It will be Anibal Sanchez on the mound and not Max Scherzer on Saturday afternoon for the Nationals.
Scherzer was hit on the leg with a ball in his last start on Sunday in New York against the Mets, and the Nationals didn’t want to take any chances.
So Sanchez will start Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with Scherzer slated to start the series finale Sunday.
“It didn’t affect anything,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters, “because Sanchez will go on his regular days’ rest.”
Sanchez is 3-5 with a 3.45 ERA in nine career starts against Pittsburgh.
The starting pitcher for the Pirates will be Chris Archer (1-0, 2.45), who is appealing his suspension after the fight with the Cincinnati Reds earlier this week. Archer is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in two career starts against the Nationals.
“I just want to let (the process) play itself out,” Archer told reporters after the game with the Cubs on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field. “I don’t want to get mixed up, because if I do have to present my case, I don’t want (MLB) to pull anything, any records or anything. I said what I said (Sunday), and I’m still sticking to that.”
The Pirates won the first game of the series on a rainy Friday night in the nation’s capital.
Arriving in the early morning hours from Chicago, the Pirates got another strong outing from Trevor Williams on the mound but he didn’t figure in the decision.
Despite two homers by Washington’s Anthony Rendon, the Pirates tied the game in the eighth inning off the Nationals bullpen.
Then in the top of the 10th, pinch hitter Colin Moran hit a three-run homer on an 0-2 pitch off Justin Miller to give the Pirates the win at 6-3.
“Just a bad pitch,” Martinez said. “We have to iron out that bullpen.”
The Nationals are also being careful with veteran lefty Tony Sipp, who threw just four pitches in his outing Wednesday at Philadelphia. Sipp came on in the eighth on Friday for Pat Corbin, who allowed just one run with 11 strikeouts in seven innings.
“Especially early in the season, you want to make sure you take care of them,” Martinez said. “It’s kind of nice that we’ve had days off for our bullpen and for our starting pitchers, that we were able to push back Max and give him another day. … It’s a long season, and they grind, the starting pitchers every five days and relievers every day. So you have to find spots to make sure you take care of them.”
The Pirates entered the series 3-14 at Nationals Park in the past 17 games.
Rendon has six homers this year and hit the ball hard three other times Friday while flying out to the outfield. He has an extra-base hit in nine consecutive games.
Fans again Friday hollered “lock him up!” as Rendon came to the plate. The Houston native is in the last year of his contract and many Washington fans don’t want him to leave as a free agent as Bryce Harper did before this season.