MIAMI - Hello from beautiful - oh, who are we kidding? - Marlins Park. I will say this about the Least Popular Ballpark in the National League: At least it has a roof, because it has been pouring here all day. So weather will not be a factor for tonight's opener between the Nationals and Marlins, nor for the rest of this three-game series.
Fresh off a strong weekend in New York, where they took 3-of-4 from the Mets, the Nats now face a quietly improving Miami club. These guys have won 13-of-20 and are tearing the cover off the ball; they've averaged six runs per game during this streak, with an .815 team OPS.
So Tanner Roark faces a challenge tonight as the right-hander tries to get himself back on track. Just when it looked like Roark had solved his early season issues, he has struggled his last two times out. Roark believes a small mechanical tweak is all that's needed; we'll see if he can translate that into success tonight.
Left-hander Justin Nicolino starts for the Marlins, his first start back from a finger injury that landed him on the disabled list. Dusty Baker is going with what has become his standard lineup against a lefty, with Ryan Raburn in left field batting second ...
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: Marlins Park, Miami
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 1500 AM, XM 187/869, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors
NATIONALS (42-27)
SS Trea Turner
LF Ryan Raburn
RF Bryce Harper
1B Ryan Zimmerman
2B Daniel Murphy
3B Anthony Rendon
C Matt Wieters
CF Michael A. Taylor
RHP Tanner Roark
MARLINS (30-37)
2B Dee Gordon
RF Giancarlo Stanton
CF Christian Yelich
LF Marcell Ozuna
1B Justin Bour
C J.T. Realmuto
3B Derek Dietrich
SS JT Riddle
LHP Justin Nicolino
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