WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals are on a five-game skid after and are heading to St. Louis to face the Cardinals a day after being swept by the Dodgers.
Josh Neighbors of Locked on Nationals Podcast breaks down the Nationals three-game series against the Dodgers, plus gives insight into what to expect from the Nationals series against the Cardinals ... And why fans should CALM DOWN if they are finding this rough start to the season hard to deal with.
The Washington Nationals returned to Dodger Stadium this past weekend for the first time since their 2019 NLDS victory.
Things did not go as well for the short-handed Nationals this time around as they did last time as the Dodgers swept the Nats this weekend.
On Friday night, the Nationals fell 1-0 despite a solid 5 innings from starting pitcher Joe Ross, who made his first start since the 2019 World Series after opting out of the 2020 season.
Patrick Corbin was one of the Nationals players that started the season on the Reserve COVID list and struggled Saturday night in his debut as LA won 9-5.
On Sunday, we saw a battle of two future Hall of Famers. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw barely outdueled Max Scherzer pitching 6 scoreless innings. Scherzer only gave up 1 run through six innings but the Nationals still fell 3-0.
The Nationals will finish up their 2 series road swing with a three-game set in St. Louis against the Cardinals starting Monday night.
For more on the Nationals find the Locked on Nationals Podcast wherever you find your podcasts.
Preview of Nats vs Cardinals series
Washington Nationals (1-5) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (5-4)
St. Louis; Monday, 7:45 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Nationals: Erick Fedde (0-1, 27.00 ERA, 4.20 WHIP, 1 strikeouts) Cardinals: TBD
LINE: Cardinals favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Washington Nationals enter the matchup as losers of their last five games.
The Cardinals went 14-13 in home games in 2020. St. Louis pitchers had an ERA of 3.90 last season while striking out 7.7 hitters per game.
The Nationals went 11-16 away from home in 2020. Washington averaged 8.6 hits with 3.2 extra base hits per game and 112 total doubles last season.
The teams meet for the first time this season.
INJURIES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas: (right shoulder), Kwang Hyun Kim: (back), Dakota Hudson: (right elbow), Tyler O'Neill: (right groin), Harrison Bader: (right forearm).
Nationals: Will Harris: (hand).