Game 157 lineups: Nats vs. Phillies

Well, here we go. The Nationals took care of business this afternoon. Now, if they can take care of business again tonight, and if the Pirates can snap their long losing streak and extend the Cubs' long losing streak, there's going to be a celebration on South Capitol Street tonight.

Scherzer-Delivers-White-Side-Sidebar.jpgThe Nationals can only take care of their own business and then hope the Pirates do their part. With that in mind, they'll happily send Max Scherzer to the mound for the nightcap. The ace looked like the ace last time out in St. Louis, though things fell apart in the disastrous bottom of the seventh after Juan Soto lost a ball in the sun. Scherzer has now extended himself to 110 pitches. He's going to need to prove tonight that he can keep excelling straight through his final pitches of a start, because that's what's going to be required of him the next time he takes the mound (either Sunday in Game 162 or Tuesday in the wild card game).

The lineup, meanwhile, features most of the usual suspects, with Trea Turner, Adam Eaton, Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto and Victor Robles all returning to start both ends of the doubleheader. "I was just in there and asking guys if they needed to take the second game off, and not one of them said yeah," Davey Martinez said. "They all wanted to play. So let's get after it."

There is one key new face in the lineup tonight. That's Matt Adams, who returns to action for the first time since spraining his left shoulder 12 days ago. We'll see how the big guy looks. If nothing else, the Nationals need to get him going enough to serve as a viable left-handed pinch-hitter off the bench next week and beyond.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 1500 AM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 76 degrees, wind 12 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS (87-69)
SS Trea Turner
RF Adam Eaton
3B Anthony Rendon
LF Juan Soto
2B Asdrúbal Cabrera
1B Matt Adams
CF Victor Robles
C Yan Gomes
RHP Max Scherzer

PHILLIES (79-77)
2B César Hernández
1B Logan Morrison
SS Jean Segura
LF Brad Miller
CF Scott Kingery
RF Adam Haseley
3B Maikel Franco
C Andrew Knapp
RHP Aaron Nola




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