Where: Minute Maid Park
When: 8:05 EST
The Starters: Detwiler (6-4, 3.02) vs. Lyles (2-8, 5.95)
The Line: Nats -185, Astros +165, O/U 8.5 Runs, Nats -1.5
Starters – Ross Detwiler will start tonight for the Nationals in hopes of building off his great performance the last time he took the mound against the Phillies (7 IP, 0 ER). Since returning to the National’s rotation back on June 24th, Ross has been great, going 2-1 with a 2.57 era in 42.1 innings (7 starts). The young left hander has been solid his whole career so far and seems to be getting better with every start. The Astros will counter with a young pitcher of their own in the person of 21 year old right hander Jordan Lyles. Jordan has been flat out terrible in his nearly one full season worth of starts (30) at the major league level, going 4-16 with a 5.64 era over that span. To make matters worse he’s actually regressed slightly from last year to this year. On the bright side, he is only 21 and has shown solid command with just 25 walks in 84.2 innings. On the not so bright side, he’s a terrible major leaguer right now and he’s in for another rough outing tonight. Advantage Nationals
Lineups – After another solid series at the plate, the Nationals continue to hover right around the middle to upper-middle part of the NL in all the major statistics. They are ranked between 5th and 8th in all of the big categories, and should continue to improve with Werth back and Desmond returning soon (hopefully). The Astros on the other hand only crack the NL’s top 10 in one category (steals, 7th) and rank in the bottom 5 all other statistics. This was a bad lineup early in the year, and after some trade deadline dumps (Johnson, Lee) it’s became even worse. Their most dangerous hitter now is former Nat Justin Maxwell, not very impressive. Advantage Nationals
Bullpens – The Washington bullpen had another solid series against Miami, lowering it’s era to 3.46, which ranks 7th best in the NL. The Nats bullpen has only been responsible for only 12 losses so far this season, that’s the 3rd lowest total in the National League. On top of that Drew Storen is looking like his pre-injury again and recorded his first save of the year yesterday. The Astros bullpen, like every other aspect of the Astros team, is a total joke. They have the worst group era in baseball at 4.97 and have an incredibly bad record of 5-23 (17.6 win percentage). I can’t say for sure that, that’s a record low win percentage for a bullpen but if it’s not I can guarantee it’s real close. I’d guess 95% of people couldn’t name one active Astros relief pitcher, and there’s a reason for that (or many reasons). Advantage Nationals
Game Summary – Detwiler baffles the Astro’s lineup in route to another gem while the National’s bats hit Lyles hard to record a 4th straight curly W.
Prediction: Nationals 8, Astros 2
Key Players (Stat Prediction): Detwiler (7 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 7 K, 1 BB), Morse (3-4, HR, 3 RBI), Lyles (5 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 3 K, 2 BB), Altuve (2-3, 2B, SB)
Jesse’s Picks W/L: 65 – 44