Washington Nationals vs Baltimore Orioles Game Preview

After splitting a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Washington Nationals now welcome the Baltimore Orioles to town for a make-up game to settle their series from July 7-10.

Teams

Washington Nationals (60-49, 1st in NL East) vs Baltimore Orioles (62-48, 1st in AL East)

Schedule

Game 1: Monday, August 4 @ 7:05 PM EST

Probable Pitchers (Season Stats; Career vs Opponent)

Game 1: Tanner Roark (11-6, 2.74; N/A) vs Kevin Gausman (5-3, 3.70; 0-1, 15.75)

Players to Watch

Washington:

• Denard Span: .294 BA, .352 OBP, 29 doubles, five triples, 25 RBI, 23 SB
• Anthony Rendon: .280 BA, .338 OBP, 29 doubles, 14 HR, 62 RBI
• Adam LaRoche: .266 BA, .368 OBP, 14 doubles, 13 HR, 56 RBI
• Ian Desmond: .249 BA, .425 SLG, 17 HR, 66 RBI

Baltimore:

• Nick Markakis: .286 BA, 22 doubles, 9 HR, 38 RBI
• Nelson Cruz: .262 BA, .518 SLG, 19 doubles, 29 HR, 75 RBI
• Adam Jones: .284 BA, .480 SLG, 21 doubles, 21 HR, 68 RBI
• J.J. Hardy: .271 BA, 22 doubles, 4 HR, 33 RBI, 105 H

Notables on the Injury Report

Washington:

The Nationals will be without Ryan Zimmerman and Nate McLouth for the foreseeable future. Zimmerman has been dealing with a hamstring injury on the 15-day DL and McLouth suffered a shoulder injury on August first that could, according William Ladson of MLB.com, land him on the disabled list.

Baltimore:

With Chris Davis in the lineup after battling an illness, the Orioles are have their roster intact. 

Series Notes

The Nationals and Orioles play this game to makeup a rained-out game on July 8. Currently, the Orioles hold the 2-1 advantage in this season series after beating the Nationals twice — once in Washington and once in Baltimore.

In two of the three games that have already been played, Jayson Werth hit a homer. When the Nationals won 6-2 on July 9, Wilson Ramos, Ian Desmond and Werth homered. In all three games combined, Washington has hit five homers.

Denard Span has quietly gotten on a hot streak both in hitting and just overall reaching base. He’s picked up a hit in 15 of the team’s last 17 games and has reached base safely in 29 straight games. Over the past 17 games, he’s batting .433 with 14 scored runs and eight stolen bases. Plus, the leadoff man has elevated his game to have the best batting average on the team at .294.

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Brian Skinnell is a sports writer born and raised in the Washington, D.C.-metro area and covers the Washington Nationals, Wizards and MiLB for District Sports Page. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+!