It’s been a fun couple of nights at Nationals Park. Monday night saw the debut of Dylan Crews and the Yankees outplaying the home team during a tight, 5-2 win. Tuesday night saw Crews record his first hit, Andrés Chaparro record his first home run, Patrick Corbin outpitch Gerrit Cole and the Nats emerge with a tight, 4-2 win. The atmosphere in the ballpark has been outstanding, the kind of thing that used to be common around here but hasn’t been common for several years.
Now it’s the rubber game of the series, and a big start for MacKenzie Gore. It’s been a ragged summer for the young left-hander, but he hopes he turned a corner over the weekend in Atlanta, where he held the Braves to one run over six innings without issuing a walk. This is obviously a tough lineup Gore has to face tonight, but he’s unquestionably got better stuff than Corbin, who was hugely successful. It’s up to Gore to make his stuff work against Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Co.
The Nationals would love to give Gore some significant run support. It’s been a strange few days, because they’ve hit the ball hard quite a bit, and they’ve recorded four homers and four doubles, but they’re a staggering 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position. (The Yankees, by the way, are 0-for-13 in the series.) They’ll go up against left-hander Carlos Rodón, who has been hit-or-miss of late, and try to convert at least a few times in clutch situations to provide Gore some support.
The Nats did make a roster move this afternoon: Orlando Ribalta has been recalled from Triple-A Rochester, with Joan Adon placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder biceps strain. So it's a swap of right-handed relievers.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs NEW YORK YANKEES
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, 95 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right field
NATIONALS
RF Dylan Crews
LF James Wood
1B Andrés Chaparro
DH Juan Yepez
3B José Tena
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García Jr.
CF Jacob Young
SS Nasim Nuñez
LHP MacKenzie Gore
YANKEES
2B Gleyber Torres
RF Juan Soto
CF Aaron Judge
DH Giancarlo Stanton
C Austin Wells
SS Anthony Volpe
3B Jazz Chisholm Jr.
1B DJ LeMahieu
LF Alex Verdugo
LHP Carlos Rodón