ST. LOUIS – If the Nationals’ response to getting no-hit Thursday was to score 10 runs Friday, what exactly does that mean we should expect tonight out of them? Your guess is as good as mine.
The Nats legitimately had a good night at the plate in the series opener against the Cardinals. It’s not just the 10 runs they scored. It’s the 11 hits, four of which went for extra bases. And it’s the eight walks they drew, a very uncommon total for this swing-happy bunch.
So they’ll look to use the same approach tonight against Kyle Gibson, who faces the Nationals for the second time this month. He managed to give up only three runs in five-plus innings July 7 in D.C., but that came via nine hits and two walks, including three doubles combined by Jesse Winker and Juan Yepez. Speaking of Yepez, he’s now slashing .375/.423/.609 in 17 games since joining the team, consistently providing sorely needed quality at-bats.
The Nationals are facing a familiar foe in Gibson, but the same isn’t true on the flip side. Jake Irvin didn’t pitch against St. Louis in that previous series, so perhaps that plays to his advantage. The right-hander needed a good outing in his return from the All-Star break after a rough stretch to close out an otherwise excellent first half. And he responded with seven innings of two-run, zero-strikeout ball against the Reds, an encouraging sign heading into tonight’s start.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Busch Stadium
Gametime: 7:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 79 degrees, wind 7 mph right field to left field
NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Jesse Winker
1B Juan Yepez
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García Jr.
3B Trey Lipscomb
CF Jacob Young
RHP Jake Irvin
CARDINALS
SS Masyn Winn
DH Alec Burleson
C Willson Contreras
LF Brendan Donovan
3B Nolan Arenado
RF Lars Nootbaar
1B Paul Goldschmidt
2B Nolan Gorman
CF Michael Siani
RHP Kyle Gibson