Washington Nationals

Nationals face hot Diamondbacks pitcher Corbin (Apr 28, 2018)

Published Apr. 28, 2018 12:53 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- Left-hander Patrick Corbin and the Arizona Diamondbacks look to continue their sizzling starts on Saturday against the Washington Nationals.

Corbin (4-0, 1.89 ERA) has 48 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings, and ranks second in the majors in opponent's batting average (.140) and third in walks and hits per innings pitched (0.660).

The reigning National League Player of the Week, Corbin was 2-0 for the week ending April 22 after his one-hit shutout of the San Francisco Giants and six innings of two-run ball Sunday against the San Diego Padres.

Relying primarily on his slider, Corbin has struck out at least eight batters in each of his first five starts.

"I don't think I've seen a slider like that since Steve Carlton,'' Rick Schu, San Francisco Giants assistant hitting coach, told USA Today. "I mean, it just disappears.''

Corbin is 1-1 with a 5.31 ERA in four career starts against the Nationals, but has not faced them since 2015.

Veteran Jeremy Hellickson (0-0, 4.50) makes his third start since replacing A.J. Cole in the Washington rotation.

In his last start, Hellickson allowed three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out five in 5 1/3 innings against the Dodgers. He opened with five scoreless innings before Los Angeles got to him in the sixth.

Hellickson, who went 9-12 with a 4.62 ERA as a member of the Diamondbacks in 2015, is 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA in four career starts against them.

In the series opener Friday night, A.J. Pollock homered and scored three runs to lead Arizona to a 5-4 win over the Nationals and Stephen Strasburg. Pollock drove in two runs and finished a double short of the cycle.

Zack Godley (4-1) went five innings for the win. Arizona relievers retired 12 of the 13 batters they faced, with Brad Boxberger pitching the ninth for his seventh save in seven attempts.

"Tonight was all hands on deck," reliever Archie Bradley told MLB.com. "It's kind of exactly how you want to see it. I know it's not going to be that clean every time, but when Zack doesn't have his A stuff like that, that's where we have to pick it up and take it, and that's what we want to do."

The NL West-leading Diamondbacks (18-7) have won five of six and are 9-4 on the road, matching Arizona's 2000 team for the best road start in franchise history.

Strasburg (2-3) allowed five runs over 6 1/3 innings for Washington (11-15), which has lost five of its last six.

"He kept us in the game," manager Davey Martinez told MASN.com regarding Strasburg. "We left 10 runners on base. That's tough. We had 11 hits, but ... leadoff hitter was on base almost every inning. We just have to capitalize and cash in."

Washington -- already missing second baseman Daniel Murphy, third baseman Anthony Rendon and outfielder Adam Eaton -- was without outfielder Michael A. Taylor on Friday night. Taylor, who experienced groin soreness in Wednesday's win over the Giants, grounded out as a pinch hitter.

General manager Mike Rizzo addressed the team's injury situation before the game. He said Adam Eaton, who suffered a bone bruise earlier this month on the same ankle he injured last April, is being re-evaluated. He has been eligible to come off the disabled list for nearly a week.

"There hasn't been a further injury," Rizzo told the Washington Post. "We referred him back to the doctor that saw him originally to get an update on where he's at so we can feel comfortable pushing him into baseball activities more."