What is it about the NL East – and the Marlins, in particular – that has befuddled the Nationals so much this season? Their record in division games is now an unfathomable 11-28, and that includes a 1-6 record against Miami. Now the really tough part: They’ve still got six more games against the Marlins in the next week-and-a-half.
Friday night’s 3-2, walk-off loss included precious little offense aside from Keibert Ruiz’s solo homer and Daylen Lile’s clutch single with two strikes and two outs in the ninth. Some how, some way, these guys have to figure out how to score more runs despite the losses of CJ Abrams and James Wood. Why are they 1-6 on this current road trip? Because they’ve scored only 16 total runs, and six of those came in their lone win at Texas. Obviously, that won’t cut it, no matter the opponent.
The pitching, meanwhile, has actually been solid, with a staff ERA of 3.61 on the road trip and zero games in which the opposition scored more than five runs. They’ll need more of that (or better) today from Jake Irvin, who was OK in his last start (four runs in six innings against the Mets) but was done in by one particularly damaging homer by No. 9 batter Luis Torrens.
As you know, I’m not in Miami this weekend. But I’ll be monitoring things and will keep you up to date if there’s any news of consequence ...
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV, FS1 (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Indoors
NATIONALS
DH Daylen Lile
RF Dylan Crews
3B Brady House
1B Abimelec Ortiz
C Harry Ford
2B José Tena
CF Jacob Young
SS Nasim Nuñez
LF Andrew Pinckney
RHP Jake Irvin
MARLINS
2B Xavier Edwards
1B Griffin Conine
DH Owen Caissie
SS Otto Lopez
CF Jacob Marsee
LF Heriberto Hernández
C Joe Mack
3B Javier Sanoja
RF Esteury Ruiz
RHP Eury Pérez