Lineups Game 158: Nats vs. Royals

The Nationals need to score a run tonight. Preferably more than one run. But at least one run after not allowing a score in each of their last two games. In fact, they have allowed zero or one run in six of their last eight games, which is a tough way to win baseball games.

It's an interesting matchup tonight against Royals right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who you probably remember holding the Nats hitless last year in Philadelphia. You may not remember that they faced him again nine days later and shut him down for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings, so who knows if that history will play a role tonight.

On the other hand, DJ Herz will be on the mound tonight for the 19th and final time this season. While other Nationals players have tended to perform worse in the second half than the first, Herz has been the exception. In 10 starts since the All-Star break, he had a 2.76 rating… until he was beaten by the Mets last week, allowing seven runs in 3 1/3 innings (sensing a recurring pattern here?). So now the young left-hander has one last chance to end his season on a high note against a Kansas City team that has also struggled to score runs.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: National Park
Playing time: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 22 degrees, wind 11 km/h from right to left field

NATIONAL
by Dylan Crews
LF James Wood
DH Luis Garcia Jr.
2B Jose Tena
1B Joey Gallo
3B Ildemaro Vargas
C Drew Millas
CF Jacob Young
SS Nasim Nunez

LHP DJ Herz

ROYAL
RF Tommy Pham
SS Bobby Witt Jr.
2B Michael Massey
C Salvador Perez
1B Yuli Gurriel
DH Robbie Grossman
LF MJ Melendez
3B Maikel Garcia
CF Kyle Isbel

RHP Michael Lorenzen