Photo by Steve Mears for TalkNats
There could be a lot of zeroes up on the board at Petco Park if a pitcher’s duel is in the offing. It is a marquee matchup with starters Max Scherzer and Yu Darvish. The Washington Nationals and the Padres wrap-up this four game series tonight. The Nats lead this series 2-1, and the team from D.C. is eager to win this series.
Only four Nats starters have ever faced Darvish before. You would think that with Darvish’s longevity in MLB that more Nats would have faced him before.
Nats vs Darvish
One name at the top of that list is leadoff batter, Alcides Escobar. So far so good with Escobar.
“It’s working out right now,” manager Dave Martinez said. “We had two different leadoff hitters — we had [Kyle Schwarber] who went up there and hit bombs every time he got up there, and we have [Escobar] who’s working counts, getting on base. They’ve both been exceptionally good, and what a perfect time to get him here, when Schwarber got injured. We plop him in, and he’s doing well.”
Escobar has not even been with the Nats for a full week and his impact has already been felt with some long at-bats, three RBIs, and he is batting .381 (8-21) in his five games since he came over in the trade from the Royals.
Washington Nationals vs. San Diego Padres
Stadium: Petco Park, San Diego, California
1st Pitch: 10:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, Bally Sports San Diego, 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, Alcides Escobar 2B
2. Trea Turner SS
3. Juan Soto RF
4. Josh Bell 1B
5. Starlin Castro 3B
6. Yan Gomes C
7. Josh Harrison LF
8. Victor Robles CF
9. Max Scherzer RHP
