The Nationals won a comeback game last night in Chicago, and Dusty Baker really likes when the team wins the first game in a series. “We were ‘0’ for Chicago before [winning last night’s] game…I like the way we fought back…and kept adding on,” Dusty Baker said. “Good hitting breeds confidence, and confidence is spread around.”
Tonight, the Nats will face James Shields who is making his Chicago White Sox debut. Max Scherzer will face a team that is familiar to him from his time in the AL Central with the Tigers although there are many new faces on this 2016 White Sox team, and while Scherzer has faced 8 of these White Sox players before, the last time Max faced the White Sox on August 30, 2014, only Adam Eaton, Jose Abreu, and Avasail Garcia were in the line-up. The White Sox roster has seen major turnover in the last 2 years.
Anthony Rendon continued his hot hitting last night, and “Tony Two Bags” seems to be the catalyst for this team. In our statline spotlight, the Nationals are now an incredible 26-6 in games where Rendon scores a run. The Nats are undefeated when Rendon scores more than 1 run in a game. “The ball is jumping off his bat again,” Dusty Baker said. “He’s getting some clutch hits for us. He’s not fouling back as many pitches which a lot of time is what gets you in trouble. He’s making more consistent contact—-solid contact.”
The Nats have now scored 20 runs over the last 2 games, and last night the Nats bullpen threw a 5 inning shutout.
Of note, Carlos Rodon got scratched from his start tomorrow with a stiff neck, and it will be an all Gonzalez match-up between Gio Gonzalez vs. Miguel Gonzalez on Thursday at 8:10pm EDT.
Here is your Nats stats against James Shields:
Here is Max Scherzer’s stats against the White Sox:
Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox
Stadium: US Cellular Field, Chicago, Illinois
1st Pitch: 8:10pm EDT
TV: MASN2, CSN-Chicago, MLB.tv
Line-ups (subject to change without notice):
- Ben Revere CF
- Jayson Werth LF
- Bryce Harper RF
- Daniel Murphy DH
- Wilson Ramos
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Stephen Drew 2B
- Danny Espinosa SS
Max Scherzer RHP
