Game 141 lineups: Nats at Pirates

PITTSBURGH – There wasn’t much for the Nationals to get excited about out of Thursday night’s game, a 9-4 loss to the Pirates in the opener of a four-game series. They didn’t get good starting pitching. They didn’t get good relief pitching. They got a couple of big hits in the top of the first, then nothing else the rest of the way.

So the Nats will hope to hit the reset button tonight and get back on track. If the weather cooperates. There is a line of storms approaching from the west, and it’s scheduled to arrive at some point this evening, potentially lasting into Saturday morning. No idea yet if it will prevent this game from starting on time, being disrupted or even being played at all. Stay turned.

Whenever they play, it’ll be DJ Herz on the mound for the Nationals. The rookie left-hander had a string of solid outings disrupted last weekend when the Cubs got to him for four runs in 4 2/3 innings, all of those coming in the top of the fifth. Herz has typically done better in the early innings than the late innings; something to keep an eye on tonight.

Right-hander Luis Ortiz starts for Pittsburgh, and he has been outstanding of late. Ortiz has tossed six scoreless innings each of his last two starts and gave up only one hit to the Guardians last Saturday.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Storms arriving, 80 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
DH Andrés Chaparro
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
3B José Tena
RF Dylan Crews
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young

LHP DJ Herz

PIRATES
SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa
LF Bryan Reynolds
C Joey Bart
DH Andrew McCutchen
CF Oneil Cruz
1B Connor Joe
RF Bryan De La Cruz
3B Jared Triolo
2B Alika Williams

RHP Luis Ortiz