Photo by Jake Stephens/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals first two games in Cincinnati were the Daylen Lile show with cameos of his dad celebrating up and down the stadium steps of the Great American Ball Park. These are like home games for Lile who grew up about 90 miles away in Louisville, Kentucky. A trip up I-71 and across the Ohio River, and you’re there. In the first two games of this series, Lile has three home runs, 7 RBIs, a stolen base, and is 5-for-9. He and his dad celebrated that 10th inning game-winning home run like it was a walk-off. Must’ve felt that way when it was your childhood home park.
This is a get-away game with a very early first pitch coming just 40 minutes past noon. Both teams are matching up with their best pitchers. The Nats have Foster Griffin on the mound, and the Reds have Chase Burns.
Given the state of the bullpen the past two games, the Nats really need Griffin to go long in this one as the Nats bullpen had to cover 7.0 innings last night. Their bullpen sealed the victory giving up no earnies after a rough first inning on starter Jake Irvin.
Mitchell Parker, Gus Varland, and Richard Lovelady all pitched on 3-days rest and that certainly helped. Orlando Ribalta and PJ Poulin were both needed, and Poulin nailed down the save. Here is a quick look at the use and usage in manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen:
The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. This will start to give us a clearer picture in a few more weeks when the sample sizes get even larger. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.
Washington Nationals vs. Cincinnati Reds
Stadium: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
1st Pitch: 12:40 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/X, tune to Channel 176 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
