Reds, Nationals open second half lagging in wild-card chase

It's been a season of ups and downs for the Cincinnati Reds and despite the setbacks, the club is still within striking distance of a playoff spot.

The Reds look to inch closer to that goal when they visit the Washington Nationals on Friday for the first of three games to kick off the second half of the season for both clubs.

The Reds are 47-50 and fourth in the National League Central, only half a game ahead of the Chicago Cubs, who are in last place. They also are just three games out of the third and final NL wild-card spot held by the New York Mets, though they would need to leapfrog three other teams to get there.

Cincinnati is also eight games back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.

"I think there is room for us to play better, for sure," Reds manager David Bell said. "I've liked that we've stayed true to who we are as a team and we're in position to do everything that we set out to do. We're not there now."

One area they'll be aiming to improve on is their record in one-run games. The Reds are 8-18 in such contests, the second-fewest wins in that category, ahead of only the Houston Astros (seven). And though they've only headed to extra innings four times this season, only once have they come away with the win in those games.

Fresh off his All-Star Game debut, Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz heads into the second half on a six-game hitting streak, connecting at a .375 clip (9-for-24) in that stretch.

Frankie Montas (4-7, 4.38 ERA) will be on the mound for Cincinnati on Friday. The right-hander is 1-0 with a 6.14 in three career appearances (one start) against Washington, allowing five runs on 10 hits across 7 1/3 innings.

It's been a rough few weeks for the Nationals, who have fallen six games behind the last wild-card berth after being half a game out on June 23 following a win against the Colorado Rockies. At the time, strong efforts from the rotation -- 13th-best ERA in the majors -- helped counter struggles at the plate and kept Washington in the mix.

It's a different story as the second half begins. Since beating Colorado, the Nationals' rotation had a 5.80 ERA, third-worst in the majors. They're 6-14 in that stretch and now own the third-worst record in the National League.

"This is part of the learning process," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "We're going to push (the pitchers) a little bit, (but) we'll keep an eye on it. Later on, we might go to a six-man rotation and see where we're at."

Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin (1-9, 5.57 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday. The veteran is 5-5 with a 4.50 ERA in 16 career outings (15 starts) against the Reds.

Nationals first baseman Juan Yepez has been a bright spot since being called up from Triple-A Rochester and making his season debut on July 5. The 26-year-old has hit in each of his 10 games his season, going 14-for-37 (.378 average) with a .541 slugging percentage. He has three straight multi-hit games.

--Field Level Media