The visiting Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles are wondering where their offense has gone after splitting two low-scoring games.
The decisive game comes Sunday afternoon.
The Nationals pulled out a 4-3, 10-inning victory Saturday night despite stranding 13 baserunners and going 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
“Uncharacteristic with the way we’ve been scoring runs,” Washington manager Blake Butera said. “We need to get back to our approach if that’s how they’re going to pitch us.”
Butera said Baltimore pitchers have been attacking by throwing early strikes.
The Nationals would like to see shortstop CJ Abrams rediscover his form. He is 0-for-9 with seven strikeouts and one walk across his past three games.
“He probably just needs to get back into sync, back into rhythm,” Butera said. “He’ll be all right. … It’s our job as a staff to continue to put guys in position to have success the best we can.”
The Orioles have lost three of their last four games, including two extra-inning defeats.
“Halfway through the season, which means there’s a lot more baseball to be played,” Baltimore infielder Jeremiah Jackson said. “I don’t think there’s any panic on our end. I think we have a great ballclub. We’re just going to keep going every day and keep playing a full nine innings and just do our thing.”
A pair of right-handers will be on the mound as starting pitchers on Sunday.
The Orioles will go with Kyle Bradish (5-7, 3.64 ERA) as he looks to build off his longest outing of the season. Bradish fired eight shutout innings against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, permitting six hits and a walk while striking out nine.
In his past two starts, he racked up 21 strikeouts and permitted one run total across 15 2/3 innings while registering back-to-back victories. He has 29 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings this month.
Bradish has faced Washington three times previously, posting a 2-0 record and 0.47 ERA in 19 innings.
Zack Littell (6-6, 5.40 ERA) will start for the Nationals. He has gone 0-2 across his past three outings following a seven-game stretch when he went 6-0. Included in the winning streak was a victory vs. the Orioles on May 15, when he threw five shutout innings.
A four-inning effort Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies marked only the third outing this season in which he didn’t issue at least one walk.
In 11 all-time matchups with Baltimore, including nine starts, Littell is 3-3 with a 2.52 ERA covering 53 2/3 innings.
Washington’s bullpen, which was woeful in the late innings earlier in the week during three losses to the Phillies, struggled again on Saturday. PJ Poulin and Orlando Ribalta combined to allow two eighth-inning runs, squandering a 3-1 lead.
“You’ve got to attack. You’ve got to throw strikes,” Butera said. “If we’re afraid to do so, we’ll keep giving the next guy an opportunity until somebody steps up and shows they want the ball and are ready to go attack.”
On the plus side for the relief corps, Clayton Beeter threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning, and he got the win. Justin Lawrence, in his Nationals debut after he was claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins earlier this week, stranded the bases loaded in the 10th for his first save of the year.
The Orioles are bound to have first baseman Pete Alonso in the lineup on Sunday. He played in his 500th consecutive game Saturday night and went 1-for-4 with an RBI double and a walk.
Despite a slow start to the season, Alonso has driven in a team-best 56 runs — 16 more than Adley Rutschman, who has been out for a week in the concussion protocol and ranks second on the team in that category.
–Field Level Media
