Game 61: Marlins at Nats

Cade Cavalli and Sandy Alcantara meet in a rematch from last month as the Nationals open a three-game series with Miami

Welcome to June. If it goes anything like May did, the Nationals (and all of you) are in for a treat. First things first, though: They need to beat the Marlins, something that proved tougher than expected last month when the two teams met in Miami.

The Mother’s Day finale of that series featured a pitching matchup between Cade Cavalli and Sandy Alcantara, each starter allowing two runs while reaching the sixth inning before the Marlins pulled away late against the Nats bullpen. And tonight’s series opener features that same matchup.

Cavalli is on a nice, sustained run right now. Over his last eight starts, he’s got a 3.27 ERA with 55 strikeouts and only nine walks. He has given up more hits (48) than innings pitched (44), but he’s managed to avoid damage for the most part. Perhaps most impressively, he’s been very efficient of late, going seven innings on 84 pitches and six innings on 87 pitches his last two times on the mound.

Alcantara, meanwhile, has been wildly erratic this season. He’s made 12 starts, and in seven of them he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs. But he’s also allowed six or more earned runs in four starts, including each of his last two. Can the highest-scoring offense in baseball get to the big right-hander tonight and lift the Nationals to three games over .500 for the first time since (gulp) the final day of the 2019 season?

MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Partly cloudy, 74 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right

MARLINS
DH Liam Hicks
SS Otto Lopez
LF Kyle Stowers
2B Xavier Edwards
3B Leo Jimenez
RF Owen Caissie
CF Jacob Marsee
C Joe Mack
1B Connor Norby

RHP Sandy Alcantara

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

RHP Cade Cavalli