If it worked last night, might as well see if it works again tonight, right? The Nationals liked what they got from their finally full-strength lineup in the opener of their series in St. Louis, so manager Davey Martinez is sticking with the same one through seven hitters in tonight's game at Busch Stadium. The only change among position players: Alex Avila is behind the plate instead of Yan Gomes.
It's Avila's Nats debut, and in the process he becomes the team's fourth different starting catcher in the season's first eight games (joining Gomes, Jonathan Lucroy and Tres Barrera). Can't imagine that's happened many times in major league history.
Avila will be working with Stephen Strasburg, who makes his second start of 2021 and hopes to pick up right where he left off against the Braves, whom he shut out on one hit over six innings. The right-hander was pulled after 85 pitches in that game; he should be good to approach or even surpass 100 tonight.
Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty is one of the best young pitchers in baseball, but it's worth noting the Nationals have had some decent success against him, in scenarios both significant and insignificant. They of course knocked him out after only four innings in Game 3 of the 2019 National League Championship Series, scoring four runs on five hits and two walks. And they faced him twice this spring, during which time he allowed a total of five runs, six hits and four walks in five innings.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Busch Stadium
Gametime: 7:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 62 degrees, wind 5 mph in from left field
NATIONALS
CF Victor Robles
SS Trea Turner
RF Juan Soto
1B Josh Bell
LF Kyle Schwarber
3B Starlin Castro
2B Josh Harrison
C Alex Avila
RHP Stephen Strasburg
CARDINALS
RF Tommy Edman
1B Paul Goldschmidt
3B Nolan Arenado
SS Paul DeJong
2B Matt Carpenter
CF Dylan Carlson
C Andrew Knizner
LF Justin Williams
RHP Jack Flaherty