Tonight is the second game in this four game series against the Padres in San Diego, and the Nats were able to rest both Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman while securing a win behind Tanner Roark who did not have his best stuff last night.
The Nationals bullpen did not get much of a rest as Felipe Rivero could not finish the 9th inning and the newly appointed interim closer Shawn Kelley had to finish off the 9th for the Save.
Tonight’s late game will feature Christian Friedrich for the Padres. Friedrich is a left-hander who has improved this year, and will face the Nats who are the 2nd best offense in baseball versus lefty pitching.
Interestingly enough, Friedrich has reverse splits in that lefties hit him better. The sample sizes aren’t large as he has only pitched 6 games this year, but the OPS differential is .669 vs .594.
The other anomaly is that Friedrich is the best road pitcher in the Majors, and has not been good in Petco as opponents hit him at a robust .328/.411/.422/.833. Let’s see if Dusty sticks with his “A” line-up and uses those reverse splits to his advantage.
Friedrich’s ERA in Petco this year is 4.20 vs. 0.47 on the road. Yes, 0.47 on the road. He has only given up 1 earned run on the road this year.
Here is the Nats stats against Friedrich:
Here is Joe Ross‘ stats against the Padres:
Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres
Stadium: Petco Park, San Diego, CA
1st Pitch: 10:40pm EDT
TV: MASN2, FSSD-San Diego FOX Deportes, MLB.tv
Line-ups (subject to change without notice):
- Michael Taylor CF
- Jayson Werth LF
- Bryce Harper RF
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Wilson Ramos C
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Danny Espinosa SS
- Joe Ross RHP
