Andrew Stevenson takes over for Yadiel Hernandez who kind of took over for Adam Eaton who was placed on the 10-day IL; Photo by Craig Nedrow for TalkNats
When you get a opportunity like Yadiel Hernandez, the opportunity might only last seven plate appearances. The same way Jake Noll got only three chances and smoked two singles. General Manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez want to see who takes advantage of the opportunities, and Noll stays and Yadiel Hernandez is back to the minor league camp and replaced by Andrew Stevenson. The 29th man for today’s doubleheader is Wil Crowe who will start game 2 of the doubleheader tonight. The first game will be started by Erick Fedde who has to show he belongs on next year’s opening day roster.
Keep in mind under the new rules, these are 7.0 inning games for these doubleheaders, and because there are no fans in the stands, there are no day/night doubleheaders needed. This is the traditional doubleheader where you transition from the first game with approximately 45-minutes in between to get to the second game which Crowe is set to start.
The Nats also announced Patrick Corbin will pitch tomorrow’s game, and Max Scherzer will pitch one of the two games on Sunday which will also be seven-inning doubleheaders, and you can expect that the other game could be using an opener like Ben Braymer or even Kyle McGowin in some order depending on who is most rested.
Dave Martinez says that the key reason why Yadiel Hernandez went back to the minors was because the Nationals wanted to keep Jake Noll on the roster, but that did not make a lot of sense in that reasoning because it was Andrew Stevenson who just replaced Hernandez. It looks like Stevenson and Michael A. Taylor will platoon in rightfield in place of the injured Adam Eaton who quite possibly will never play again for the Nats as he joins a long list of players on the 10-day IL. Of course there are also a few players on the 60-day IL. The Nats transaction log has filled up quickly as you can see.
Enjoy watching rookie sensation Sixto Sanchez start this game. The Nats actually faced him in his debut, and he was better than advertised. By the way, the Miami Marlins are in second place in the NL East and the Phillies are narrowly holding onto the last wild card spot as they fell under .500. The Nats might not want to play spoiler, but the schedule says any games that the Nats win in the final thirteen games will directly affect the playoff picture as they face the Marlins, Phillies, and Mets to end the season.
Washington Nationals at Miami Marlins
Stadium: Marlins Park, Miami, Florida
1st Pitch: 5:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN, FOX Sports Florida, FS1, MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
Here’s the Game #1 of the doubleheader lineup w/ Fedde pitching. Andrew Stevenson starts in RF
📸from #Nats graphic department #Natitude pic.twitter.com/DZK5IckA0B
— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats2) September 18, 2020
