Fresh off of a terrific road trip, the Atlanta Braves will open their final homestand of the 2018 season with a three-game set against the Washington Nationals. The Braves are coming off of a 6-1 road trip and have extended their lead in the NL East to 7.5 games over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Washington comes into the series having won five of six after suffering an extra-inning loss to the Cubs on Thursday. They had won five straight including a three-game sweep of the Phillies in Philadelphia. The Nationals are a game behind the Phillies and 8.5 back of Atlanta.
Atlanta is 9-7 this season against Washington. They are 37-34 at SunTrust Park in 2018.
A couple of notes about the pitching matchups in this series. The Braves have announced Kevin Gausman for Friday’s series opener, Julio Teheran for Saturday and Sean Newcomb for Sunday. If that holds, the team will skip rookie Touki Toussaint after Thursday’s off day. The Nationals have announced Max Scherzer as their starter for Friday’s opener but have not officially said who will get the nod on Saturday or Sunday. If they stick with their current rotation, then it will be Jefry Rodriguez on Saturday with Tanner Roark getting the call in Sunday’s series finale.
Friday, September 14, 7:35 p.m. ET (Fox Sports South, MLB Network)
Max Scherzer (30 GS, 17-6 W-L, 34.4 K%, 5.8 BB%, 2.31 ERA, 2.66 FIP, 3.04 xFIP)
Max Scherzer will make his fifth start of the season against Atlanta on Friday. He is 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA in those previous four starts against the Braves and has 30 strikeouts in just 27 innings. Scherzer has allowed three earned runs in each of his last three starts. He threw a complete game last time out allowing nine hits and three runs while striking out 11 in a win over the Cubs.
Kevin Gausman (28 GS, 9-10 W-L, 19.1 K%, 6.1 BB%, 3.89 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 4.10 xFIP)
Kevin Gausman will get the nod for the Braves and will be looking to bounce back from his shortest outing since being acquired by Atlanta. Gausman allowed seven hits and four runs in just 4.2 innings last time out against the Diamondbacks. Prior to that start, he had allowed a total of seven earned runs in his first six starts in a Braves uniform.
Saturday, September 15, 1:05 p.m. ET (FOX)
Jefry Rodriguez (10 G, 8 GS, 2-2 W-L, 17.5 K%, 15.0 BB%, 5.89 ERA, 5.86 FIP, 5.72 xFIP)
The Nationals haven’t officially announced Rodriguez as Saturday’s starter and given his recent struggles it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if they elected to go with a different option. Rodriguez has allowed nine hits and 11 earned runs over his last 8.2 innings. He has walked 10 over that span. That was after he put together three solid starts in August after rejoining the rotation. Rodriguez has faced the Braves twice this season allowing seven hits and one earned run over 9.2 innings.
Julio Teheran (28 GS, 9-7 W-L, 22.1 K%, 11.1 BB%, 3.95 ERA, 4.84 FIP, 4.67 xFIP)
Julio Teheran will get the start on Saturday and will be looking to continue his best stretch of the season. Teheran has put his midseason struggles behind him with a solid August and September. He allowed two hits and two runs (one earned) over six innings in his last start in Arizona. He has allowed three runs or less in six of his past seven starts.
Sunday, September 16, 1:35 p.m. ET (Fox Sports South)
Tanner Roark (30 G, 29 GS, 13-11 W-L, 19.4 K%, 6.5 BB%, 4.37 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 4.39 xFIP)
Like Rodriguez, Tanner Roark hasn’t officially been announced for Sunday’s start but he is lined up to make it unless they elect to give him another day of rest. That might be warranted given that he has allowed 20 hits and 11 earned runs over his last two starts (9.2 innings). He allowed 10 hits and five runs over 4.2 innings in his last start against the Phillies.
Sean Newcomb (28 GS, 12-8 W-L, 22.6 K%, 11.3 BB%, 3.82 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 4.30 xFIP)
Sean Newcomb will start on Sunday for the Braves and will be looking to build off of a solid outing in his last start. The second half of the season has been a struggle for Newcomb but he put together a solid effort in San Francisco holding them to just three hits and one run over six innings. He struck out eight and most importantly, didn’t walk a batter for the first time in 25 starts. After struggling in his first start against the Nationals this season, Newcomb has held them to nine hits and three runs combined in two starts since.