Nationals vs Rangers 6/1 Lineup and Preview
Tanner Roark
The Washington Nationals have had an offensive outpour in the past two games against the Texas Rangers as they have started out the three game series with a 9-2 win followed by a 10-2 win however the Nationals will need every run they can scrounge up today as they will be facing one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, Yu Darvish.
Darvish even facing a neck injury earlier this week will make the start for the Rangers to much of the dismay of Nationals faithful. However the Nationals will counter Darvish and his 2.35 ERA with the surprise pitcher of the year, Tanner Roark.
Roark will look to continue to keep the Rangers offense at bay as well as deliver the team’s third quality start in a row. Roark is sitting at an impressive 3-3 record 3.47 ERA with him being the fifth starter in the Nationals rotation. In his last two starts Roark has suffered losses but it was not a result of him pitching poorly it was a result of his lack of offense support as the Nationals only scored 3 total runs in the last two games he pitched.
The Nationals lineup has turned around their monthly woes in the month of May just at the very end of the month and they are now hoping these hot bats will carry over into June. Anthony Rendon had his first multihit game in three weeks Friday, and then proceeds to tie his career high with four hits in Saturday’s game. Adam LaRoche since coming off the disabled list has hit .333 with two homers and six RBIs in just five games. Both Jayson Werth and Denard Span have turned around the funks they were in as Werth has hit .391 in the last five games, while Denard Span is batting .370 in his last 10.
This will be the first time that any of the players in the starting lineup has hit against Darvish except for Span who is an impressive three for four against the ace.
Nationals Lineup:
Span 8
Rendon 5
Werth 9
LaRoche 3
Ramos 2
Desmond 6
McLouth 7
Espinosa 4
Roark 1
Texas Rangers Lineup:
Choice 7
Andrus 6
Rios 9
Beltre 5
Murphy 3
Martin 8
Gimenez 2
Sardinas 4
Darvish 1
