They managed to play Monday’s home opener as scheduled with no interruption. They managed to play Wednesday night as scheduled with no interruption. Can the Nationals and Pirates do the impossible and play today’s series finale as scheduled with no interruption?
There’s once again rain in the forecast, so that may be too much to ask for. But perhaps the baseball gods will smile upon us again and provide a window of dryness during the late-afternoon/early-evening hours.
The Nats will again be looking to win the rubber game of a series, having missed their chance to do that Sunday in Cincinnati when Kyle Finnegan blew the save. All things considered, if they could emerge from this opening week with a 3-3 record, everyone would have to be satisfied.
Josiah Gray is back on the mound for his second start, hoping for better results than his Opening Day outing. If nothing else, the right-hander really would like to go deeper in the game, perhaps even becoming the first Nationals starter to complete six innings this season.
The Nats are making a roster move today: Jacob Young is coming up from Triple-A Rochester, with Victor Robles headed to the injured list with a left hamstring strain. Young fits the profile well to take Robles’ spot, so look for him to share center field with Eddie Rosario and come off the bench to pinch-run and play defense late in games.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 50 degrees, wind 11 mph out to right field
NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Joey Meneses
1B Joey Gallo
C Riley Adams
LF Jesse Winker
3B Trey Lipscomb
2B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Jacob Young
RHP Josiah Gray
PIRATES
SS Oneil Cruz
RF Bryan Reynolds
3B Ke'Bryan Hayes
LF Jack Suwinski
DH Connor Joe
1B Rowdy Tellez
C Henry Davis
2B Jared Triolo
CF Michael A. Taylor
LHP Martin Pérez