The Nationals just took two of three from a good Brewers team, and that made for an encouraging weekend. Now comes another tough challenge, though, with a four-game series on tap against the Giants, who are keeping themselves in the wild card race by winning seven of their last nine (one of those wins a no-hitter by Blake Snell).
Snell is scheduled to start Wednesday night, so there’s two games to play before that. Tonight’s San Francisco starter is no slouch: Logan Webb, the workhorse right-hander who consistently leads the league in innings pitched and in his last start went the distance, shutting out the Athletics on 106 pitches for a 1-0 win. The Nationals missed Webb earlier this year out west, so this is going to be the first time many of these young hitters see him.
Patrick Corbin did not throw a shutout in his last start. Not even close. The left-hander lasted only three innings against the Diamondbacks while giving up 11 runs, most ever by a Nats pitcher. There’s not much left to say about Corbin at this point, except to say he’s got to give them more length tonight and give them a chance. Even if he does, the bullpen could be in really shaky shape after Derek Law and Kyle Finnegan each pitched the last two days.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 92 degrees, wind 9 mph out to left field
NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
1B Juan Yepez
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
LF James Wood
DH Travis Blankenhorn
RF Alex Call
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Jacob Young
LHP Patrick Corbin
GIANTS
SS Tyler Fitzgerald
1B Mark Canha
LF Michael Conforto
3B Matt Chapman
2B Casey Schmitt
RF Jerar Encarnacion
C Patrick Bailey
DH Marco Luciano
CF Mike Yastrzemski
RHP Logan Webb