Nationals, Padres hope to continue fast starts to second half

The Washington Nationals will go for their fourth straight win when they open a three-game series against the visiting San Diego Padres on Tuesday.

Both teams scuffled into the All-Star break but bolted out of it. Washington had lost six of eight before the break and the Padres, who took two of three over the weekend, dropped six of seven.

Right-hander Randy Vasquez (2-5, 4.57 ERA) pitches the opener for San Diego. Vasquez has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his past four starts. Last time out, he gave up two runs on four hits in five innings of a loss to the Braves.

Vasquez was acquired from the Yankees in December as part of the package exchanged for slugger Juan Soto. On Tuesday, Vasquez will likely face a Nationals lineup that includes CJ Abrams and James Wood, two of the players obtained by Washington from San Diego in exchange for Soto back in 2022.

The Nationals came out of the break planning on using a four-man rotation for a bit given the off days, but now they're instead going back to a five-man unit, enabling them to give several pitchers -- including rookie Mitchell Parker -- an extra day of rest.

"Exactly, that's what it boils down to," manager Dave Martinez said. "We want to try to give these guys as much rest as we possibly can. Some of these guys are going to pitch a lot more than they have in the past, so we're trying to just stretch this out a little bit."

One possibility for Tuesday is rookie left-hander DJ Herz, who would need to be called up from Triple-A Rochester. In seven starts with Washington during June and early July, Herz went 1-3 with a 5.17 ERA. He twice struck out 10 or more batters.

Wood's late three-run homer off reliever Justin Wilson helped the Nationals upend the Reds 5-2 on Sunday and complete the sweep.

"I just felt comfortable going up there," Wood said. "I'd seen the guy (Saturday), so it was still pretty fresh in my head. I just felt like I had a good plan and was able to get a good pitch to hit."

Wood, 21, has two homers and 12 RBIs in 17 games since being called up from Rochester.

Michael King allowed one run over seven innings Sunday as the Padres took the rubber game from the Guardians, 2-1. San Diego starting pitchers allowed just two runs in the series.

"Our starting pitching was tremendous," Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "Our pitching the whole series was really, really good."

Thanks to that pitching, and some timely hitting, San Diego opened the second half with a series win against the team that entered the weekend with the best record in the American League.

"We've got to play like this the rest of the way, to accomplish what we want to accomplish," San Diego third baseman Manny Machado said.

San Diego is among a group of teams toggling back and forth between the final NL wild-card spot and missing the playoffs, while the Nationals are farther back but still in the hunt as the trade deadline approaches.

--Field Level Media