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Washington Nationals relief pitcher Kyle Finnegan earned his 28th save of the season to beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2 on Sunday. The right-handed hurler Finnegan struggled early in the final frame, giving up a homer and a double. He would settle down and retire the next two batters to end the contest. Finnegan ends the year with a 7-5 record and a 3.76 ERA in 69/1 innings pitched. The 33-year-old logged 28 saves in 36 attempts in 2023.
Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz was busy on Friday night in the team's 10-6 win over the Braves in Atlanta. Ruiz finished the contest 2-for-5 with a solo home run, an RBI and three runs scored out of the cleanup spot for Washington. Ruiz is now on a modest five-game hitting streak and has gone 20-for-84 (.238) with a home run, three doubles, seven RBI and seven runs scored in 21 games (20 starts) in the final month of the season in September. The 25-year-old backstop is hitting nearly .300 since the All-Star break and has had his most productive big-league season by far in 2023, hitting .254 (129-for-508) with career-highs in homers (17), RBI (62) and runs scored (50) in 133 games.
Washington Nationals second baseman Luis Garcia went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI in the team's 10-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night. Garcia was struggling so badly that he was sent to the minors in the second half of the season. Since his return on Sept. 8, he's gone 18-for-60 (.300) with three home runs, three doubles, seven RBI, a stolen base and 13 runs scored in 19 games (16 starts) for the Nats. The strong stretch has boosted his season slash line to .265/.300/.381 in 438 at-bats, and he's added nine home runs, 49 RBI, nine stolen bases and 59 runs scored. The 23-year-old is looking to finish his fourth MLB campaign off strong and should enter the 2024 season as the club's primary second baseman.
Washington Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan picked up his 27th save of the season on Sunday, closing out a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Finnegan allowed a two-out homer to Sean Murphy, but managed to escape without further damage. The 32-year-old has been extremely shaky in September, allowing 10 runs (nine earned) over 8 IP. He has a blown save and two losses in his eight appearances this month. He will surely close out the season as the Nats closer, but they may look elsewhere next year and there will almost certainly be competition for his job in spring training.
Washington Nationals pitcher Jake Irvin will be in search of a bounce-back effort on Thursday when he toes the rubber at home against the Atlanta Braves. The rookie right-hander surrendered four earned runs across just 4 2/3 innings his last time out against the Milwaukee Brewers while he walked five Brewers hitters in that outing. He had previously surrendered three earned runs or fewer in seven straight starts but the rough outing in Milwaukee saw his ERA rise to 4.34 on the season. Additionally, Irvin owns a 5.29 FIP, 5.02 SIERA, and a weak 9.2% K-BB% across his first 23 starts on the campaign, suggesting he has been worse than his surface ERA entails.
