Roark pitching close to home, lineups for matinee at Wrigley

By Dan Kolko

Nationals

June 27, 2014, 9:02am

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CHICAGO - Tanner Roark, a native of Wilmington, Ill., will have a huge cheering section at Wrigley Field this afternoon when he makes his first career start close to home. He made one relief appearance in Chicago last season, earning the decision in the Nats' 11-6 win there on Aug. 21, 2013. But now he gets to the be the Nationals' featured pitcher in front of his friends and family. And Roark does so as one of the team's hottest starters. The right-hander has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts, going 5-3 with a 1.89 ERA during that time. As for today's lineup, manager Matt Williams flip-flopped Ian Desmond and Wilson Ramos from where they were in yesterday's order, dropping Desmond to seventh and moving Ramos up to sixth. For the Nationals CF Denard Span 3B Anthony Rendon RF Jayson Werth 1B Adam LaRoche LF Ryan Zimmerman C Wilson Ramos SS Ian Desmond 2B Danny Espinosa RHP Tanner Roark For the Cubs RF Ryan Sweeney CF Justin Ruggiano 1B Anthony Rizzo SS Starlin Castro 3B Luis Valbuena LF Chris Coghlan C John Baker 2B Darwin Barney RHP Jason Hammel