Where: Minute Maid Park
When: 8:05 EST
The Starters: Zimmermann (8-6, 2.45) vs. Harrell (9-7, 3.98)
The Line: Nats -220, Astros +195, O/U 8.5 Runs, Nats -1.5
Starters – Jordan Zimmermann will start for the Nationals tonight in hopes of helping them complete a 4 game sweep of the lowly Astros. Zim is coming off of his worst start of the year when he surrendered 4 earned runs on 7 hits in just 4 innings, marking the first time this season that he hasn’t pitched at least 6 innings. However, Jordan still has the third best era in all of baseball and is 5-1 with a 1.89 era over his last 10 starts. He’ll face a Houston team tonight that he held to just 1 run over 7 innings back in April. The Astros will counter with their best pitcher in Lucas Harrell. The 27 year old righty has really started to figure things out lately, going 4-3 with a 3.22 era in his last 10 starts and hasn’t given up more than 2 earned runs in any of his last 5 outings. Lucas has had problems with walks at times (51 in 133.1 innings) but when he has his command he’s pretty tough to hit. He pitched 6.2 innings of 1 run ball against the Nats back in April. 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 - Both starters give their teams great outings so it turns into a bullpen battle that the Nationals will win to complete the 4 game sweep.
Prediction: Nationals 4, Astros 2
Key Players (Stat Prediction): Zimmermann (7 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 8 K, 1 BB), LaRoche (2-4, HR, 2 RBI), Harrell (6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 5 K, 3 BB), Martinez (2-4, 2B, RBI)
Jesse’s Picks W/L: 67 – 44