Game 83 lineups: Nats at Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – We’ve reached the final day of a long road trip, one that saw the Nationals play nine games in three cities in three time zones. They’ve gone 3-5 to this point, so a winning record is out of the question. But a victory today over the Rays at least would seal two series wins to combat the unfortunate sweep in San Diego.

Stymied at the plate for the better part of 15 innings, the Nats finally broke out in a big way in the top of the seventh Saturday, exploding for six runs in rapid fashion en route to an 8-1 win. They will look for more of that, and preferably earlier, this afternoon against Tampa Bay right-hander Taj Bradley. The 23-year-old strikes out a lot of batters (11.1 per nine innings) but he also serves up a lot of homers (10 in 49 2/3 innings). The Nationals aren’t exactly a power-laden bunch, but they might need to try to take advantage of any meatballs they do see at the plate today.

Patrick Corbin, meanwhile, gets the ball. Yes, he’s still part of the rotation, and that could continue if he continues to pitch effectively. Three weeks ago, the lefty looked like he was on his last legs, destined to be bumped to the bullpen. But over his last three starts, he’s got a 2.60 ERA and 0.981 WHIP. Josiah Gray makes another rehab start today in Rochester, so we’ll have to see how this all plays out once today’s results are in.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TAMPA BAY RAYS
Where: Tropicana Field
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
LF Jesse Winker
DH Harold Ramírez
2B Luis García Jr.
1B Joey Meneses
3B Ildemaro Vargas
C Drew Millas
CF Jacob Young

LHP Patrick Corbin

RAYS
DH Yandy Díaz
LF Randy Arozarena
3B Amed Rosario
1B Isaac Paredes
CF Jose Siri
RF Jonny DeLuca
2B José Caballero
SS Taylor Walls
C Alex Jackson

RHP Taj Bradley