Game 60: Padres at Nats

The Nationals look to complete a third straight series win and complete their first 16-win month since August 2023

It’s the final day of May, which means it’s the final day of one of the Nationals’ most-successful months in a while. They’re already 15-12, clinching a winning month. And if they can beat the Padres today to complete a third straight series win over a team currently in playoff position, they’ll get to 16-12. That would be their best record in any single month since August 2023, when they went 17-11. Not bad.

Blake Butera is letting Zack Littell start this game, forgoing the opener that has typically preceded the veteran. With the Padres’ lineup being heavy on right-handed hitters, that makes sense. No real reason to put PJ Poulin out there for the top of the first to face the likes of Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts. Littell is looking to finish off an impressive month himself; he’s gone 4-0 with a 2.19 ERA in five games in May.

It’s been a struggle so far this season for San Diego starter Griffin Canning, who enters 0-3 with a 7.54 ERA. The right-hander faced the Nationals twice last year as a member of the Mets, shutting them out over five innings in D.C. but giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings at Citi Field.

I am not at today’s game, a pre-planned day off. Hope you all enjoy the conversation among yourselves, and I’ll be back at the park Monday as the calendar shifts to June.

SAN DIEGO PADRES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Sunny, 74 degrees, wind 5 mph out to center

PADRES
RF Fernando Tatis Jr.
DH Gavin Sheets
3B Manny Machado
SS Xander Bogaerts
CF Jackson Merrill
1B Ty France
LF Nick Castellanos
2B Sung-Mun Song
C Freddy Fermin

RHP Griffin Canning

NATIONALS
RF James Wood
1B Luis García Jr.
3B Curtis Mead
SS CJ Abrams
RF Dylan Crews
LF Daylen Lile
CF Jacob Young
DH José Tena
2B Jorbit Vivas
C Keibert Ruiz

RHP Zack Littell

UPDATE: Dylan Crews was scratched from the original lineup. He was hit in the right wrist by a pitch during Saturday’s seventh-inning rally, and though he said afterward he was fine, it looks like it might still be bothering him.