Nationals Vs. Orioles: Second Battle Of The Beltways Wraps Up Interleague Play

The Washington Nationals close out their round of interleague play on Friday night as they travel up I-95 to play the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles took two out of three games against Washington in their series back in May. Despite all of that, the Nationals still have a three and a half game lead in the NL East. The Orioles are trying to regain the AL East lead, now behind two and a half games to the New York Yankees.

Jordan Zimmermann will take the mound for the Nationals in this game, hoping that the Washington offense will provide him with enough run support to get his fourth win of the season. Zimmermann is 3-5 with a 2.92 ERA, but is 0-1 in his last three starts. He also has 1.62 ERA in road interleague games, but is 0-2 in those games because of a paltry 2.16 runs averaged. In Zimmermann's last start, he pitched six innings and allowed three runs, two earned on five hits and struck out six batters against the New York Yankees on June 16.

The Nationals will have to contend with surprising Orioles starter Jason Hammel (7-2, 2.87 ERA). The Orioles acquired Hammel in a three player trade with the Colorado Rockies. He is 4-0 with a 3.99 ERA in six career starts against the Nationals.

The Nationals could be facing the Orioles at their most motivated, with them having just been swept by the New York Mets. In their last six games overall, the Orioles are batting .159 and have gone 0-for-17 with runners in scoring position in their last four games.

The game is scheduled for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The game will be broadcast on both MASN and MASN 2, with Nationals coverage on MASN 2. Radio coverage will be provided by 106.7 The Fan FM, 1500 WFED AM and 1580 WHFS AM.