Sean Murphy returns to lineup as Spencer Strider returns to mound

Otherwise, the Braves will use the same ol’ batting order

Unsurprisingly, Sean Murphy is back in the lineup with the Nationals throwing southpaw Mitchell Parker at the Braves:

The Braves had an opportunity to give Stuart Fairchild another start, but opted to keep Alex Verdugo in the leadoff spot and left field instead. Eli White started and hit leadoff with Fairchild hitting eighth when Parker started against the Braves in Atlanta. As a result, this is yet another new lineup configuration for Atlanta, but this starting nine is their (obviously?) most common so far this season.

For the Nationals, it’s basically lefty-stacking time, something they did against various Braves right-handers in Atlanta as well. This is the same lineup they used in their most recent game, a 10-4 victory over Baltimore, but usually they play Jacob Young in center and slide Dylan Crews to right rather than having Alex Call getting the, well, call.

Only four guys in the current Washington lineup have had the misfortune to face Spencer Strider: CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr., and Keibert Ruiz all have double-digit PAs against him, and Nathaniel Lowe adds another five. Those first three guys have all actually hit Strider pretty well, though — a combined .396 wOBA and .348 xwOBA, which drop to .366 and .328 if you include Lowe’s five PAs.

The Braves, of course, just faced Parker last week, and now have a combined, and very sad, .177 wOBA and .262 xwOBA against him in 55 total PAs. No one has faced him more than ine times in total, but the Braves might need the Nationals’ weak defense to help them out again.