First pitch: Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Baltimore -120, Washington Even, Total: 8

The Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles meet up for the “Beltway Series” in each club’s last three games before the All-Star break.

After a rough start to the year, the Nationals have rebounded nicely and are now leading the NL East by three games despite losing four of their last seven contests. In that stretch they played a great series against the Giants, sweeping the three games and outscoring their opponents 14-5, but lost twice to both Atlanta and Cincinnati while having the final meeting with the Reds be postponed. They were dominated by Johnny Cueto in their most recent game, losing 5-0 as they were 0-for-7 with RISP. OF Bryce Harper (.343) has continued to play well and in his last 10 performances is 13-for-35 (.371) with six doubles, a homer, three RBI and six runs scored. The Orioles are in one of the tightest divisions in baseball, but they have done nothing to help themselves lately with a 2-8 record since June 29th. In a recent six-game roadtrip, they were a putrid 1-5 and are coming off a tough sweep at the hands of Minnesota to start the week. Baltimore’s pitching allowed 17 runs over the three-game set as the offense could only muster up eight runs of their own. In the final game, the Orioles lost 5-3 while going 0-for-4 with RISP and saw the bullpen give up all of the runs in just two innings. With a hit in eight of the last 10 games, 3B Manny Machado (.301) has been living up to the lofty expectations once set upon him and he has three long balls in his past five times out. Getting the start for the visitors in this rivalry game will be LHP Gio Gonzalez (6-4, 4.16 ERA) as he goes head-to-head with Baltimore’s starter, RHP Chris Tillman (6-7, 5.57 ERA). Although Washington sits in first place in its division, they have not done too well on the road as evidenced by a 21-22 record as they go against an Orioles group that is 28-17 when in front of their loyal fans. Overall since this interleague rivalry began in 2006, the two clubs have played 65 times with Baltimore holding a 35-30 edge and going 6-2 in the previous two seasons. During the recent stretch, they are 3-1 at home and split the two meetings at Camden Yards last year. Trends show that the Nationals have been stellar (6-1) this year when Gonzalez is pitching on five or six days rest and the Orioles are 34-17 (.667) after losing five or six of their last seven games in the past three years. Injuries have riddled Washington this year and they have SS Yunel Escobar (Hamstring) listed as questionable while OF Denard Span (Back), 2B Anthony Rendon (Quad), 1B Ryan Zimmerman (Foot) and OF Jayson Werth (Wrist) are on the DL. The only player missing for Baltimore is OF Nolan Reimold who is on paternity leave and could be back for the contest.

Gonzalez is not the dominant, strikeout pitcher that he was when he made his way to the Nationals back in 2012, but still remains effective. His strikeouts have dropped to 7.9 K/9 from his career average of 8.8 K/9 as he is seeing less batters swing at his out of the strike-zone pitching (29.5%) with more contact being made (80.2%) when they swing. His control (3.4 BB/9) still gives him trouble, but he does not let too many balls leave the park with just four homers allowed in his 88.2 innings of work (0.41 HR/9). Washington is 10-5 when he takes the mound this year and he has won each of his last starts while going a total of 14 innings with a mere one run allowed on nine hits. He has now seen the Orioles seven times in his career, going 1-4 (3-4 team record) with a 3.80 ERA (1.52 WHIP) and his team has lost the last four times that he has started against them. C Matt Wieters (8-for-14, 1 double, 1 HR, 4 RBI) has been huge against the lefty in his career, but others have not fared as well with SS J.J. Hardy and OF Adam Jones combining for eight hits in their 35 at-bats (.229) with five strikeouts. The team’s bullpen has gone 11-10 with a 3.33 ERA (1.24 WHIP) and is 27-for-37 (73%) in save opportunities. Drew Storen (1.97 ERA, 25 saves) is 25-for-27 (93%) in his save chances and he has not given up a hit in his last three appearances with just one strikeout and five groundballs.

Tillman had been Baltimore’s ace over the past three years, and while his secondary numbers have shown that he was due to regress, he continued to pitch under a 3.75 ERA in each season. Those numbers finally caught up to him this season as he has seen batters hit .322 BABIP against him after three consecutive years with hitters doing worse than .270 BABIP. He has also left a mere 67.2% of runners on base this year and has been struggling with his control (4.0 BB/9). Even with his poor season, the Orioles have won in six of his last seven starts and in his last two he has given up just two runs on 14 hits over 13.2 frames. Tillman has not had a decision in his three starts against the Nationals with a 4.86 ERA (1.38 WHIP) and was great (7 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 6 K) in his meeting with them last season. C Wilson Ramos (2-for-5) is the only player in the lineup that has had success against the righty despite it being in very few at-bats, while on the other hand, SS Yunel Escobar (3-for-16) has struggled in the matchup. The relievers for the Orioles have gone 15-10 with a 2.95 ERA (1.20 WHIP) and have been successful in 26-of-32 (81%) save attempts. Zach Britton (1.77 ERA, 23 saves) has just one blown save on the year and has a solid 41:8 K/BB ratio over his 35.2 innings.