As expected, Bryce Harper has dropped his appeal of his suspension from MLB for an incident with umpire Brian Knight earlier in the week, and Harper will serve the suspension in Game 2 of today’s doubleheader. The risk if Bryce had his appeal heard and lost his appeal, he would have been suspended in one of the games against the Mets which was a risk not worth taking.
In another strange line-up move by Dusty Baker, he is starting Wilson Ramos in the 2nd game of this day-night doubleheader with still another game tomorrow, and Ernie Banks would have been proud as he would have said, “Let’s play two”. Normally catchers only play 1 game in doubleheaders due to the fatigue factor, and we will see if Dusty has Lobaton coming in later in the game. With Bryce Harper out of the game, it will be Daniel Murphy in the #3 spot and Ramos in the clean-up spot behind him.
The pitchers for tonight’s game are Tanner Roark for the Nationals and rookie right-handed pitcher Kendry Flores for the Marlins.
No Nats batters have ever faced Kendry Flores before, and in lieu of batter stats, we will give you a scouting report on Flores: He throws a 4-seam fastball at 92mph, a sinker at 91mph, a cutter at 86mph, a curveball at 77mph and the occasional change-up at 83mph.
Here is Tanner Roark’s stats against the Marlins:
Line-ups (subject to change without notice):
- Ben Revere CF
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Wilson Ramos C
- Clint Robinson 1B
- Matt den Dekker LF
- Chris Heisey RF
- Stephen Drew SS
- Tanner Roark RHP