The Washington Nationals had a tough first inning and went flat on their way to a loss last night. Cory Abbott was promoted yesterday from Triple-A and the presumptive starter for tomorrow…until he pitched 2.0 innings last night. That took him out of the running to start tomorrow’s game unless he did some sort of “opener” thing which makes little sense. The candidates seem to be Joan Adon, Paolo Espino, and Jake Irvin for tomorrow’s start. But if Adon starts tonight as scheduled for Rochester, he will clearly not be the pick to pitch tomorrow night’s game in Nationals Park. Espino has the experience over Irvin, so we will see how this shakes out.
“We’re going to have to sit back and discuss some things here in a little bit, and tomorrow.”
— manager Dave Martinez said about tomorrow’s starter
Tonight’s starter is Trevor Williams, and he looks to bounceback from his start in New York where he didn’t get the defense behind him that he had hoped for. The Cubs have a good offense, and the Nats certainly have an opportunity tonight against righty Hayden Wesneski.
The Nats starters ERAs are a combined 4.86, and Williams has a chance to improve that number tonight.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Chad Kuhl 9.41 ERA
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.74
No. 3 Starter: Trevor Williams 4.10
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.77
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 2.67
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast link for the game.
Chicago Cubs 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):
