St. Louis @ Washington preview
Nationals Park
Last Meeting ( Apr 19, 2014 ) St. Louis 4, Washington 3
Eighteen picks after the Washington Nationals made Stephen Strasburg the No. 1 overall choice in the 2009 draft, the St. Louis Cardinals selected a pitcher they felt was capable of anchoring their rotation someday in Shelby Miller. Two of the majors’ brightest young hurlers meet for the first time on Sunday as the Nationals try to split their four-game home series with the Cardinals. Strasburg needed precious little time to establish himself as an ace, rolling to a 15-win season in 2012.
Miller broke through the Cardinals’ farm system and matched Strasburg’s win total one year later, dominating Washington twice in the process. "Stephen has had a great start to his career -- and Shelby has done the same and has a bright future. You can see why there's excitement within the game (about the matchup),” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny told the team’s official website. Both pitchers hope to benefit from better defense than has taken place so far in this series as the Cardinals scored three unearned runs in Saturday’s win after the teams traded three-error efforts over the first two games.
TV: 1:35 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), MASN (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Shelby Miller (1-2, 4.67 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Stephen Strasburg (1-2, 6.00)
After collecting victories in each of last three decisions in 2013, Miller secured his first win in three tries this season with six strong innings during Tuesday’s 6-1 triumph over the Milwaukee Brewers. The 23-year-old Texas native allowed season lows in runs (one) and hits (three) while striking out a season-high seven, but has surrendered at least one homer in each turn. Miller made his only two career starts versus the Nationals last season, going 2-0 with a 0.71 ERA.
Strasburg followed up his best outing of the season versus Miami on April 10 with his worst against the Marlins in Tuesday’s 11-2 setback. The 2012 All-Star gave up six runs for only the fifth time in his career on eight hits and three walks in four frames. Strasburg, who has yielded 14 earned runs on 24 hits in 21 innings, is still in search of his first victory entering his third career start versus the Cardinals despite a 2.08 ERA after taking the loss in his only turn against them last year.
WALK-OFFS
1. Washington manager Matt Williams told MLB.com that he benched LF Bryce Harper during Saturday’s loss for “the inability to run 90 feet” after he nonchalantly ran out a comebacker to the mound.
2. Miller has held the Nationals’ usual No. 1 through No. 4 hitters (Denard Span, Harper, Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche) to a combined 3-for-21.
3. After batting .197 with 17 strikeouts through 18 games last year, Cardinals CF Jon Jay is hitting .303 with five strikeouts over the same span in 2014.
PREDICTION: Cardinals 3, Nationals 2