The Nationals have found themselves in this position plenty of times over the last month-plus, having lost the first game of a series before bouncing back to win the next night, leaving the finale as the decisive rubber game. And in five of the last seven such instances, they’ve lost the finale and thus lost the series.
One of those series came last month in San Diego, where the rubber game featured a pitching matchup of MacKenzie Gore vs. Nick Pivetta. Gore was outstanding that afternoon, allowing one run over six innings. And Pivetta was better tossing seven scoreless innings with only three batters reaching base. Thus did the Padres win the game, 1-0.
Here were again with the same pitching matchup in the series finale between the same two teams, this time at Nationals Park. Can Gore duplicate his efforts from that outing? More importantly, can the Nats mount more of an offensive threat against Pivetta and provide their ace with some desperately needed run support? That’s what’s at stake this afternoon.
SAN DIEGO PADRES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 87 degrees, wind 11 mph out to right field
PADRES
Lineup TBA
RHP Nick Pivetta
NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
DH James Wood
2B Luis Garcia Jr.
1B Nathaniel Lowe
RF Alex Call
3B Paul DeJong
LF Daylen Lile
C Riley Adams
CF Jacob Young
LHP MacKenzie Gore