Rangers at Nationals
The Washington Nationals' bullpen has been their primary issue this year, and it came back to bite them in a difficult loss Saturday. They will try to rebound from the setback and salvage the finale of a three-game series with the visiting Texas Rangers when the teams finish their interleague set Sunday afternoon.
Closer Koda Glover blew a two-run lead in the ninth inning for the Nationals before Shawn Kelley served up a three-run homer in the 11th as the Rangers rallied for a 6-3 triumph. Washington entered the day ranked 14th in the National League in bullpen ERA (4.78) and the latest meltdown gave the team consecutive home losses for the first time since April 28-29. Max Scherzer gets the nod in the finale for the Nationals and he enters this one needing five strikeouts to become the ninth active pitcher to reach 2,000 for his career. The Rangers were uncertain of Sunday's starter but are now prepared to give the ball to Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who picked up his first career win Tuesday.
TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Texas), MASN2 (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-0, 4.08 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Max Scherzer (7-3, 2.35)
Bibens-Dirkx, who was in Washington's system in 2012, worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings against the New York Mets for the victory his last time out. That came six days after his first start in the majors, which saw the 32-year-old rookie give up three runs in 4 2/3 frames against Tampa Bay. He has let up four runs and seven hits in 10 1/3 innings on the road this year.
Scherzer is authoring another Cy Young Award-worthy campaign and has allowed two earned runs in 24 2/3 innings during the course of a personal three-game winning streak. The dominant veteran has 38 strikeouts against four walks in that span and he allowed three hits in seven frames of a 2-1 victory at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, which left his opponents with a .180 batting average against him - the lowest mark in the NL entering the weekend. Scherzer, 32, is 4-1 with a 3.67 ERA in eight career starts against Texas but has had loads of issues with Shin-Soo Choo, who is 12-for-21 with five extra-bats hits and six walks in their matchups.
WALK-OFFS
1. Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre (ankle) returned from a two-game layoff Saturday to register one hit and one walk in four plate appearances.
2. Glover has given up seven runs on eight hits and two walks over his last two innings, spanning three relief appearances.
3. Nationals 2B Daniel Murphy is batting .438 over an 11-game stretch to raise his average to .341.