San Francisco Giants at Washington Nationals 6/11/21 - MLB Picks & Predictions

By: Lance |

Last Updated: 06/10/2021 at 11:23 PM ET

The San Francisco Giants travel on the road to Nationals Park to open a series with the Washington Nationals after the series opener was rained out yesterday. The Giants have been among the best teams in baseball this season, leading the stacked NL West division after winning seven of their last ten games and sitting at 38-23. The Nationals have really under-performed through this point in the year, sitting 8 games below .500 at 25-33 and last in the NL East at 7-games back. 

San Francisco is a top-10 scoring offense in the MLB this season averaging 4.85 runs per game but is hitting .234 as a team, which ranks 17th in the team batting average. Shortstop Brandon Crawford has continued produce in year ten for the Giants, he’s been a steady hand in the infield and leads the Giants in batting average (.262), RBIs (23), and 14 home runs, which is already the second-highest number of his career through just a third of the season. 

Anthony DeSclafani will get the ball for the Giants and hope to continue his strong start to the season, he’s 5-2 with a 3.51 ERA on the year. His last start was another solid one where he pitched 6 strong innings allowing four hits, two runs and struck out four without issuing a walk. Desclafani struggled last season but has been very solid across his career posting a 4.22 ERA and a 3.1K/BB ratio. 

The Nationals have been a very solid team at the plate this season hitting .246 as a team, ranking seventh in the MLB in team batting average, but are scoring just 3.88 runs per game ranking 25th in the MLB in scoring offense. Speedy shortstop Trea Turner has continued to produce hitting .305 with 10 home runs and 30 RBIs, all three of which are leading the team. Promising young outfielder Juan Soto has missed a lot of time but is hitting .279 with 8 home runs and 27 RBIs. 

Washington will hand the ball to their steady ace Max Scherzer who has been an incredible piece of the rotation this season posting a 2.22 ERA but just a 5-4 record on the season. Scherzer took matters into his own hands in his last start pitching 7 ⅔ innings allowing five hits and a run while striking out nine. Scherzer has posted 12.2K/9 this season and struck out 7 per every walk issued but just hasn’t received a lot of run support in his starts this season. 

The Giants have started the season on an impressive run this season but I think the struggling Nationals are able to get the win at home. They’ve struggled this season, but with Scherzer on the mound, they’ll be able to get enough runs on the board to support another solid start from their ace. Washington has beaten the Giants in their last five matchups and even with the success of San Fransisco on the road this season, the Nationals are able to get the win at home. Final score prediction, Nationals win 4-3. 

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