Pittsburgh Pirates (23-43, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Washington Nationals (29-35, fourth in the NL East)
Washington; Wednesday, 4:05 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Chase De Jong (0-0, 4.80 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 12 strikeouts) Nationals: Paolo Espino (0-2, 2.78 ERA, .84 WHIP, 19 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: Pittsburgh enters the matchup as losers of their last nine games.
The Nationals are 17-17 on their home turf. Washington ranks seventh in the league in hitting with a .246 batting average, Trea Turner leads the team with an average of .308.
The Pirates are 10-24 on the road. Pittsburgh has slugged .350, last in the MLB. Bryan Reynolds leads the club with a .496 slugging percentage, including 28 extra-base hits and 10 home runs.
The Nationals won the last meeting 8-1. Patrick Corbin notched his fourth victory and Yan Gomes went 1-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs for Washington. Tyler Anderson took his seventh loss for Pittsburgh.
TOP PERFORMERS: Turner leads the Nationals with 22 extra base hits and is slugging .473.
Adam Frazier leads the Pirates with 84 hits and has 24 RBIs.
LAST 10 GAMES: Nationals: 5-5, .225 batting average, 2.41 ERA, outscored opponents by four runs
Pirates: 1-9, .206 batting average, 5.21 ERA, outscored by 24 runs
INJURIES: Nationals: Austin Voth: (nose), Stephen Strasburg: (neck), Max Scherzer: (groin), Daniel Hudson: (elbow), Will Harris: (hand), Luis Avilan: (elbow).
Pirates: Jose Soriano: (elbow), Luis Oviedo: (quad), Blake Cederlind: (elbow), Trevor Cahill: (calf), Steven Brault: (lat strain), Colin Moran: (back).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
