Game 42 lineups: Nats at White Sox

CHICAGO – The Nationals are playing decent baseball right now. They’re not, however, playing winning baseball. Since reaching the .500 mark on April 29 thanks to their sweep in Miami, they’ve gone 6-7. They’ve lost two in a row only once in that time, but they’ve also won two in a row only once. Every bit of positive momentum is halted by a subsequent loss.

Not that a win today would make that much difference, but it would at least give the Nats a series win over a White Sox club that admittedly has played better of late but still owns a wretched 13-30 record overall.

It would be especially nice if the Nationals could score some runs. And not just with one rally, but multiple rallies over multiple innings. During the aforementioned 13-game stretch they’re on, they’ve scored an average of 3.8 runs. And that includes the two breakouts against the Blue Jays, when they scored nine and 11 runs. More is needed today against left-hander Garrett Crochet, who has a 4.63 ERA but leads the league with 64 strikeouts.

Patrick Corbin gets the nod for the Nats, and though his season numbers (5.91 ERA) still don’t look good, he has been markedly better in recent outings (3.54 ERA his last four starts). The bullpen, thankfully, didn’t get overworked during Tuesday’s doubleheader. And with an off-day Thursday before the road trip continues in Philadelphia, Davey Martinez should have everyone at his disposal once Corbin departs.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 2:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 59 degrees, wind 14 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
CF Jacob Young
3B Nick Senzel
LF Ildemaro Vargas
1B Joey Meneses
DH Keibert Ruiz
C Riley Adams
2B Trey Lipscomb
RF Victor Robles
SS Nasim Nuñez

LHP Patrick Corbin

WHITE SOX
CF Tommy Pham
1B Andrew Vaughn
DH Eloy Jiménez
SS Paul DeJong
LF Andrew Benintendi
C Korey Lee
RF Gavin Sheets
2B Zach Remillard
3B Braden Shewmake

LHP Garrett Crochet