Game #61
Nats (29-31) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (23-36)
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Washington looks for a series sweep this evening against the Pirates. It would complete a 4-2 homestand and give them some momentum heading into a Cleveland-Detroit road trip. Livan Hernadez (4-3, 2.22 ERA) is on the mound for the Nats. He gave up two runs in six innings against the Reds last Friday, a 4-2 win despite his own no-decision. Hernandez was bummed about that after the game, feeling like he let a win slip away. Zach Duke (3-6, 5.43) pitches for Pittsburgh. Nats manager Jim Riggleman is giving center fielder Nyjer Morgan the day off. Ian Desmond moves to the No. 2 spot with Cristian Guzman leading off. Ivan Rodriguez is back at catcher after a day off. Morgan isn’t being benched because Duke is a lefty, Riggleman said.
“I don’t want to look back on the year and feel I wore him out with 640 at-bats or something,” Riggleman said. “Closer to 550 would be better so we feel like he’s strong every time we send him out there. He’s such a high-energy guy that it’s good to get Nyjer off his feet when we can.”
Here are the the lineups.
Pirates:
Tabata – LF
Walker – 2B
McCutchen – CF
Jones – RF
Doumit – 1B
Crosby – SS
LaRoche – 3B
Jaramillo – C
Duke – P
Nationals:
Guzman – 2B
Desmond – SS
Dunn – 1B
Zimmerman – 3B
Willingham – LF
Rodriguez – C
Morse – RF
Bernadina – CF
Hernandez – P
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