St. Louis @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( May 26, 2016 ) St. Louis 1, Washington 2

Max Scherzer appears to have turned the corner after string of uneven performances and will take the mound for the Washington Nationals on Friday night in the second of a four-game set against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals. The Nationals eked out a 2-1 win in the series opener to send St. Louis to its third consecutive defeat.

Scherzer is 2-1 over a strong three-start stretch that began with a 20-strikeout masterpiece against the Detroit Tigers. Bryce Harper broke out of a 4-for-31 rut and snapped an 11-game homerless drought with his 12th blast as Washington gave manager Dusty Baker his 1,700th career win Thursday. Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams, who has seven hits in his last 11 at-bats, had to leave Thursday's game with back stiffness and will be re-evaluated Friday. St. Louis also is without leadoff hitter and team RBI leader Matt Carpenter, who was placed on paternity leave Thursday.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), MASN (Washington)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals LH Jaime Garcia (3-4, 3.59 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Max Scherzer (5-3, 3.80)

Garcia lost his second straight start in his shortest outing of the season, lasting 2 1/3 innings and getting blasted for five runs and 10 hits in a 7-2 defeat to Arizona. He also struggled in his previous turn versus Colorado, giving up three runs while issuing a season high-tying four walks over five innings. Garcia gave up all four runs in the first inning in a loss to the Nationals on April 30 to fall to 4-2 with a 3.32 ERA against them.

Scherzer permitted two runs for the third straight outing in a win over Miami on Sunday, striking out eight over eight innings to give him 38 whiffs in his last three turns. He posted his first victory in five career starts against the Cardinals with seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball in St. Louis on May 1. The long ball continues to be problematic for Scherzer, who has allowed 14 homers on the season and nine over his last four starts.

WALK-OFFS

1. Nationals 2B Daniel Murphy, who leads the majors with a .394 batting average and is riding a five-game hitting streak, sat out Thursday.

2. Adams is batting .396 with six homers and 14 RBIs in 16 games versus Washington.

3. Nationals 3B Anthony Rendon has multiple hits in five of his last nine games.

PREDICTION: Nationals 4, Cardinals 3