By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
HARVEY
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pitching on his dad’s birthday, reliever Hunter Harvey got back on track Friday night as the Washington Nationals nipped visiting Philadelphia, 8-7.
Harvey, a hard-throwing right-hander, pitched two-thirds of an inning for the Nationals (25-32) as their third pitcher. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one to gain his 11th hold of the season.
Harvey threw strikes on nine of his 16 pitches to four batters. After he exited, Washington used two more pitchers and Kyle Finnegan got a win after blowing his fourth save of the year (1 2/3 innings, one hit, one strikeout).
The series continues through the weekend in Washington. After that, the Nationals go to Arizona for a series and then to Atlanta for games on June 9-11 (Friday, 7:20 p.m.; Saturday, 4:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1:35 p.m.).
Harvey is 2-2 with an ERA of 3.33 after 25 appearances this season. He has 33 strikeouts in 27 innings and has earned three saves.
His dad, Bryan, turned 60 on Friday. He spent nearly 10 seasons in the big leagues, earning 177 career saves for the then-California Angels and Florida Marlins. He retired at 31.
The Harveys now have 180 career saves as the ninth father-son duo in big league history to save games.
Hunter Harvey has been primarily a late-inning reliever, first with Baltimore and now with the Nationals. He is 28 and was chosen No. 22 in the 2013 MLB Draft by Baltimore after a sterling career at Bandys High.
He is enjoying perhaps his most consistent big league season. In his last seven games, he’s 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA and two saves, giving up five hits, three earned runs, walking two and striking out 12.
Washington has been flirting with using Hunter Harvey as its closer, with mix results.
On Thursday afternoon, he pitched in the ninth inning with a 6-5 lead and gave up a three-run home run to former Hickory Crawdads player Rougned Odor.
After giving up two singles, Harvey struck out two batters to face Odor. The first pitch (98.3 mph) was high and inside and the next, a fastball at 98.6 mph, became an eventual game-winning home run.
FRIDAY’S BOXSCORE: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/phillies-vs-nationals/2023/06/02/717935/final/box
HUNTER HARVEY’S PRO CAREER: https://www.mlb.com/player/hunter-harvey-640451
NATIONALS 2023 SCHEDULE: https://www.mlb.com/nationals/schedule/2023-04