Tonight at 7:05 p.m. ET, the San Francisco Giants (52-65) travel to Washington, D.C. to take on the Nationals (57-60) in the opener of a three-game set at Nationals Park. The game can be live streamed here. San Francisco Giants fans can listen to the game on KNBR 680 AM while Nats fans can access the game by turning their dial to WHFS 1580 AM.
Madison Bumgarner (11-7, 2.75 ERA in 23 starts) will take the mound for the Giants while Gio Gonzalez (7-5, 3.52 in 23 starts) toes the rubber for the Nationals.
After successful seasons in 2012 for both teams, the Giants and Nationals have had lackluster seasons up to this point. It's perhaps more disappointing for San Francisco, as the franchise is coming off a season where it won its second World Series title in three years in 2012. Meanwhile, last season the Nationals won their first division title since moving to D.C. in 2005 with a 98-64 record before falling to the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series in five games.
The Giants fell to 13 games under .500 following Sunday's loss to the Baltimore Orioles, meanwhile Washington's victory over the Phillies, which completed a three-game sweep and was the first-career complete game for phenom Stephen Strasburg, only gave them enough to be within three wins of an even record.
The Nationals carry a 34-28 home record into the contest, but haven't had a winning-streak longer than five games this season. The Nationals have not scored much in games started by Gonzalez, as he's only received one run of help in three of his last four starts.
One bright spot for the Nats has been Jayson Werth, who has been hitting .418 since July 1 and notched his 1,000th career hit Saturday. He departed Sunday's game in the sixth inning after tweaking his right knee on a slide into the plate in the fifth, but is expected to be available Tuesday.
Bumgarner, 24, has posted 10 consecutive starts of at least seven innings while allowing no more than three runs, and he'll look to continue that trend Tuesday. Bumgarner took a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning in his last start against the Milwaukee Brewers before defensive miscues led to four Milwaukee runs. Bumgarner expressed some frustration after the game, saying the team lost focus.
Nats manager Davey Johnson knows the time for winning is now as Washington is 14 games behind the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves and 8.5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds for the second wildcard spot.
"You're never as good as you look when you win and you're never as bad as you look when you lose, and we've been looking pretty bad here lately," Johnson told MLB.com following a 6-0 win for his team Sunday. "So we just need to keep it going."
The Giants, meanwhile, are stuck in last place in the NL West, 15.5 games behind the first place Los Angeles Dodgers, and 13.5 games out of the wildcard.
"We can't get caught in the record, where we're at," Giants manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com. "Let's just keep our focus."
The Giants took two of three from the Nats at AT&T Park in San Francisco in May, but Washington swept them at Nationals Park last season and has a five-game winning-streak at home against the Giants dating back to 2011.
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