Washington Nationals vs Atlanta Braves: Grapefruit League GameThread...

Patrick Corbin gave up five straight hits (two doubles, three singles) to the first five batters he faced last time out in a start against the St. Louis Cardinals on the road in Jupiter, FL’s Roger Dean Stadium, with the Cards pushing three runs across before the left-hander was able to get out of the bottom of the first inning.

Corbin gave up a leadoff single in the second inning as well, then proceeded to retire the next eight batters he faced before he was done for the day in his third Grapefruit League start of the Spring.

“It was good for him to actually work through that inning and then come back and do what he did,” Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez told reporters after the game against the Cards.

“But it’s a testament to how hard he works at things, and the four up and downs was perfect for him.”

Corbin threw (according to reports from Jupiter) 19 pitches before he got the first out of the game against the Cards, but ended up throwing just 48 (or 49 depending on the source) on the afternoon.

“He worked pretty hard the first inning, and the fact that he got almost to 50 [pitches] in a short period of time — because he could have had 70 really — he felt good about it, so I told him, ‘Hey, I feel good about it,’” Martinez said.

Corbin decided to use his changeup more in that outing, after throwing it just 1.1% of the time in 2018 (down from 10.0% in 2016 and 8.7% in 2017).

He said after the start that he was trying to work it back into the mix to go along with his fastball, sinker, slider, and slow curve.

“I always threw it,” Corbin explained, as quoted by MASN’s Pete Kerzel. “I throw it in all my bullpens. We kind of didn’t use it too much in games last year. But it was something today, we were trying to throw more and get more consistent with that pitch. Just another weapon.”

We’ll get a good look at all of Corbin’s weapons when he takes on the Atlanta Braves in his fourth Grapefruit League start of the Spring this afternoon in a 1:05 PM game that’s being broadcast on MASN and the MLB Network.