Game 91 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

ST. LOUIS – And away we go with the second half of the season. The Nationals come out of the All-Star break at 36-54, a 65-win pace. And believe it or not, they’re only two games behind the Cardinals, one of baseball’s biggest underachievers to date this year.

We know the Nats have been a much better road team in 2023, so let’s see if they can get the second half off to a positive start tonight. They’ll have Trevor Williams on the mound for the series opener, with Jake Irvin on Saturday and Josiah Gray on Sunday. Why not Patrick Corbin? He was placed on the paternity list today, so we won’t see him until next week in Chicago. Paolo Espino was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his place and provide some length out of the bullpen.

Davey Martinez is going with what now represents his regular lineup against a right-hander (in this case, the Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas). CJ Abrams has taken over leadoff duties until further notice, with Lane Thomas batting second ahead of Jeimer Candelario and the suddenly red-hot Joey Meneses, who hit four homers in his final three games before the break.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Busch Stadium
Gametime: 8:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 86 degrees, wind 6 mph right field to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
3B Jeimer Candelario
DH Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
LF Corey Dickerson
2B Luis García
CF Alex Call

RHP Trevor Williams

CARDINALS
DH Brendan Donovan
1B Paul Goldschmidt
LF Lars Nootbaar
3B Nolan Arenado
C Willson Contreras
RF Jordan Walker
2B Nolan Gorman
SS Paul De Jong
CF Dylan Carlson

RHP Miles Mikolas