Tonight is a pivotal game for the Nats young season. The Tigers have Jordan Zimmermann on the mound that he is so familiar with as this will be Zimmermann’s 95th start in Nationals Park, and of course his first as a visitor. Max Scherzer the ex-Tiger is facing his old team for the first time since he departed via free agency after the 2014 season.
Jordan Zimmermann has an MLB best 1.10 ERA through his 6 starts this season, and he is very familiar with his ex-Nats teammates as is Scherzer with his ex-Tiger teammates. This game should come down to execution and minimizing mistakes.
There is no meaningful stats to look at versus the line-ups each pitcher will face except Daniel Murphy has hit Jordan Zimmermann well in recent years. As the Nats showed on Sunday, even Jake Arrieta can come up on the wrong side of the ledger, and the best pitching performance should decide the winner in today’s game.
Game time is at 7:05pm and should be one of the largest attended games of the season as fans will line up early for those coveted Bryce Harper bobbleheads as well as the pitching match-up of Scherzer and Zimmermann.
Line-up (subject to change without notice):
- Ben Revere CF
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Bryce Harper RF
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Jayson Werth LF
- Wilson Ramos C
- Danny Espinosa SS
- Max Scherzer RHP
Updated UZR is now showing Bryce Harper as the best fielder on the Nats roster with Anthony Rendon right behind him. As many have noticed, Michael Taylor struggled on his defense and it’s reflected in the UZR. Daniel Murphy moved to slightly negative based on the 2 errors he’s had in the past week. Puzzling is Ryan Zimmerman’s UZR as his range is not great but he looks better than where they have him rated.
