Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Is the fourth time the charm for the Washington Nationals to try to get back to .500? They were 0-1, 2-3, 3-4, and now 4-5 with a chance to get a start over in the NL East that is scuffling.
As of this morning, the Nats owned the
tiebreaker over the Braves to claim second place in their division. Okay, this is crazy talk. We are approaching the 6 percent point in a season where teams are just figuring through what they really have versus the fantasy of what we saw in Spring Training and read on Fangraphs.
The Nationals have a bullpen that has pleasantly stepped up with leads, but they have to ferret out whether those relievers who have shown promise in low lev spots can step up when the score is tight.
The issue with this team overall is the starting pitching has been inconsistent, but small sample sizes certainly cannot dictate the future. Tonight,
Josh Rogers takes the mound for the Nats and the rock ’em sock ’em lefty had a good first start. Five days ago, Rogers earned the win against the Braves, going 5 1/3 innings of one-run baseball while only giving up two hits.
The Pirates have a familiar righty in
Bryse Wilson who the Nats faced when he was with Atlanta. The Braves traded him to Pittsburgh for reliever
Richard Rodriguez. Manager
Dave Martinez is going with his best defensive alignment tonight as the hot hitting
Yadiel Hernandez will go back to the bench.
Washington Nationals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Stadium: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1st Pitch: 6:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, AT&T Sportsnet, MLB app (out-of-market only)
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Lineups (subject to change without notice):
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