Game 88 lineups: Nats at Braves

ATLANTA – The Nationals need a win today to salvage this three-game series against the Braves and end this mostly miserable road trip on a high note.

Paolo Espino will lead them on the mound as he makes his sixth consecutive start. The right-hander hasn’t posted similar numbers as a starter to those he did when he was strictly a reliever. In 20 appearances out of the bullpen, he had a 2.03 ERA over a mainly low-leverage 26 ⅔ innings. Since he joined the rotation on June 12, Espino is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in 22 innings over five starts. He gave up three runs in one inning of relief against the Braves in his second outing of the season on April 12.

For the offense, Ian Anderson may present the best opportunity to do some damage off a Braves starter. The right-hander is 7-5 with a 5.09 ERA over his first 16 starts of the season. He gave up four runs on six hits and four walks in four innings plus three batters against the Nats on June 13. He has a 9.82 ERA in just 11 innings over his last three starts.

César Hernández is on the bench and not in his usual leadoff spot, with Luis García batting first instead. Manager Davey Martinez also has Juan Soto and Josh Bell swapping places in today's batting order.

All-Stars will be announced later today, so we’ll see soon who will be the Nationals’ representative in the Midsummer Classic.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (out-of-market only), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 80 degrees, wind 6 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
SS Luis García
1B Josh Bell
RF Juan Soto
DH Nelson Cruz
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Yadiel Hernandez
2B Ehire Adrianza
3B Maikel Franco
CF Victor Robles

RHP Paolo Espino

BRAVES
RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
SS Dansby Swanson
1B Matt Olson
3B Austin Riley
DH Marcell Ozuna
LF Eddie Rosario
C William Contreras
2B Orlando Arcia
CF Michael Harris II 

RHP Ian Anderson