Beltway Series bounce-back? Nationals take aim at Orioles

The Washington Nationals will be glad to start fresh against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night, one day after a debacle in Cincinnati.

Washington’s chance for a series sweep vs. the Reds and a bid to reach .500 for the season ended in a 15-1 loss to the Reds.

The Nationals now will host the Orioles and New York Mets on a seven-game homestand, starting with Baltimore on Friday night in the opener of the three-game Beltway Series.

Home has not been sweet for Washington, which is just 6-13 at Nationals Park.

The Orioles, who have won three of their last four games, will open a six-game trip that will conclude against Tampa Bay. Baltimore is 8-12 on the road.

The series against Washington will feature pitching staffs that have two of the bottom five ERAs in the majors: 4.60 for the Orioles (26th) and 5.01 for the Nationals (29th).

On Friday, Baltimore’s Shane Baz (1-4, 5.48 ERA) will oppose fellow right-hander Zack Littell (1-4, 6.94), who could be preceded by an opener.

Baz has allowed four or more earned runs in five of his eight starts this season and 10 earned runs over 10 1/3 innings in his past two outings. Last Saturday against the Athletics, he took the loss after giving up five runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out five in Baltimore’s 6-2 defeat.

“You want to play better,” Baz said. “I think we’re doing the right stuff in between starts and game planning wise to have more success. So I’m just kind of turning the page and looking forward to the next one.”

Baz has yet to face the Nationals in his career.

Littell has worked behind an opener in each of his past two starts. Last time out, he worked innings three through six against the Miami Marlins on Saturday and gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits in his team’s 8-7 loss. After giving up 11 homers over four starts, he has allowed one home run in his last two outings.

Littell is 2-3 with a 2.77 ERA in 10 career games (eight starts) vs. the Orioles.

On Thursday, Washington’s most reliable starter to date was torched as Foster Griffin gave up nine runs in 4 1/3 innings. The Nationals mustered only three hits against Chase Burns and the Reds’ bullpen.

The defeat marked the 15th straight time the Nationals have lost a game in which a win would have gotten them to .500.

“It’s not just the .500. You want to be contending,” Washington’s Jacob Young said. “And to be contending, you’ve got to be at least .500. … We’ve been teetering with it, of course. But if we can just catch a little momentum and win a few in a row, we can forget about that number and go the other way.”

For the Orioles, they got a strong start Wednesday from Kyle Bradish in a 7-0 win over the New York Yankees. Blaze Alexander had three hits and drove in two runs. Coby Mayo had two hits, including an RBI double, and Adley Rutschman homered and drove in three runs.

“I think that’s what we’re capable of,” Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz said. “We’ve shown it. We’ve shown we can play a game like this. So, for our guys, it’s just anchoring to it, being consistent with it and being diligent with our work.”

–Field Level Media