The Washington Nationals will seek to continue their recent mastery at Oracle Park in San Francisco when they go for a three-game sweep of the Giants on Wednesday afternoon.
Daylen Lile has provided big hits for the Nationals, who entered the series with two wins in three tries against the Arizona Diamondbacks to kick off a weeklong trip. Washington added 4-3 and 6-3 victories over the Giants on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Tuesday’s triumph assured the Nationals of their fifth consecutive series win in San Francisco. Including sweeps in 2017 and 2019, they’ve gone 17-9 at Oracle Park in the past decade.
The difference between this season and last year, when the Nationals’ two wins in San Francisco came in August, is that Washington’s victory Tuesday improved the club’s record to two games over .500 for the season. Last year, the Nationals left San Francisco 23 games under .500.
“We’re just a young group who’s very confident in their abilities,” Lile told reporters in between his go-ahead single in Monday’s win and his two-RBI contribution to the rematch. “It’s just a matter of time for us to show everybody what we’re capable of doing, and I feel like we’re doing that.”
Someone who has been winning at an even higher percentage than the team in general is Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin (7-2, 3.63 ERA), who will take a four-game unbeaten run into his start in the series finale.
The 30-year-old’s recent stretch has included two impressive road outings — six shutout innings in a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on May 24 and five innings of one-run ball in a 14-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
Having sandwiched three seasons in Japan between seven major league appearances and eight innings pitched in 2020 and 2022 combined, Griffin never has faced the Giants.
He’ll face a San Francisco team that has created many more opportunities for itself than the six total runs in the series would indicate. The Giants got 13 hits, but only two with runners in scoring position, in Monday’s loss, then collected nine hits and seven walks on Tuesday, only to strand 13 runners.
“That’s kinda been the theme the last two nights. We’ve had guys out there; we just haven’t pushed them across as often as we’d like,” San Francisco manager Tony Vitello said after the most recent loss. “It’s come in different scenarios, too, not just with two outs. We’d be in a different position if we could do it.”
Casey Schmitt, who entered the series as the Giants’ hottest hitter, and Willy Adames, who homered three times on the road last week, have gone a combined 0-for-8 against the Nationals with runners in scoring position.
If there’s good news for the Giants, it’s that left-hander Robbie Ray (4-6, 4.12 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the finale. The team’s offense often has been at its best when the veteran has been on the mound this season.
Ray has started three straight Giants wins, benefiting from a total of 45 runs of support. That said, the 34-year-old didn’t get any offensive backing in a 3-0 loss at Washington in April, an outcome that dropped his career record against the Nationals to 3-6 with a 5.13 ERA over 10 starts.
–Field Level Media
