Washington Nationals: 5 to watch back home against the Reds

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The Washington Nationals begin a seven game homestand tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. Here are our five players to watch

The Washington Nationals (43-29) did not have a fun time in South Beach as they lost two out of three games against the Miami Marlins. When you look at this series, they should’ve probably pulled off the sweep.

On Monday, the Nats scored six runs in the first three innings. Then, on Wednesday, Max Scherzer took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. But, the team ended up losing both games in heartbreaking fashion. True, they have a large lead in the NL East, but they ended up finishing the seven game road trip 4-3.

Tonight, the Washington Nationals are back home to begin a six game homestand. Their first opponent on this stretch is the Cincinnati Reds (30-41). The Reds are on a rough patch lately as they have lost 11 of their last 12 games and are eight games behind the Brewers in the NL Central.

Even though the Reds are in last place, Bryan Price’s club does have a strong offense. Despite shortstop Zack Cozart being on the disabled list, they are fourth in the National League in home runs (102) and are tied for second in slugging percentage (.453).

While the Reds have had success at the plate, they have struggled on the mound. Their pitching has the highest ERA (5.08) and has given up the most home runs of any team in the NL (115). No starter has an ERA under three and the pitcher with the lowest ERA is Scott Feldman (4.20).

If you move over to the bullpen, closer Raisel Iglesias is 12-for-13 in save opportunities. Plus, there’s a familiar face in the Reds bullpen as Drew Storen returns to the nation’s capital for the first time since 2015.

Here are the pitching matchups for this series:

Tonight: Luis Castillo (MLB debut) vs. Stephen Strasburg (8-2, 3.28 ERA) – 7:05 p.m ET, broadcast on MASN

Tomorrow: Homer Bailey (2017 debut) vs. Joe Ross (3-3, 5.98) – 4:05 p.m, MASN2

Sunday: Scott Feldman (5-5, 4.20) vs. Tanner Roark (6-4, 4.88) – 1:35 p.m, MASN2

Without further ado, here are the players to watch in this series, starting with a former MVP who is coming off having a career long hitting streak

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Bryce Harper

Out of the players that are still on the Washington Nationals this season, no player had more hits against the Reds last year than Harper (eight). While his 13-game hit streak was snapped Wednesday, the 2015 NL MVP has had a strong month of June.

In 18 games this month, Harper is hitting .268 with three home runs and 12 RBI’s (one behind the team lead in both categories). Plus, he has a .361 on-base percentage and is one of only three Nats to see more than 300 pitches (Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner are the others).

While Harper has seven extra-base hits out of his 19 this month, he is doing a good job of not trying to do too much with his swing and getting the singles when the team needs it. On Tuesday, his two-run single in the third ended up getting the scoring started.

Against the Reds last season, Harper hit just one home run in six games and that one pitcher (John Lamb) isn’t on the Cincinnati roster right now. He only has eight at-bats against Homer Bailey and Scott Feldman (1-for-8 with a triple).

Now that the hit streak is out of the way, Harper can get back to what was working during those games. If he continues to work the count and draw those walks (11 in June), that will only help Ryan Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy get more chances to drive in runs. It has to help Harper that he isn’t carrying the offense anymore.

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Joey Votto

If Votto were on a contender, you would think he would get more recognition than he’s getting now. He is one of four players in the National League with 20 or more home runs and he continues to be one of the best hitters in the league in getting on base (.419 on-base percentage).

The 33-year-old first baseman is one of the best hitters in the league at working the count and drawing walks. But, this season, his pitches per plate appearance are down to 3.74 (finished 2016 with 4.28).

Despite those numbers being down, Votto is tearing the cover off the ball in June. In 19 games, he has a slash line of .365/.440/.662 with six home runs, 11 RBI’s, and ten walks. Also, his 27 hits are three behind Daniel Murphy for the National League lead this month.

Against the Washington Nationals last season, Votto was 7-for-21 with two home runs and three RBI’s. In four of the last five seasons that he has faced the Nats, he has hit two or more home runs. He has three hits each against Tanner Roark and Stephen Strasburg, but two of his three hits against Strasburg have left the yard.

