Game 84: Nats at Orioles

The Nationals hope their offense comes back to life after Friday night's 3-1 loss and gets them back to the .500 mark tonight in Baltimore

For the first time in more than three weeks, the Nationals will take the field tonight with a losing record. They were 31-32 after getting swept by Miami. Then they routed the Diamondbacks to open a West Coast trip in style, and they haven’t looked back since. Until this current four-game losing streak, which included a 3-1 loss to the Orioles on Friday night.

So tonight the Nats will look to get back on track and at least get themselves back to the .500 mark. They’ve got their most-reliable pitcher on the mound in Foster Griffin, which certainly should help. Griffin did not face the O’s in their previous meeting this season, so he’s a foreign face to that lineup, which has usually been to his advantage.

The Nationals had a surprisingly weak night at the plate in the opener, held to one run for the first time since the finale of that series in Arizona on June 7. They’ll hope for better results tonight against right-hander Brandon Young, who over his last six starts owns a 2.15 ERA while pitching into the seventh inning five times. So this could be a matchup of workhorses tonight.

I won’t be there at Camden Yards for this one. My plan all along was to cover the Friday and Sunday games, avoiding three straight commutes from Fairfax County to Baltimore. (Did I mention it took more than two hours to get there Friday afternoon?) Enjoy the game, and I’ll be back Sunday for the series finale.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Where: Camden Yards
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Chance of rain, 78 degrees, 4 mph in from right

NATIONALS
RF James Wood
1B Luis García Jr.
DH José Tena
SS CJ Abrams
CF Dylan Crews
LF Daylen Lile
3B Jorbit Vivas
2B Nasim Nuñez
C Drew Millas

LHP Foster Griffin

ORIOLES
LF Taylor Ward
SS Gunnar Henderson
1B Pete Alonso
DH Coby Mayo
RF Tyler O’Neill
3B Blaze Alexander
CF Leody Taveras
2B Jeremiah Jackson
C Chadwick Tromp

RHP Brandon Young