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Struggling Nats and Giants meet Thursday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 7/28/2016  at  11:26:00 AM
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WASHINGTON NATIONALS (59-42)

at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (59-42)

First pitch: Thursday, 10:15 p.m. ET
Line: Washington +125, San Francisco -135, Total: 7.0

The Giants will be hoping to end their recent struggles with a home victory over the Nationals on Thursday.

Both the Nationals and Giants come into this game playing some poor baseball as of late. Washington has lost four of its past six games coming into this one and San Francisco has won just two of its past 11 games. Both teams can really use a change of fortune and the starting pitching battle will come a long way in determining the outcome of this one. On the mound in this game will be RHP Tanner Roark (9-6, 3.05 ERA, 110 K) for the Nationals and RHP Johnny Cueto (13-2, 2.53 ERA, 128 K) for the Giants. Cueto has been incredible all year, but Roark is more than capable of holding his own for Washington. This is the first meeting between these two teams on the season, but they have split victories in 18 games over the past three seasons. One trend worth pointing out for this game is that the Giants are 16-2 against the money line with Cueto on the mound as a favorite of -110 or higher this season. They are also a remarkable 8-0 when he’s on the mound with a money line of -100 to -150 as well.

Tanner Roark has had an up and down season for the Nationals, but he is capable of shutting down his opponents when he has his best stuff and Washington could really use that on Thursday. Roark did, however, struggle his last time out, allowing five earned runs in just five innings of work against the Padres. He allowed two homers in that game and will need to avoid the long ball in this one. Offensively, the guys to keep an eye on for the Nationals are OF Trea Turner (.319, 0 HR, 6 RBI), 2B Daniel Murphy (.354, 20 HR, 75 RBI) and OF Bryce Harper (.237, 20 HR, 55 RBI). Turner is coming off of a great game for Washington, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI against the Indians on Wednesday. If he can keep hitting then this lineup is a lot more dangerous than it was before his call-up. Murphy is also hot for the Nationals, as he has seen his average rise from .348 to .354 over the past 10 games. In that time, Murphy has racked up four homers and 11 RBI as well. He’ll look to stay hot in this one and Harper will be the opposite, as he needs to turn things around for the Nats. He has not gotten a hit in the past five games and the team needs that to change or it will not get back to its winning ways.

Johnny Cueto has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season and his team could really use another big performance from him in this one. The Giants are struggling right now and desperately need a victory to turn things around on Thursday. Cueto was solid his last time out, allowing no earned runs in six innings of work against the Yankees on Jul. 23. He struck out nine batters in that game and San Francisco would surely sign up for another performance like that in this game. Offensively, the Giants will be counting on C Buster Posey (.285, 12 HR, 47 RBI) and SS Brandon Crawford (.272, 9 HR, 63 RBI) in this game. Posey has been solid against Roark in their brief history against one another, going 3-for-6 with a double and an RBI against the righty. Crawford, meanwhile, is just 1-for-5 against Roark, but that one hit was a triple. San Francisco will be hoping that both guys can come through with an extra base hit or two in this one. The two of them can also really use a confidence boost after combining to go 0-for-8 last game.


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