The hottest pitcher in the Washington Nationals (40-28) rotation will take the hill on Saturday, facing the Baltimore Orioles (40-30) at Camden Yards. The Nationals bats have continued to struggle of late, with the team losing five of their past seven contests.
Edwin Jackson (3-4, 3.02 ERA) hits the mound for Davey Johnson's club, owning the lowest ERA of all the Washington starters over the last six weeks. Jackson has allowed two runs or less in each of his last four starts, good enough for a 2.63 ERA since May 8. Jackson will need to deliver a strong performance, as the Nationals lineup, particularly the heart of the order, has been silent in recent games.
Wei-Yin Chen (7-2, 3.36 ERA) takes the ball for Baltimore. The rookie is 4-0 with a 2.72 ERA in six home starts this season, and overall has posted a 2.21 ERA in winning his last three starts. His worst outing of the year occurred against Washington a month ago, as the Nationals knocked around Chen for six runs and eight hits in just 4 1/3 innings of work.
For more on this series and all things Nationals baseball, please head over to Federal Baseball. You can also check out Camden Chat, SB Nation's Baltimore Orioles blog, for some perspective from the other dugout. As always, check out the SB Nation Major League Baseball hub page for more infer on this and all MLB series.