Two teams with championship aspirations will meet on Friday night, when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals open up a series from Nationals Park. On Thursday, the Dodgers snapped a six-game skid with a 7-0 road triumph over Miami. SP Kenta Maeda pitched eight innings to earn the win and Justin Turner drove in a career-high five runs for Los Angeles, who is nine games below .500 overall.
Twenty-eight year old righty Ross Stripling (0-1 2.20 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season for the Dodgers. Through 28 plus innings, Stripling has struck out 31 batters and owns a 1.36 WHIP.
While the Dodgers have been struggling, the Washington Nationals enter this series having won 13 of their last 15 games overall. The Nationals were unable to complete either of their two games against the New York Yankees this week due to the rain. Washington is six games above .500 overall and trails Atlanta by two games for the NL East Division lead.
Thirty-three year old righty Max Scherzer (7-1 1.69 ERA) is looking like a strong candidate for his third Cy Young Award. Washington has won each of Scherzer’s last seven starts and he has not allowed more than two runs during that stretch.
