Game 65 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

DJ Herz makes his second career start today. And he’ll be more experienced than the guy he’s going up against in the Nationals’ series finale against the Braves.

Yep, Atlanta’s starter is Hurston Waldrep, called up from Triple-A Gwinnett to make his major league debut less than one year after he was drafted out of the University of Florida. Waldrep is the organization’s top prospect, and he’s supposedly got a devastating splitter. But he made only one start at Triple-A, and the Braves decided to bring him up instead of pitching Max Fried today. Fried will be pushed back two days to face the Orioles.

So the Nats, who have already won two of the first three games of this series, now seemingly have a better chance of winning three of four against the Braves for the second time in two weeks. They’ll still need to figure out Waldrep at the plate. And they’ll need Herz to be better than he was in his debut last week.

The left-hander, who replaced the injured Trevor Williams in the rotation, held his own against the Mets. But he still wound up charged with four runs in four-plus innings, two of those runs scoring after he departed in the fifth. The nerves should be a little less severe today for Herz, so we’ll see how he handles this assignment.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 16 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
LF Jesse Winker
DH Eddie Rosario
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Nick Senzel
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young

LHP DJ Herz

BRAVES
2B Ozzie Albies
3B Austin Riley
DH Marcell Ozuna
1B Matt Olson
RF Adam Duvall
C Travis d'Arnaud
CF Michael Harris II
SS Orlando Arcia
LF Jarred Kelenic

RHP Hurston Waldrep