Diamondbacks at Nationals
The Arizona Diamondbacks own a sub-.500 record at home but they have managed to stay in the National League wild card chase thanks to their superb play away from Chase Field. The Diamondbacks will wrap up a successful 10-game road trip when the play the finale of a four-game series against the Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon.
Ketel Marte hit 14 homers in 153 games a year ago but he boosted his team-high total to 19 after swatting a pair in Saturday's 10-3 drubbing of Washington. Adam Jones, Christian Walker and Kevin Cron also went deep for Arizona, which has won eight of 10 overall and is 7-2 on the trek to give the team an NL-leading 24 road wins. Juan Soto and Matt Adams hit solo home runs in the first inning but the Nationals were held off the scoreboard the rest of the way to also fall below .500 at home (16-17). Trea Turner had three hits for Washington, which will send Anibal Sanchez, who is seeking career win No. 100, to the mound Sunday to oppose Archie Bradley.
TV: 1:35 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, MASN2 (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Diamondbacks RH Archie Bradley (2-3, 4.26 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Anibal Sanchez (2-6, 3.92)
With two starters sidelined by injury, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo will turn to Bradley, who has made all 29 appearances out of the bullpen but has pitched beyond two innings only once. Bradley has allowed two hits over four straight scoreless appearances, including an inning in the series opener, and is expected to give way to Zack Godley for what should be an abbreviated outing. Godley, who made eight starts this season, tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings at Philadelphia on Monday.
Sanchez was in the midst of a five-start losing streak before he was forced to exit a matchup against the New York Mets after only 1 1/3 innings on May 16 due to a hamstring injury. The 35-year-old Venezuelan has been a different pitcher since his return to the rotation, going 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA in his last three turns while yielding two runs and nine hits in 17 1/3 innings. Nick Ahmed has three doubles in five at-bats against Sanchez, who is 4-1 with a 4.25 ERA against Arizona.
WALK-OFFS
1. Marte has hit safely in seven of the nine games on the road trip.
2. Turner is 6-for-12 in the series and has multiple hits in five of his last seven games.
3. Ahmed is 6-for-13 with four extra-base hits in the series.