Game 17: Nats at Pirates

In the end, the Nationals will use PJ Poulin as an opener tonight, with Miles Mikolas and Mitchell Parker potentially following him out of the bullpen

PITTSBURGH – Well, that series opener wasn’t too pretty, was it? From the Nationals’ standpoint it was a disaster, beginning with Cade Cavalli’s abbreviated start and continuing with another cringe-worthy showing by the bullpen. Making it all the tougher to accept: Tonight already loomed as a potential pitching problem for them.

Miles Mikolas had been listed for several days as the Nats’ starting pitcher. His first three outings for the club did not go well, and it got to the point last week where Blake Butera pulled the 37-year-old after three innings even though he’d only surrendered two runs and thrown only 55 pitches. So with that in mind, Butera has now decided to use PJ Poulin as an opener, hoping the reliever can have some early success against the Pirates’ left-handed-heavy top of the lineup in the first inning.

The assumption is that Mikolas will follow Poulin, but also keep in mind the Nationals officially recalled Mitchell Parker from Triple-A today as the corresponding move for Monday night’s demotion of Jackson Rutledge following his disastrous relief appearance. Parker, of course, had been starting for Rochester and is here to provide length. So will it go Poulin-Mikolas-Parker tonight, or does Butera have something else up his sleeve?

At the plate, the Nats will hope for a better outcome against Mitch Keller than they got against Paul Skenes. They faced Keller twice last season and scored five runs over 11 1/3 innings. James Wood, Brady House and Joey Wiemer have each homered off the right-hander in their respective careers.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Rain ending, 76 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left

NATIONALS
RF James Wood
1B Luis García Jr.
DH Brady House
LF Daylen Lile
SS CJ Abrams
CF Jacob Young
3B Jorbit Vivas
C Drew Millas
2B Nasim Nuñez

LHP PJ Poulin

PIRATES
CF Oneil Cruz
2B Brandon Lowe
LF Bryan Reynolds
RF Ryan O’Hearn
DH Marcell Ozuna
3B Nick Gonzales
1B Spencer Horwitz
SS Konnor Griffin
C Joey Bart

RHP Mitch Keller