Starting for Washington in this series opener is Reynaldo Lopez (1-1, 5.74 ERA). He earned this appearance after dishing out the best performance of his brief career in his last start. He was simply terrific against the Atlanta Braves, hurling seven innings of one-run ball. It was a huge bounce-back performance by Lopez who had allowed a combined nine earned runs in his previous two starts against the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He can’t do it all alone, though, and he needs the Nats’ offense to pick up the scoring slack as well. Expected to lead the Washington lineup tonight is the sizzling Trea Turner. The shortstop is 13-of-33 in his last six games with a homer and three RBIs. Turner will fancy his chances of continuing that excellent form this evening as he has fared extremely well against Atlanta starter Rob Whalen in his career. He is a perfect 3-of-3 lifetime against Whalen with a home run and an RBI.
Pitching for Atlanta in the opening game of this four-game set is Rob Whalen (1-1, 7.31 ERA). The right-hander struggled mightily in his last start against the Nats, allowing six runs on six hits in just five innings of action. Whalen surrendered a pair of homers in that 7-6 loss. Despite of that, Whalen can take comfort in that fact that he threw 63 of his 84 pitches for strikes in that contest. He also tossed first-pitch strikes to 15 of 22 Washington hitters.
With Whalen still a big question mark at this point, the onus is on the Atlanta hitters to put up some runs on the board tonight. Expected to lead the Braves offense in this series opener is the red-hot Freddie Freeman. He is 11-of-19 in his last seven games with five homers and 10 RBIs. Freeman has also drawn 10 walks during this span. The first baseman is 1-of-2 lifetime against Washington starter Reynaldo Lopez with a homer and one RBI.
