Erick Fedde; Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
There are times when a team has to show some consistency to get their season righted. The W-L-W-L pattern does not work well when you started below .500. The Washington Nationals have yet to string two consecutive wins together this season, and today would be a fine time to accomplish that small feat. Of course nothing is easy as Luke Weaver is coming off of an outing where he carried a perfect game into the seventh inning. Of course Erick Fedde is coming off of a very good start himself against the Cardinals.
We are still waiting for the Nats to have one of those offensive explosions where they score more than six runs and runaway with a game as a laugher too. Today would be the perfect day to put together a great day for their pitching and offense.
With a day game after a night game, manager Dave Martinez is sitting both Victor Robles and his hottest hitter, Josh Harrison. In their places are Andrew Stevenson and Jordy Mercer. Also, Yan Gomes will be catching Fedde today. Otherwise, same lineup.
After yesterday’s dramatic walk-off home run from Kyle Schwarber, the team needs to see Josh Bell step it up. He is batting just .143 with a .492 OPS. He is pressing in the batter’s box and is racking up the strikeouts, especially on pitches well out of the zone. His only extra base hit was on a misplay by an outfielder for a double. Because Bell is batting after Juan Soto, each at-bat will be magnified if managers start pitching around Soto to get to Bell.
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN, BALLY Sports Arizona, MLB Network (out-of-area only), MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
1. Trea Turner SS
2. Juan Soto RF
3. Josh Bell 1B
4. Kyle Schwarber LF
5. Starlin Castro 3B
6. Andrew Stevenson CF
7. Yan Gomes C
8. Jordy Mercer 2B
9. Erick Fedde RHP
