MacKenzie Gore missed a turn in the rotation on the Bereavement List, but the 24-year-old lefty returned to the mound last night in Nationals Park, ten days after his previous outing, which saw him go five innings on 106 pitches, giving up six hits, two walks, and one run in the start, on a solo home run. Gore wouldn’t have gone back out for the fifth in that start if he had not retired the side in order in a nine-pitch fourth.
“That one inning saved us. He went nine pitches, or else we couldn’t have sent him back out for the fifth .