Marlins at Nationals
The Washington Nationals continue to thrive behind slugger Anthony Rendon as he makes a late charge into the MVP conversation while the team charges up the standings. Rendon and the Nationals will try to polish off a three-game sweep when they host the Miami Marlins in a series finale on Sunday.
Rendon, who leads the National League in batting average at .335, delivered the walk-off hit in Friday's 7-6 triumph and belted his 30th and 31st home runs as Washington cruised to a 7-0 win Saturday. The free-agent-to-be is 11-for-18 with eight runs scored and seven RBIs in the last five games to help the Nationals increase their wild card lead to 3 1/2 games over the second-place Chicago Cubs and seven games clear of the third-place Philadelphia Phillies. The Marlins (48-87) own the worst record in the NL and are not having much success playing the role of spoiler with losses in 15 of their last 19 contests. Washington will send left-hander Patrick Corbin to the mound in search of the sweep while Miami counters with lefty Caleb Smith.
TV: 1:35 p.m. ET, FS Florida (Miami), MASN 2 (Washington)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Marlins LH Caleb Smith (8-8, 4.05 ERA) vs. Nationals LH Patrick Corbin (10-6, 3.15)
Smith is struggling of late and was ripped for five runs on five hits - two home runs - over 4 2/3 innings in a loss against Cincinnati on Tuesday. The 28-year-old is having trouble keeping the ball in the yard of late, surrendering a total of seven home runs among 19 hits in 20 1/3 innings over his last four starts. Smith lasted three innings at Washington on May 26, yielding five runs and five hits to absorb the loss.
Corbin is seven strikeouts away from joining Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer on the staff with at least 200 Ks and is coming off a loss to Baltimore on Tuesday in which he fanned nine and allowed two runs in seven frames. The 30-year-old surrendered a total of five runs in 27 innings over his last four outings and struck out 29 in that span. Corbin has had little trouble with Miami this season, going 2-0 in three starts while yielding two runs in 23 innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Nationals OF Juan Soto belted his 30th homer on Saturday, joining Rendon to become the first set of Washington teammates to reach 30 in the same season since Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn in 2009.
2. Miami has lost a franchise-record 14 straight road games.
3. Washington RF Adam Eaton (knee) was limited to pinch hitting in each of the last two games.