The Washington Nationals came off of their best win of the season on Sunday, and they also had a bonus day-off today. They market this series between the Nats and their neighbors just to the north, the Baltimore Orioles, as the Battle Of The Beltways, but is it? The Orioles always seem to play these games as if they have the urgency of a playoff game, while the Nats just approach it as another regular season game.
The Nats had some news today as they released Yadiel Hernandez who had parts of three years as a Nationals player, and that’s where we are in a farm system that is over capacity as players return from the Injured List. When the Nats return players on their roster from the IL, they will have tough decisions to make too.
Good to see that Alex Call, Jeimer Candelario, and Luis Garcia rank at the top of MLB in defensive stats. Candelario has really picked things up after a slow start. Defense certainly matters.
“They’re just around the block, really, right? It’s business as usual. We try to go 1-0 today. … It will be a lot of fun tonight.”
— manager Dave Martinez said about this Battle Of The Beltway
Today’s starter is Josiah Gray and for the first time going into this fourth start, he’s not facing an opponents ace of 1B pitcher. Dean Kremer starts for the Orioles in this one.
The Nats starters ERAs are a combined 5.18 and that number is skewed greatly by Chad Kuhl and Patrick Corbin‘s ERAs, however credit to Corbin for improving in his previous two starts. Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Chad Kuhl 8.59 ERA
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.30
No. 3 Starter: Josiah Gray 4.32
No. 2 Starter: Trevor Williams 3.52
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.00
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast link for the game.
Baltimore Orioles vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
