The Washington Nationals will face the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon looking for the sweep of their Beltways rivals and their ninth straight win. The hottest team in baseball will use the same formula and line-up they have used the past two games except for a couple of changes.
Offensively, the Nationals will be plugging outfielder Laynce Nix into the clean-up spot. The bull-sized slugger should give O's pitcher Chris Jakubauskas (1-0, 5.09 ERA) something to think about when he makes his pitches. Jakubauskas is making his third start since joining the Baltimore rotation in early June and is coming off a relatively shaky start where he gave up four runs on seven hits against the Toronto Blue Jays. Infielder Alex Cora will be taking over Nationals shortstop duties from Ian Desmond while outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. will also have the day off after putting up a solid performance against his former team the past two days.
The most noticeable difference will be the Nationals starting pitcher. The left-handed Tom Gorzelanny (2-4, 4.25 ERA) returns to his rotation spot for his first game back from the 15-Day DL after suffering elbow soreness. In a rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse he gave up four runs in four-innings. He will have to do a little better than that against a Major League Baltimore team who has pop on days its offense decides to show.
The Nationals look to reach .500 with first pitch scheduled at 1:05 P.M.
Nationals Line-Up
Jayson Werth - RF
Roger Bernadina - CF
Ryan Zimmerman - 3B
Laynce Nix - LF
Michael Morse -1B
Danny Espinosa - 2B
Wilson Ramos - C
Tom Gorzelanny - SP
Alex Cora - SS