Giants at Nationals
The San Francisco Giants are struggling to score runs through the first two-plus weeks of the season and were nearly no-hit on Sunday, but the team morale is still high. The Giants will try to get the bats going when they begin an eight-game road trip by visiting the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
San Francisco totaled nine runs in taking the first three of a four-game series against Colorado over the weekend but managed only Evan Longoria's single in Sunday's 4-0 setback. "I think everybody feels pretty good about the way we played in this series," Longoria told reporters. "Taking three out of four from a divisional team is a good thing. Just from my perception of it, the 18-inning game that we ended up winning, those were games that last year we were losing. And then to come back the next day and get another win is huge. It's a big morale boost when you win games like that." The Nationals were crushing the ball before running into Pittsburgh and scoring three runs in three straight games - dropping two. Washington will try to get the bats moving against Giants right-hander Dereck Rodriguez while countering with righty Stephen Strasburg.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco), MASN (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Dereck Rodriguez (1-2, 4.15 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Stephen Strasburg (1-0, 5.40)
Rodriguez is still waiting for the San Francisco offense to score more than three runs in one of his outings and was a tough-luck loser against San Diego on Wednesday. The 26-year-old allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings while striking out five but came out on the wrong end of a 3-1 final score. Rodriguez faced Washington once during his 2018 rookie campaign and was knocked around for five runs on six hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings to absorb the loss.
Strasburg scattered three hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings to earn a win over the New York Mets on April 4 but was not nearly as sharp at Philadelphia last Tuesday. The former No. 1 overall draft pick was reached for six runs on as many hits - two homers - in four frames and only avoided a loss because the offense exploded for nine runs after the fifth inning. Strasburg, who got an extra day of rest after that outing, last faced San Francisco on June 8 last season and lasted two innings before going down with a shoulder injury that kept him out over a month.
WALK-OFFS
1. Nationals 3B Anthony Rendon is enjoying a 13-game hitting streak.
2. Giants OF Tyler Austin (elbow) sat out Sunday and is day-to-day.
3. Washington 2B Howie Kendrick is 8-for-14 with seven runs scored, five extra-base hits and five RBIs in his last six games.