Game two of this series is set for Saturday at 8:10 p.m. EST between the Washington Nationals (13-18) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (17-14). The first game was Friday night, featuring Josiah Gray and Merrill Kelly on the mound. This game's starters are Washington's MacKenzie Gore and Arizona's Tommy Henry. They will also duel in Phoenix, Arizona's Chase Field, with a series win at stake.
After taking three straight from the Cubs, the Nationals entered this series winning four of their last five games. They've done it on the strength of pitching, which only allowed 12 runs during that stretch. Pitching has been their strength this season, as they were 13th in team ERA before the first pitch on Friday night. Outside of strikeouts, Washington has pretty good numbers on the mound. MacKenzie Gore will seek to keep the ball rolling while also bouncing back from his last outing. Against the Cubs on May 1, Gore coughed up four runs on seven hits in 4.0 innings. It was Washington's only loss over the aforementioned five-game stretch. For the entire season, Gore has a 1.419 WHIP thanks to MLB's second-highest walk percentage among all qualified starting pitchers. Still, his ERA is a solid 3.77, and his ERA- is 85 because he's 10th in strikeout rate.
Washington's offense hasn't been nearl y as pretty. They entered this weekend putting up 3.71 runs per game, more than only two MLB clubs. The Nationals also had the fewest homers in the NL entering this series, with their 19 long balls only exceeding one MLB team. Unsurprisingly, Washington is also 29th in slugging percentage due to their power outage. With 17 stolen bases they were 24th in that metric, but the Nationals got caught six times in those limited attempts. Among the Nationals with over 75 at-bats, only Victor Robles and Lane Thomas had an OPS over .700. Their lone elite skill is making contact, as Washington hitters have the lowest strikeout rate in the majors.
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