets, where he hopes to continue the success he had on Wednesday.

Bryce’s all or nothing stretch continues

Since the All-Star break, superstar Bryce Harper has just four hits, but two of them have cleared the fence, including one on Wednesday afternoon. The bomb was his 25th of the season, and he’s tied atop the National League ranks again in that category.

However, those four hits have come in the same time as eight strikeouts, as Harper is now third in the NL in Ks. The whiffs are the main reason for Harper’s struggles and are very concerning as far as the rest of 2018 goes. But when he does make contact, it’s hard contact, which will ensure he’s always a threat at the plate.

Solis gets thumped in the ninth

Nats left-handed reliever Sammy Solis got roughed up trying to finish off the game. He allowed three runs on four hits and forced Davey Martinez to burn Kelvin Herrera for the final out.

Only recently recalled from Triple-A, it was hoped that Solis would benefit from a little rest in the minors. But since the recall, he’s allowed we can hits in 1.1 innings of work.

Solis is still a useful bullpen arm that Davey Martinez trusted early on. But for now, the lefty will need to work in some low-leverage spots to build his confidence back up again.

A series loss against the Brewers leaves the Washington Nationals almost needing a sweep in Miami. The pitching matchups line up nicely, so it’s time to execute like we know they can.