Gonzalez faces Gallardo, lineups for Brewers-Nats finale

After flight issues forced the Nationals to delay Gio Gonzalez's first start after the All-Star break by a day, the left-hander will be looking to stay hot in this afternoon's series finale against the Brewers. Gonzalez went into the break riding a streak of four straight quality starts, having allowed three earned runs in 27 2/3 innings for a 0.98 ERA during that time. He takes on right-hander Yovani Gallardo, who has been one of the Brewers' best starters this year, but has had some difficulty of late. Gallardo has surrendered five earned runs in fewer than six innings twice in his last three starts, with a strong seven-inning outing in the middle. He has a 6.23 ERA over his last three starts to see his season mark jump from 3.23 to 3.68. So he's still having a nice season and it should make for a quality duel in today's rubber match. As for the lineup, it's pretty standard save for Jose Lobaton starting behind the plate for a day game after a night game. It's also likely no coincidence that Lobaton is catching Gonzalez, who has pitched to the Nats backup backstop nine times in 14 starts this year. For the Nationals CF Denard Span 2B Anthony Rendon RF Jayson Werth 1B Adam LaRoche 3B Ryan Zimmerman LF Bryce Harper SS Ian Desmond C Jose Lobaton LHP Gio Gonzalez For the Brewers CF Carlos Gomez 2B Rickie Weeks RF Ryan Braun 3B Aramis Ramirez C Jonathan Lucroy LF Khris Davis 1B Mark Reynolds SS Jean Segura RHP Yovani Gallardo