The Los Angeles Dodgers are already guaranteed back-to-back series victories on their road trip, but a win Sunday night would mean a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. That doesn’t figure to be an easy task as they face Stephen Strasburg in the nationally televised game.
He takes the mound in the midst of a scoreless streak that spans 34 innings across four starts. The Dodgers do have previous experience in snapping a streak the right-hander
Last season, Strasburg was 13-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 17 starts when he faced the Dodgers on July 21. They handed Strasburg his first loss of the season, snapping his franchise-best 16-game winning streak (dated back to 2015) in the process.
Overall this season, Strasburg is 13-4 with a 2.64 ERA, 2.79 FIP and 1.03 WHIP. He’s struck out at least seven batters in each of his past five starts.
Strasburg faced the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in June, and despite only allowing two runs (one earned) over six innings, he took the loss in a duel with Clayton Kershaw. Adrian Gonzalez is a career 7-for-15 off the Nationals righty, while Justin Turner is 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs.
Hyun-Jin Ryu was skipped in the series with the San Francisco Giants and now starts for the first time since Sept. 5. He’s 5-7 with one save, a 3.59 ERA, 4.58 FIP and 1.34 WHIP in 22 games (21 starts) this season.
Two of his best outings have come in front of a national audience, as Ryu threw a combined 14 scoreless innings and struck out 15 in a back-to-back starts that were ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecasts.
Ryu’s lone start of his career against the Nationals came this season, when he allowed four runs over seven innings and took the loss.
The Dodgers can extend their winning streak to five games and lower the magic number to clinch the National League West to four.
Dodgers lineup:
CF: Chris Taylor
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Cody Bellinger
RF: Yasiel Puig
LF: Curtis Granderson
C: Yasmani Grandal
2B: Logan Forsythe
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu
Nationals lineup:
SS: Trea Turner
RF: Jayson Werth
3B: Anthony Rendon
2B: Daniel Murphy
1B: Ryan Zimmerman
LF: Howie Kendrick
CF: Michael A. Taylor
C: Matt Wieters
P: Stephen Strasburg
