Game 14 lineups: Nats at Marlins

MIAMI - Two trends to watch tonight as the Nationals face the Marlins in the third of this four-game series under the roof: Can Joe Ross continue the rotation's dominant start to the season, and can this lineup continue to thrive against left-handed pitching?

We'll start with Ross, who has been lights-out through his first two starts of the season (2-0, 0.61 ERA, .160 opponents' batting average). It's easy to forget the right-hander is only 22, with 15 big league starts on his resume, because he has been both good and extremely polished for a pitcher with so little experience. Tonight, Ross will be trying to keep the Nats' early season pitching run going. Their starters currently boast a 1.98 ERA (tops in the majors) and have allowed a total of eight earned runs over their last 56 1/3 innings.

As for the lineup, we saw just how explosive it can be during last night's dramatic, four-homer top of the seventh. Though it took a while before they got to Marlins starter Adam Conley, the Nationals did knock him out and then took down fellow lefty Chris Narveson in relief.

This is a lineup built to thrive against lefties, not only because of the presence of right-handed sluggers like Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon, Jayson Werth, Michael A. Taylor and Wilson Ramos, but also because their two lefty regulars are really good against lefty pitchers, as well.

Bryce Harper is 5-for-11 with two doubles, two homers and a 1.720 OPS versus left-handers so far this season; Daniel Murphy is 7-for-12 with three doubles, a triple and a 1.615 OPS against them. They'll look to continue that trend tonight against former Oriole Wei-Yin Chen.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: Marlins Park
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 99.1 FM, XM 869, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
CF Michael A. Taylor
3B Anthony Rendon
RF Bryce Harper
1B Ryan Zimmerman
2B Daniel Murphy
LF Jayson Werth
C Wilson Ramos
SS Danny Espinosa
RHP Joe Ross

MARLINS
2B Dee Gordon
CF Ichiro Suzuki
LF Christian Yelich
RF Giancarlo Stanton
1B Justin Bour
3B Derek Dietrich
C J.T. Realmuto
SS Adeiny Hechavarria
LHP Wei-Yin Chen