The Washington Nationals played some entertaining baseball against the Cleveland Guardians, one of the American League’s top teams, but ultimately lost two of three games. Washington (17-21) hosts a weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals (19-19, second place in the NL Central) starting Friday night.
The Cardinals come to D.C. having won five straight, while the Nationals are 3-3 in their last six games. Bullpen woes played a huge role in Washington’s 8-6 loss to Cleveland Wednesday; Michael Soroka struck out eight and had a shutout going through five innings against Cleveland, but couldn’t get anyone out in the sixth. Neither could Jorge Lopez, and by the time Andrew Chafin finally retired the side, the Guardians had scored all eight of their runs. That kind of meltdown can’t happen if the Nats are to win the series against St. Louis.
Cards on a roll
The Cardinals are led by second baseman Brendan Donovan (.331). His 19 RBI are tied for the team lead with first baseman Wilson Contreras and left fielder Lars Nootbar.
Keys to Nats’ success
Inconsistency plagues the Nationals. The bullpen seems to be either really good or really bad from day to day, and the offense puts up double-digit runs one day and gets shut out the next. For Washington to take down the Cardinals, the Nats will need continued performance from James Wood, Nate Lowe, CJ Abrams and Alex Call (all batting .300 or better in the team’s last seven games). And players like Dylan Crews (.095) and Luis Garcia Jr. (.150) desperately need to rack up some hits.
Ex-Nat Erick Fedde is expected to start for the Cardinals Friday. He will likely be highly motivated as he goes against Mitchell Parker, who got off to a great start this year, but gave up six runs against the Mets and five against Cincinnati in his most recent two outings. Still, it’s time for a bit of a hot streak from the Nationals, and the Cardinals are due to cool off a bit. Expect a series win against St. Louis.
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