Game 161 lineups: Nats vs. Pirates

By Mark Zuckerman

Nationals

September 30, 2017, 10:52am

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It's not necessarily high on their priority list right now, but the Nationals do still have a chance to win 99 games this season and thus set a new franchise record. To get there, they need to win both tonight and Sunday afternoon against the Pirates, which is far from an impossible task.

And it only helps to have Max Scherzer on the mound tonight for his final regular season start. The ace right-hander enters tonight with a 2.55 ERA and needing to have a strong outing if he wants to leapfrog teammate Stephen Strasburg (2.52) and finish second in the National League in ERA. Scherzer already has locked up the league's strikeout title for the second straight year; he enters tonight with 263 in 197 1/3 innings.

Dusty Baker's lineup looks perfectly normal ... except for one key difference. Wilmer Difo is batting third. Behind Bryce Harper. Ahead of Daniel Murphy. Yes, that's odd. The explanation probably is that Baker is giving Anthony Rendon the night off and just prefers to insert Difo directly into his spot and not make everybody else move around in the lineup.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 1500 AM, XM 183/869, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly clear, 63 degrees, wind 13 mph in from left field

NATIONALS (97-63)
SS Trea Turner
RF Bryce Harper
3B Wilmer Difo
2B Daniel Murphy
1B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Jayson Werth
C Matt Wieters
CF Michael A. Taylor
RHP Max Scherzer

PIRATES (73-87)
2B Adam Frazier
CF Starling Marte
1B Josh Bell
LF Jordan Luplow
RF Gregory Polanco
3B Sean Rodriguez
C Elias DÃaz
SS Max Moroff
RHP Jameson Taillon