The Arizona Diamondbacks are making an unexpected second visit of the season to the nation’s capital.
The Washington Nationals, coming off a rare home victory, will oppose the Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon in a makeup game.
Beginning with a June 6 game in Washington, the Diamondbacks have won seven of their past eight road games. The Nationals are coming off their first home victory in 10 tries.
Washington blanked the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Wednesday, the Nationals’ second shutout win of the season. That result snapped a five-game overall losing streak and was just the Nationals’ third victory in the past 16 games.
“A good, clean game for us,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “Forget about what happened yesterday, forget about what happened the day before. Take care of today. Let’s continue to do that.”
The Diamondbacks earned a 5-1 road victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, winning for the second time in the three-game series.
Arizona was busy on the basepaths, tying a franchise record with seven stolen bases. Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll had two swipes apiece.
“Our guys do homework and pay attention and take advantage of some situations,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
The Thursday game is the makeup of a June 8 postponement stemming from air-quality issues created by smoke from wildfires in Canada. The Diamondbacks won both games played in that series, and Arizona also won two of three meetings with Washington in Phoenix from May 5-7.
For the Diamondbacks, this game comes as a one-day stopover between visits to Milwaukee and San Francisco.
Washington will be without outfielder Victor Robles, who went on the 10-day injured list on Wednesday due to back spasms. The transaction came a day after starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore seemed angered by what he perceived as a lack of effort on Robles’ part pursuing a flyball. Outfielder Derek Hill replaced Robles on the active roster.
“The more I watched his jumps and stuff, something didn’t look that right, but he kept telling me he was fine,” Martinez said of Robles.
On the pitching front, the Nationals put reliever Carl Edwards Jr. on the IL due to right shoulder inflammation and filled his spot with Joe La Sorsa.
Right-hander Jake Irvin (1-3, 5.25 ERA) will be the Nationals’ starter on Thursday. He hasn’t won since prevailing in his first big-league decision May 8 at San Francisco. Washington has lost six consecutive games started by the rookie.
That stretch includes Arizona’s 10-5 victory on June 6 when the Diamondbacks tagged Irvin for four runs (three earned) in four-plus innings. He was hurt by three walks.
The Diamondbacks will go with Tommy Henry (3-1, 4.66 ERA). The left-hander has had three consecutive no-decisions, though Arizona has won the last four games when he has pitched.
He threw 4 1/3 innings in the June 6 game, and he was charged with five runs on five hits and three walks. He surrendered Stone Garrett’s grand slam in the first inning and Lane Thomas’ solo shot in the fifth.
Henry faced the Nationals for the first time in his two-year career on May 6, when he gave up two runs in six innings during a no-decision.
–Field Level Media