Cardinals at Nationals
After a few recent hiccups, Washington's phenomenal starting rotation is
beginning to live up to expectations. The Nationals look to maintain
their current run Wednesday when they host the St. Louis Cardinals in
the continuation of a three-game series.
Gio Gonzalez tossed six scoreless innings and Yunel Escobar hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning in a 2-1 win for Washington in Tuesday's series opener. Gonzalez has two wins in the Nationals' current 5-1 surge, during which they have held opponents to a total of 16 runs, one fewer than they gave up in two consecutive losses in Boston last week. Matt Holliday had four hits - including one to knock in the tying run in the ninth inning - to lead the way Tuesday night for the Cardinals, who had a five-game winning streak come to an end. Holliday has hit safely in each of his team's 12 games and is batting 6-for-8 with runners in scoring position during his torrid start.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, ESPN, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), MASN (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH John Lackey (1-0, 2.77 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Doug Fister (1-0, 0.69)
Lackey followed up a so-so outing at Cincinnati to open his season with seven scoreless frames in a 4-0 win over Milwaukee on Thursday. He struck out eight and yielded just five hits while improving to 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA at Busch Stadium. The 36-year-old allowed one earned run in eight innings in his only prior start at Nationals Park in 2008.
Fister has yielded just one earned run in 13 innings through two starts, both of which came against Philadelphia, which entered Tuesday ranked 29th in the majors in runs. He worked around four walks in 6 2/3 solid frames in his home debut Thursday, improving to 17-6 as a National and moving to 9-3 with a 1.97 ERA in 14 starts at Nationals Park. The veteran sinkerballer, who owns a 2.05 mark in 18 career starts made before the month of May, gave up four runs in six innings to get tagged with the loss in his only prior encounter with the Cardinals.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cardinals RF Jason Heyward is 7-for-42 since opening the season with a 3-for-5 effort.
2. Nationals LF Jayson Werth is 5-for-10 with a home run and two doubles against Lackey.
3. St. Louis won 11 of 13 meetings over the last two seasons before Tuesday's loss.