Matt Purke leads Washington Nationals to 3-0 win against Georgetown Hoyas - MLB Update
Coming down from the Texas Rangers and signing with Washington Nationals in 2011, Matt Purke put in a tremendous performance against Georgetown Hoyas. Getting early strike-outs and receiving only one hit, he helped Nationals breeze through the line-up.
Pitching for three innings, the most protracted in his professional career as opposed to two as planned; he threw fastballs at around 90 to 92 miles per hour. Variety seen in his pitching was amazing, something he can use to topple any side.
Until he signed up to a four year $4.15 million Major League contract with Nationals he wore Number 47 at Texas Christian but during their 3-0 exhibition win against Georgetown he stood donning Number 50 at Space Coast Stadium.
Having a smooth delivery, controlling the ball at will and exploiting the weakness of the hitters characterised his pitching in the match. It seemed as if every time he pitched he knew what the batter is expecting and ran through one-by-one as such.
Part of the credit of his performance can be traced to the inexperienced Georgetown squad. Not only the absence of veteran Rand Ravnaas troubled them, most of the hitters could not comprehend the variations Matt Purke employed so often.
The worst aspect of the play for Hoyas was, as many as six hitters faced less than three pitches before they were out, something that showed their impatience during the game.
Interestingly, Georgetown players knew before the match as to what their fate is going to be.
“I think that’s what Georgetown was expecting, someone to come after them,” third basemen Anthony Rendon said. “It’s our first official game and we’re not here to throw curveballs in the dirt. We’re just trying to get good work in.”
Undoing the opponents by his four-seam fastball, mixing up the sinkers and helped by acrobatic style from Andres Blanco at shortstop, the ball was coming out beautifully from Purke’s hand.
“I was able to mix all my pitches in and really work both sides of the plate. They were hacking pretty early and I kind of made a little bit of adjustment and started coming in on them,” Purke said.
At the beginning, he had a shaky period as he himself admitted after the play. It seems that the player was just suffering from nerves as he had not pitched for some time.
Even Manager Davey Johnson was impressed praising the mastery he exhibited with the ball after immediately recovering from an initial rough patch.
Since the Arizona Fall League in which he conceded 12 hits and 11 runs in just over seven innings against Scottsdale Scorpions, his game has improved immensely. Still one has to be cautious in being over ambitious regarding Purke, as he has yet to replicate
this performance against stronger sides.
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