Who's ready for seven more innings of baseball in the rain? The Nationals and Brewers are going to give it a try, hoping the conditions at least allow for play as they did during this afternoon's contest. As always, stay tuned and don't be surprised if there are delays or even a postponement.
Stymied by Freddy Peralta in the opener, the Nationals will see if they can get something going against a left-hander: Brett Anderson, who has had an up-and-down start to his season. Because the Brewers deploy a lot of pitchers in a lot of roles, Anderson has yet to surpass the five-inning or 97-pitch mark. And in three of his last four outings, he didn't even make it out of the fourth.
The Nationals don't have a lot of experience with Anderson. It's mostly the former Pirates and Cubs who have seen him multiple times before, which does create a bit of a conundrum. Ryan Zimmerman typically starts vs. lefties, but Josh Bell is 3-for-7 with a homer and a walk in his career vs. Anderson. Ultimately, Davey Martinez decided to stick with the usual plan and start Zimmerman at first base.
The Brewers have no shortage of experience facing Jon Lester, given his time with the Cubs prior to joining the Nationals this season. If you add up the stats for everyone on their current roster, they're batting .343 with an .848 OPS in 152 plate appearances against Lester. So it may be imperative for the Nats to score some runs tonight and not just count on Lester shutting down Milwaukee's lineup.
A reminder that tonight's game is on FOX, with Aaron Goldsmith and A.J. Pierzynski on the call. Here's a coverage map that shows which parts of the country are getting this game.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:15 p.m. EDT
TV: FOX (coverage map), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 51 degrees, wind 12 mph in from center field
NATIONALS
SS Trea Turner
RF Juan Soto
1B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Kyle Schwarber
3B Starlin Castro
CF Josh Harrison
C Yan Gomes
2B Jordy Mercer
LHP Jon Lester
BREWERS
2B Kolten Wong
SS Willy Adames
RF AvisaÃl GarcÃa
CF Lorenzo Cain
C Manny Piña
3B Luis UrÃas
1B Keston Hiura
LF Jackie Bradley Jr.
LHP Brett Anderson
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