Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Nationals are back in the region, but as visitors in Orioles Park at Camden Yards for a two-game series that begins tonight. It appears that Austin Voth will start today’s game, and Erick Fedde tomorrow night to set the rotation with Stephen Strasburg to start on Thursday in Atlanta followed by Patrick Corbin on Friday. It is hoped that Max Scherzer will return from the 10-day IL to start on Saturday or Sunday and Anibal Sanchez will also get a start in Atlanta in that four-game series. This will also give the Nationals the opportunity to choose either Voth or Fedde to start in Nats Park on Monday against Colorado. The Sunday starter would also line up to start the following series against the Dodgers on Friday, July 26th.
Of course the first task at-hand is for the Nats to win tonight in Baltimore. The Nats will face the righty Asher Wojciechowski. There are few Nats who have ever faced him and Ryan Zimmerman is 0-3 against him, and Gerardo Parra is 0-1. Yan Gomes is 1-2 and Kurt Suzuki is 1-1 with a 2-run home run. There is not much to read into with those sample sizes, and Wojciechowski is part of the Orioles struggling pitching staff with a 6.10 ERA in three games this season. He has a career 6.57 ERA in his 33 games he has pitched in the Majors.
For Austin Voth, he has looked good in his first three innings of work, but his velo and effectiveness shows issues in his fourth and fifth innings of work. He was pulled in his last two MLB starts at 4 1/3 innings. Before the All-Star break on July 5th, the Nationals optioned Voth to Double-A Harrisburg to take advantage of adding back Adrian Sanchez to the bench. Voth did start for Harrisburg on July 11th, and he pitched a 6.0 inning shutout. Most likely Spencer Kieboom will be optioned back to Harrisburg to make room for Voth on the roster.
Washington Nationals vs. Baltimore Orioles
Stadium: Orioles Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, MASN (Orioles broadcast), MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
