Jorge Soler returned to the lineup on Friday, stopped well short of catching an easy pop near the foul line… and is not in the lineup on Saturday. Weird stuff. Travis d’Arnaud is back, though. Sean Murphy had made five straight starts after d’Arnaud got banged up, his first time starting five consecutive games since early May 2023, but will give way to d’Arnaud tonight. Whit Merrifield is still hitting second for some reason.
The Nats return yesterday’s goat, C.J. Abrams to the lineup with a righty on the mound, as well as Luis Garcia Jr.
Washington has used 112 different batting orders in 129 games so far, and this is another new one. It’s not particularly intimidating after Garcia, who is finally having a breakout season after being a pretty horrible player for four years, but Charlie Morton’s success or lack thereof has generally felt more like something up to him and his mechanics rather than the quality of the opposition.
