Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals preview: Ervin Santana vs. Jordan Zimmerman

The Atlanta Braves struggled offensively in their opener to the Washington Nationals yesterday, and tonight they will look to split the series as Ervin Santana takes on Jordan Zimmerman.

Currently, the Nationals are holding a commanding eight-game lead in the NL East with a .570 winning percentage. Meanwhile, the Braves have struggled to hit since the All-Star break and are virtually a .500 team. It’s getting ugly.

The Pitching Match-up:

Ervin Santana–who currently leads the team in wins–takes the mound tonight for the Atlanta Braves and is coming off of a good-not-great outing against the Philadelphia Phillies. In that six-inning start Santana allowed four runs while striking out just four batters and walking one. On the season, Santana is looking at solid numbers across the board: He’s got a 3.61 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 3.41 xFIP along with great strikeout-to-walk numbers. He’s arguably been the team’s top pitcher behing Julio Teheran and having another strong outing tonight will be important.

On the mound for the Nationals is staff ace Jordan Zimmerman. Zimmerman is coming off of a really nice outing against the Dodgers where he went 6.1 innings and struck out eight batters while allowing just four hits and two runs. He got the no-decision in the game, but that’s not indicative of much–as should be obvious at this point. On the year, Zimmerman has a 2.93 ERA, 2.75 FIP, 3.12 xFIP 8.16 K/9 and 1.41 BB/9. Those are excellent numbers and should scare the crap out of Atlanta hitters at this point.

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