First pitch: Friday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Line: Washington +115, St. Louis -125, Total: 9.0

The Cardinals will be going for their third straight win when they host the Nationals on Friday.

Washington has won two of its past three games coming into this one, and the team just split a series with the defending World Series champs. The Cubs won the first game of that series, and the Nationals won the next two before dropping the final meeting. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have won two straight games and four of their past five coming into this one. They most recently won two games in a three-game set against the Diamondbacks, and they’ll be hoping to stay hot against the Nationals here. The starters in this Friday night matchup are set to be RHP Tanner Roark (6-5, 5.15 ERA, 76 K) for Washington and RHP Mike Leake (5-6, 3.12 ERA, 68 K) for St. Louis. One trend that favors the Nationals in this game is the fact that St. Louis is a lousy 4-13 against the money line in home games after three or more consecutive road games over the past two seasons. Washington, meanwhile, is an unimpressive 10-15 against the money line when the total is 9 to 9.5 this season.

Tanner Roark is going to be on the mound for the Nationals on Friday, and that has been very bad news for Washington recently. Roark has really struggled for his team, as the righty has allowed at least six earned runs in three straight starts. And the outing before that streak wasn’t much better, as he gave up 11 hits and five runs but only two earned. The Nationals are obviously not in danger of missing the playoffs, but they are not going to go as far as they want with Roark struggling the way he has been. Offensively, the Nationals will be hoping for some big games from their big three of 1B Ryan Zimmerman (.337 BA, 19 HR, 62 RBI), 2B Daniel Murphy (.336 BA, 14 HR, 55 RBI), and OF Bryce Harper (.315 BA, 18 HR, 58 RBI). All of them are having insane seasons and can step up on any given night. They should be able to do some big things between the three of them on Friday.

The Cardinals are playing well coming into this game, but they have a lot of work to do if they want to get back into their divisional race. That starts with this series against the Nationals, and St. Louis should be happy to have Leake pitching here. Leake isn’t necessarily an ace, but he is as consistent of a pitcher that the Cardinals have. He also happened to shut down this Nationals team earlier in the year, as he pitched seven innings of shutout ball against them on Apr. 12. If he can do the same thing here then that would be huge for the Cardinals. Offensively, keep an eye on OF Randal Grichuk (.233 BA, 7 HR, 28 RBI) here. Grichuk has homered in three of the past five games he’s played, and he was 3-for-4 with a double, a homer, and five RBI on Thursday. He’s seeing the ball well and is providing a big spark for his team.