Rays at Nationals
The Washington Nationals will be looking to get back to the .500 mark at home when they bid for a two-game interleague sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday afternoon. Washington was victorious in its return from a 10-game road trip, riding the pitching of ace Max Scherzer to a 4-2 win over the Rays, who will be playing the finale of a nine-game trek.
Matt Adams homered as the Nationals won for the 10th time in 14 games, although they enter Wednesday's matchup with only a 13-14 home mark as compared to a 21-11 record on the road. Wilmer Difo had an RBI triple and drove in two runs and rookie Juan Soto scored twice as Washington remained perfect in interleague play with a 4-0 mark. Tampa Bay's promising start to the road trip has gone off the rails -- the team has dropped five in a row and scored only 10 runs during the skid. Brad Miller's pinch-hit double accounted for the only offense for the Rays, who dipped to 0-6 in interleague action -- all against National League East opponents.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), MASN 2 (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays LH Jonny Venters (1-0, 0.87 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Tanner Roark (2-6, 3.61)
Tampa Bay returns to its starter-by-bullpen rotation with Venters set to lead off in what will be to his first major league start. The 33-year-old returned to the majors last month for the first time since 2012, missing five years with multiple elbow injuries that included two Tommy John surgeries. Venters has not allowed a hit in his last five appearances, with his longest this season 1 2/3 innings.
Roark pitched at least six innings in each of his five outings in May and posted a 3.18 ERA, but he came away with an 0-3 record despite four quality starts. The 31-year-old allowed one home run during that span, but he came on in relief in the ninth inning Sunday in Atlanta and served up a walk-off, two-run blast. Brad Miller is 3-for-3 against Roark, who won his lone career start versus Tampa Bay in 2015.
WALK-OFFS
1. Nationals LHP Sean Doolittle has converted 15 of 16 saves chances.
2. Rays RHP Chris Archer (abdominal strain) was placed on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday.
3. The Nationals placed RHP Jeremy Hellickson (hamstring) on the 10-day DL Tuesday.