Cabrera gets nod over Kendrick at second base

In choosing to start Asdrúbal Cabrera over Howie Kendrick tonight, Nationals manager Davey Martinez went with the numbers. Cabrera has excellent career numbers versus Astros starter Zack Greinke, and so he gets the nod over Kendrick, who has been among the biggest contributors to the Nationals' run to the World Series.

Cabrera is 16-for-37 with a .512 on-base percentage and 1.079 OPS in his career against Greinke, no insignificant sample of head-to-head at-bats.

"Asdrúbal has history with Greinke," Martinez said. "Numbers-wise, I like that."

There's more to it than that, though. Martinez looked at video of Cabrera's previous at-bats versus Greinke, plus Kendrick's previous encounters as well. And he looked at which hitter's approach set up better against the right-hander.

"I saw a lot more ground balls in Howie against Greinke," Martinez said. "I saw some better opportunities with Cabrera hitting the ball up in the air. I like that."

Make no mistake, though, this is a big change at a time when the Nationals are riding an eight-game winning streak and attempting to take a commanding 3-0 lead over Houston in the best-of-seven series.

Kendrick has been in the starting lineup for each of the Nats' 11 postseason games so far this month, batting fifth each time and providing key protection for cleanup hitter Juan Soto. Kendrick also just so happened to hit the decisive grand slam that won Game 5 of the National League Division Series and was the MVP of the National League Championship Series.

Not that Martinez intends to let Kendrick rot on the bench tonight. He will be among the first choices to pinch-hit in a big spot late in the game.

"Having Howie off the bench ain't a bad thing, either," the manager said.