Game 9 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

As bad as things went Tuesday night in St. Louis, the Nationals still woke up this morning with a chance to win the series and come home with a 3-6 record in spite of everything that's happened to this team. Maybe it's grasping at straws, but it feels like a win today would go a long way toward boosting everybody's mood.

To pull it off, the Nats will need another solid start from Joe Ross, who tossed five scoreless innings against the Dodgers in his season debut. Ross should be good to build his pitch count up to 80-85, so he's still not going to provide a ton of length, but the Nationals bullpen is in pretty good shape all things considered. They got through Tuesday night's debacle without using Kyle Finnegan, Sam Clay, Tanner Rainey, Daniel Hudson or Brad Hand. (Plus, we know Wander Suero is always available.)

Offensively, the Nats would love to get some early runs off Adam Wainwright, a pitcher they've seen plenty over the years and enjoyed success against at times. Starlin Castro, Ryan Zimmerman, Jordy Mercer, Josh Harrison, Kyle Schwarber, Josh Bell and Hernán Pérez all have at least 19 plate appearances against the veteran righty in their careers, and all but Castro have homered off him.

Davey Martinez has a twist with today's lineup: Trea Turner will bat leadoff, with Juan Soto second. Victor Robles gets bumped down to the nine-spot, behind Ross.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Busch Stadium
Gametime: 1:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv, MLB Network (outside D.C. market)
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 60 degrees, wind 8 mph in from left field

NATIONALS
SS Trea Turner
RF Juan Soto
1B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Kyle Schwarber
2B Josh Harrison
3B Starlin Castro
C Yan Gomes
RHP Joe Ross
CF Victor Robles

CARDINALS
RF Tommy Edman
1B Paul Goldschmidt
3B Nolan Arenado
C Yadier Molina
2B Matt Carpenter
LF Justin Williams
CF Lane Thomas
SS Edmundo Sosa
RHP Adam Wainwright