After a much-needed day off, the Nationals are back in action with a weekend series against the Cardinals, looking to take two of three and ensure at least a .500 homestand. And they’ll be facing an old friend in tonight’s opener.

Erick Fedde gets the start for St. Louis, his first appearance at Nationals Park since Sept. 30, 2022, when he took a 5-1 loss to the Phillies. The former Nats first-round pick went off to South Korea the following year and resurrected his career, earning a two-year contract with the White Sox, who promptly traded him to the Cardinals last summer. Fedde has made seven starts so far this season, two of them blowups involving six or more runs allowed, but four of them quality starts.

Mitchell Parker is coming off back-to-back rough starts himself and needs to get back on track tonight. The left-hander has issued nine walks over his last nine innings, and that’s been the obvious source of his struggles. He got a couple extra days of rest since last Friday’s outing in Cincinnati. Hopefully he used it well and has more command of the strike zone tonight.

An important reminder: Tonight’s game is only on Apple TV+. It’ll be Rich Waltz, Ryan Spilborghs and Tricia Whitaker with the call.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: Apple TV+
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 62 degrees, wind 12 mph in from left field

CARDINALS
LF Lars Nootbaar
SS Masyn Winn
2B Brendan Donovan
3B Nolan Arenado
1B Wilson Contreras
DH Iván Herrera
RF Jordan Walker
C Pedro Pagés
CF Victor Scott II

RHP Erick Fedde

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
1B Nathaniel Lowe
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García Jr.
3B Amed Rosario
DH Josh Bell
CF Jacob Young
RF Dylan Crews

LHP Mitchell Parker