While Votto has the same amount of home runs home and road this year, his batting average away from Cincinnati is at .273 (.344 at home). The Nats will hope this weekend that they can slow down Votto and not let him beat them. If he does, they need it to be solo home runs, which will mean keeping Billy Hamilton off the basepaths.

Tanner Roark

Arguably, the biggest concern from the Marlins series was the struggles that Tanner Roark had on Monday. The Nats had a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third and Roark didn’t even finish the inning after giving up a grand slam to Justin Bour.

Over four starts this month, Roark has a 8.02 ERA, has given up 31 hits in 21.2 innings, and teams are hitting .341 against the right-hander. The location on his pitches has not been good and there hasn’t been much movement on his two-seam fastball.

If the Washington Nationals are going to make a deep run in October, they need Roark to find his great stuff again. Only three pitchers in the National League have given up more hits than Roark this month. Two of them are on the last place Giants (Ty Blach and Matt Moore) and the other is Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo (on the DL).

Roark doesn’t have the best numbers against the Reds in his career. In five starts, he is 1-1 with a 3.41 ERA and he gave up seven runs in ten innings last year. There aren’t many Reds hitters with a large sample size against Roark, but Adam Duvall is 3-for-5 with a RBI.

Sunday afternoon isn’t a make-or-break start for Roark, but the Nats need him to right the ship and get his confidence back. If he struggles again, then the offense will have to put up a crooked number against Scott Feldman and the veteran right-hander has given up four runs in three of hls last five starts.

With Sunday being the final game of the series, keep an eye on whether or not Dusty Baker decides to play Stephen Drew and Adam Lind, who have a combined five home runs in their careers against Feldman.

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Luis Castillo

When the Marlins acquired Dan Straily from the Cincinnati Reds this winter, one of the pitchers they gave up was right-hander Luis Castillo. Castillo will be making his big league debut tonight as he gets the call-up from Double-A Pensacola. You never know how a pitcher will do in his debut, but Castillo has earned the promotion.

In 14 starts down in the Southern League, the 24-year-old went 4-4 with a 2.58 ERA and had 81 strikeouts to 13 walks. Over his last four starts, he is 3-1 with a 1.42 ERA and had a pair of double-digit strikeout games.

According to MLB Pipeline, Castillo is the fifth best prospect in the Reds system. Here is what they had to say about his arsenal of pitches:

“The fastball sits comfortably in the upper 90s, and he can maintain his velocity into starts thanks to a clean delivery. While some reports favor Castillo’s slider, which is a bigger breaking ball that sometimes looks more like a curve, the Reds actually favor his changeup.

In his debut, Castillo will go up against Stephen Strasburg, who had to battle in his last start against the Mets, but ended up getting the win. Strasburg is now 6-1 in his last eight starts and has given up two runs or fewer in five of his last six starts.

Against the Reds in his career, Strasburg is 2-1 with a 4.35 ERA. Last season, he had 15 K’s in two starts against Cincinnati. In addition to Votto having two home runs, Scooter Gennett also had a pair of homers in five at-bats.

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Drew Storen

One of the more intriguing storylines in this series is how Storen is going to be received by the D.C. fans. Personally, he should get a standing ovation despite some of his postseason failures because he was part of the 2009 draft class that helped the Nats get to the postseason for the first time in 2012.

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Storen has made 31 appearances with Cincinnati this season and has a 2.64 ERA. He has only 26 strikeouts and has walked 13 over 30.2 innings. With Cincinnati, he has been mainly the setup guy because Raisiel Iglesias is the closer.

But, in his role in the eighth inning, Storen has flourished with less pressure. Teams are hitting .175 against him in that inning with three earned runs (one earned run). His best pitch this season has been his slider. According to Brooks Baseball, opposing hitters are hitting .184 against that pitch and have struck out 20 times.

While Storen couldn’t help the Washington Nationals bad bullpen now and he didn’t end his D.C. tenure on a great note, he should not be booed by the fans. Of course, everyone still wonders what would’ve happened if he stayed the closer in 2015 and the Nats didn’t acquire Jonathan Papelbon.

Next: 2017 trade deadline preview

We want to hear from you. Who are the players you are watching in this series between the Nats and the Reds. Let us know in the comments section below.

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