A pair of NL East teams looking to next season continue a series on the diamond down in South Beach. The Washington Nationals are on the road as they play the middle game of a three-game set with the Miami Marlins Saturday afternoon. Washington avoided a three-game sweep on the road by the Braves as they pulled out a 3-2 win in the finale of the series Wednesday afternoon. Miami dropped the rubber game of their three-game home set with the Cubs as they were beaten 4-3 Wednesday in the series finale. This article was published prior to the conclusion of the opening game of the series at LoanDepot Park Friday night.
Washington had lost three straight and eight of their previous 10 games before they managed to rally and come up with the victory in the finale of their series with the Braves in Hotlanta. The Nationals entered Friday last in the NL East, 42 games behind the Mets for the top spot. They have been eliminated from playoff contention. On Wednesday, Washington was outhit 10-6 with Joey Meneses (run, two RBI) the lone player with two. Meneses hit his 10th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the seventh inning, that gave the Nationals the lead for good. Paolo Espino didn’t factor in the decision as he threw four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Andres Machado (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief, allowing two hits with no walks and one strikeout. Kyle Finnegan fanned two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his 11th save.
Erick Fedde makes his 25th start of the season as he takes the ball in the middle game of this set for the Nationals. He comes in 6-10 with a 5.29 ERA, a 1.561 WHIP, 54 walks and 86 strikeouts over 114 innings of work on the year. Fedde didn’t factor in the decision in his last outing, which came at home against Miami last Saturday. He threw four innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts in a game the Nationals went on to win 5-3. In his last three starts, Fedde is 1-1 with a 5.27 ERA, a 1.54 WHIP, five walks and six strikeouts over 13.2 innings of work. Fedde makes his 11th career start against the Marlins in this contest. He comes in 4-1 with a 2.24 ERA, a 1.032 WHIP, 17 walks and 57 strikeouts over 52.1 innings of work against them. Fedde is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA, a 0.923 WHIP, seven walks and 27 strikeouts over 21.2 innings in four career starts at LoanDepot Park.