Photo by Marideth Sandler/Nats.Talk

The Washington Nationals are back to .500 and time for them to take their frustration out on the Orioles in this 3-game weekend series in Baltimore.

The Nats are set to start Andrew Alvarez for the first game of this series. Here’s the thing, Alvarez in his previous three starts has only pitched 4.0 innings per start. That means the bullpen would have to pick-up about 5.0 innings. You hope that manager Blake Butera has a good plan.

For the third time in three days, the Nats have made a roster move from their bullpen. This time, it’s Gus Varland who was sent to Triple-A Rochester. The Nats are bringing back Zak Kent who has pitched in four games for the Nats and has an unimpressive 6.35 ERA. The bigger question is, what is the long-term plan for this struggling bullpen?

❝[Pitchers] have to attack. You have to throw strikes. If we’re afraid to do so, we will keep giving the next guy an opportunity until someone steps up, and shows they want the ball and ready to go attack. … The 7th, 8th, 9th, those are big innings. … There’s no excuse. … We need someone to step up. … My job is to continue to put our guys in positions to do the best they can. … When we’re walking guys late in the game, it’s not going to set ourselves up for success.❞

— Butera said in his Thursday night postgame presser

On offense, the Nats are at the top of MLB for the most runs scored this season at 438 runs and that is an impressive 5.34 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.75 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +8 run differential on the season.

Here is manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen chart:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is now large in its sample size. You can certainly start to extrapolate the numbers for the full-season. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

Washington Nationals vs. Baltimore Orioles

Stadium: Orioles Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
1st Pitch: 7:05 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 177 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.