Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Washington Nationals enter Coors Field in Colorado after winning a series in San Francisco. The Nats bats came alive in the City by the Bay, and now they hope to continue the hot hitting in the Rocky Mountains.
As expected, the Nats made a series of roster moves to pare the roster from 28-to-26 players plus they made a move prior to batting practice tonight. General manager Mike Rizzo sent two lefties from the bullpen, Sam Clay and Francisco Perez, to Triple-A. With Sean Doolittle on the 10-day IL, the only lefty in the ‘pen will now be Josh Rogers. The Nats will carry a short bench and nine relievers.
The team announced this afternoon that they have activated Dee Strange-Gordon from the IL and because he was off the 40-man roster due to COVID, they moved Anibal Sanchez to the 60-day IL to open up a spot. To make room on the active roster, Lucius Fox was optioned to Triple-A and this is his last year with options. Fox’s career in the big league is all of 28 plate appearances, but he just had his best game on Sunday with two hits and some great baserunning and defense.
Manager Dave Martinez chose to go with Alcides Escobar at shortstop tonight even though Strange-Gordon had been playing shortstop in his rehab starts in Triple-A.
Washington Nationals vs. Colorado Rockies
Stadium: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
1st Pitch: 8:40 pm EDT
TV: MASN2; ATT Sportsnet; MLB app(out-of-area)
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Lineups (subject to change without notice):
Nats lineup for first game in Colorado:
1. César Hernández – 2B
2. Juan Soto – RF
3. Josh Bell – 1B
4. Nelson Cruz – DH
5. Yadiel Hernandez – LF
6. Maikel Franco – 3B
7. Keibert Ruiz – C
8. Victor Robles – CF
9. Alcides Escobar – SSErick Fedde – RHP
— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats) May 3, 2022
