Game Thread: Cardinals vs. Nats in West Palm Beach
Jake Irvin is on the mound as the Nationals host St. Louis this afternoon
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – After one of their best performances of the spring during a 12-6 victory over the Mets on Monday night, the Nationals are back to work this afternoon, facing the Cardinals at home.
Because of the quick turnaround, you’re not seeing too many guys playing back-to-back days. The three who are: Andrés Chaparro, José Tena, Joey Wiemer. Chaparro has probably been assured a spot on the Opening Day roster for a while now. Tena and Wiemer, though, are still competing for bench roles and could help bolster their cases with a strong final week.
Also still technically competing for a spot but probably secure is Jake Irvin, who takes the mound today for his fourth official start of the spring. As things are currently scheduled, Irvin is lined up to pitch the day after Cade Cavalli, which means he’d actually be the No. 5 starter (because of the traditional day off after Opening Day in a cold weather city). Another possibility: The Nats give him an extra day of rest after his final exhibition start and send him to the mound for Game 2 at Wrigley Field. We’ll see how that how shakes out, but before that it’s up to Irvin to put together another solid outing this afternoon.
The Nationals.TV crew is back in town for the next three days, so you catch watch today’s game live. The radio crew is also broadcasting its final game of the spring this afternoon, though that’s a streaming broadcast only.
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS vs. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: nationals.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 63 degrees, wind 15 mph in from left
CARDINALS
SS JJ Wetherholt
RF Jordan Walker
1B Alec Burleson
3B Nolan Gorman
DH Yohel Pozo
2B José Fermin
LF Nathan Church
C Pedro Pagés
CF Victor Scott II
RHP Dustin May
NATIONALS
SS Nasim Nuñez
RF Christian Franklin
1B Andrés Chaparro
3B Brady House
DH Keibert Ruiz
C Drew Millas
2B José Tena
CF Joey Wiemer
LF Robert Hassell III
RHP Jake Irvin
Brady House continues to rake this spring. His two-out double down the first base line was his sixth of the spring, to go along with three homers as well. He's got 11 RBI, he's batting .467 and slugging .967.
Make it five scoreless innings for Irvin on 66 pitches. His spring ERA is down to 1.35. And he now has 15 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings.