Slumping Nationals look to come through in clutch vs. Rays

The Washington Nationals will look to snap a six-game losing streak when they host the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday afternoon.

The Nationals out-hit the Rays 12-8 on Friday night but went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position in a 4-1 loss.

"We left a lot of guys, less than two outs, on third base," Washington interim manager Miguel Cairo said. "Those are the little things that we talk about. ... Move the runner over, put the ball in play with a man on third and less than two outs. That's the little things that we got to do consistently."

Washington has been outscored 39-15 during its six-game skid.

Looking to remain in the American League wild-card race, Tampa Bay will send Ryan Pepiot (9-10, 3.82 ERA) to the mound against Washington's Jake Irvin (8-9, 5.40) on Saturday in a battle of right-handers.

Pepiot is 3-1 with a 3.97 ERA over his past four starts, with 21 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings. Last time out, he pitched five scoreless innings and allowed only one hit in a 7-2 win Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals as the team looks to manage his workload. Pepiot already has thrown 23 more innings than he did in all of 2024.

"They are looking out for me, and that's something that I'm very happy about, because it just means they care about me," said Pepiot, who has yet to face Washington in his career.

The Nationals would like to see Irvin hang around longer in his starts. He is 0-4 with a 9.55 ERA in August and has pitched into the sixth inning only twice. On Sunday in a 3-2 loss against the Philadelphia Phillies, he allowed three runs on six hits in 2 1/3 innings.

Irvin has won his only career start against Tampa Bay, allowing one run in six innings in June of last year.

Brandon Lowe and Everson Pereira each homered on Friday, and Junior Caminero had two hits for the Rays, who had lost their last two games. Caminero is batting .281 with two doubles, 12 home runs and 23 RBIs in August.

Lowe has homered in back-to-back games for the fourth time this season, while Pereira went deep in the fifth inning for the first homer of his major league career.

Rays starter Adrian Houser navigated through four innings, and the bullpen contributed five scoreless frames. After blowing a save in Cleveland on Wednesday, Pete Fairbanks allowed two hits in the ninth before striking out Riley Adams as the potential tying run to end it.

CJ Abrams and rookie Dylan Crews had three hits apiece for Washington.

"It was nice to see Dylan get good at-bats and get some base hits," Cairo said. "And CJ, he's been swinging the bat good. And (James Woods), it was nice to see him get good at-bats and get some (walks). We just need to get the rest of the guys to get good at-bats, too."

--Field Level Media