The Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants last faced each other in the 2014 NLDS. After a low-scoring series, the Giants came away with the upset over the favored Nats, but this time Washington hopes to get revenge.
Jake Peavy, who defeated the Nationals in Game 1 of that series, will take the mound on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. ET for the first time since April 17. The right-hander has been out for over two months with a lower back injury and he'll return to the Giants rotation to open up the three-game series against the Nats.
Washington will send left-hander Gio Gonzalez to the bump to face Peavy. Gonzalez pitched in Game 4 of the NLDS and surrendered two unearned runs on four hits and a walk in four innings of work. San Francisco won the series after scoring a run off of reliever Matt Thornton late in the game.
Gonzalez is 5-4 with a 4.41 ERA and 1.494 WHIP in 14 starts this season, but owns a 2-2 record with a 2.59 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in seven career starts against the Giants. He last pitched on June 21 because his last start (lasted one inning) was postponed on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
On the other hand, Peavy is 4-5 with a 3.87 ERA and 1.224 WHIP in 12 career games (11 starts) against the Nationals.
San Francisco kicked off their current six-game road trip poorly. They were swept by the Miami Marlins this week and surrendered a total of 16 runs in those three games.
The Nationals just lost a three-game series to the Atlanta Braves after they failed to provide Max Scherzer with ample run support last night. Scherzer gave up two earned runs on five hits over 8 1/3 innings and suffered a walk-off loss to the Braves.
However, poor run support for Scherzer is nothing new. Despite his 1.82 ERA, the right-hander is just 9-6 on the season in 16 starts. The Nats are 7-3 in their last 10 games, but they struggled against young prospect starters - Matt Wisler and Manny Banuelos of the Braves - over the past couple of days.
The Giants are 4-6 in their last 10, but their pitching has been the result of their struggles for the most part. They've scored 54 runs over that span, so they hope Peavy's return can help them get back on track since Matt Cain was unable to do so yesterday in his first start since last year.
You can check out the live stream for tonight's game here as well as the live radio broadcast here (WSH) or here (SF).
