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Who do you want to send to the mound when you need someone to end a long losing streak? How about a guy making his major league debut?
OK, so it’s perhaps a bit unfair for the Nationals to put that kind of pressure on Andrew Alvarez. The 26-year-old left-hander was a 12th-round pick in the 2021 draft, and he’s not among the organization’s top prospects. But he’s nevertheless going to lead his team onto the field at Nationals Park this afternoon, making his big league debut against the Marlins while trying to snap his team’s eight-game losing streak.
Alvarez, who did produce a 2.37 ERA and 39 strikeouts over his last 30 1/3 innings for Triple-A Rochester, will try his best to keep the Nats in the game before handing it over to a bullpen that actually has been really good of late, including nine scoreless innings of one-run ball the last two days against the Rays. He’s one of two September call-ups joining the roster today, with infielder Nasim Nuñez also promoted from Triple-A.
The best thing the Nationals could do to support their rookie hurler? Get on the board first and give him a lead, something they’ve done only once during this losing streak. (And that 1-0 lead didn’t even last a full inning.) The Marlins apparently are going with a bullpen game today, so they’re going to see a bunch of arms, hoping they can do some damage against several of them along the way.
MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 76 degrees, wind 8 mph in from center field
MARLINS
2B Xavier Edwards
C Augustín Ramírez
RF Jakob Marsee
SS Otto Lopez
3B Connor Norby
DH Heriberto Hernández
1B Eric Wagaman
CF Derek Hill
LF Javier Sanoja
RHP Lake Bachar
NATIONALS
LF James Wood
SS CJ Abrams
DH Josh Bell
2B Luis García Jr.
RF Daylen Lile
1B Andrés Chaparro
CF Robert Hassell III
3B Brady House
C C.J. Stubbs
LHP Andrew Alvarez
