NL East rivals will continue a four-game series on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park with the Washington Nationals visiting the Philadelphia Phillies. Philadelphia won Thursday's rain-shortened opener by a 5-4 score to cash in as a massive -217 favorite. Washington is in last place at 36-71, while Philadelphia is tied for an NL Wild Card spot at 57-48.
The Phillies have handled Washington so far with a 7-2 head-to-head advantage.
An already terrible Washington team will now move forward without Juan Soto and Josh Bell after an eventful trade deadline, and it continued skidding with a five-inning loss to Philadelphia on Thursday. New acquisition Luke Voit got things started with an RBI single in the first with Cesar Hernandez and Yadiel Hernandez later adding run-scoring singles, yet the Nationals ran out of time to rally as the game was called in the fifth.
Paolo Espino went four innings in the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out three. Victor Robles paced the offense, going 2-3 with a double and a run scored.
Washington is one of baseball's least profitable teams in baseball on the money line while going 44-60 on the run line. Overs are 49-51-4 for the Nationals including 1-1-1 over their last three games.
This is a bottom five scoring offe nse at 3.83 runs per game on a shaky .689 OPS. It's gone even worse for Washington pitching, which is dead last at a 5.15 combined ERA including a mark of 4.23 out of the bullpen.
After the major shakeup at the deadline, Hernandez is now Washington's best remaining hitter with a .270/.309/.419 with eight homers and 37 driven in. Voit was solid in San Diego before the trade, posting a .733 OPS with 13 homers and 48 drven in.
Josiah Gray will make his 20th start of the season looking to bounce back from a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals last Sunday, when he allowed four runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six across five frames. The promising 24-year-old is having an up-and-down campaign, going 7-7 with a 4.59 ERA and 118 strikeouts across 102 innings.
Third baseman Carter Kieboom is recovering from Tommy John surgery. The rotation is beat up with MacKenzie Gore (elbow inflammation), Eric k Fedde (shoulder inflammation), Seth Romero (strained calf), Joe Ross (Tommy John surgery), Stephen Strasburg (stress reaction – ribs) and Jackson Tetrault (stress fracture – shoulder). Relievers Tyler Clippard (strained groin), Sean Doolittle (elbow surgery), Will Harris (thoracic outlet syndrome), Evan Lee (strained flexor) and Tanner Rainey (Tommy John surgery) are out.