The Washington Nationals and the Kansas City Royals will face off for the second of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium, and the Nationals are scheduled to send left-handed pitcher Mitchell Parker, who has a 7-12 record and an ERA of 5.43. The Nationals will face right-handed pitcher Michael Wacha with a 6-9 record and an ERA of 3.36.

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The Washington Nationals fell to the Kansas City Royals 7-4 on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium. The Nationals took an early lead with Josh Bell hitting a two-run homer in the first inning, giving Washington a 2-0 advantage. Paul DeJong added a two-run homer in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 4-2.

However, the Nationals' pitcher Cade Cavalli struggled in the sixth inning when Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer to tie the game at 4-4. Shortly after, Kyle Isbel followed with a go-ahead two-run homer for the Royals, putting Kansas City ahead 6-4. The Royals added an insurance run in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly by Mike Yastrzemski.

Offensively, Josh Bell had a strong performance with a home run, while the Nationals struggled to hold their lead as the bullpen surrendered crucial runs in the sixth and eighth innings.

On Deck…

Tomorrow the Nationals will wrap up their three-game series and also their current road trip as they face the Kansas City Royals with the scheduled first pitch to be at 2:10 p.m. EDT. The Nationals will send right-handed pitcher Jake Irvin to the mound, who has a record of 8-7 with an ERA of 4.90, and will face right-handed pitcher Seth Lugo, who has an 8-6 record and an ERA of 3.46.

In the hole…

After tomorrow’s game, the Nationals will kick off a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies with the scheduled first pitch to be at 6:45 p.m. EDT at Nationals Park.

Josh Bell has been on a tear lately, going 7-for-14 (.500) over his last four games with two doubles, two home runs, three RBIs, and two runs scored. Over his last 46 games, he’s batting .308/.404/.487 with 10 doubles, six homers, 20 RBIs, 24 walks, and 20 runs scored.

Back on June 12, Bell was hitting just .176/.271/.337, but he’s since boosted his season line to .235/.332/.404. In his last 29 games, he’s been even hotter, posting a .337/.444/.531 slash line with seven doubles, four homers, 11 RBIs, 17 walks, a hit-by-pitch, and 13 runs scored.

His plate discipline has also improved significantly — since May 25, Bell owns a 13.4% strikeout rate (31 strikeouts in 232 plate appearances), down from 23.7% between Opening Day and May 24.

Paul DeJong is riding a three-game hitting streak, going 7-for-14 (.500) with two home runs, five RBIs, a stolen base, and two runs scored — collecting two or more hits in each of those games.

Over his last 15 games, DeJong has hit safely in 12 of them, batting .304 (17-for-56) with three doubles, four homers, 12 RBIs, four walks, two stolen bases, and six runs scored. He’s also reached base in 17 of his last 19 games, showcasing consistent production at the plate.

Luis García Jr. has been swinging a hot bat, hitting .286 (16-for-56) over his last 15 games with two doubles, two home runs, seven RBIs, two walks, a stolen base, and eight runs scored. He’s logged at least one hit in 10 of those 15 games — and in 10 of his last 14 starts.

Since May 12, García Jr. is batting .285/.315/.434 across 64 games, a big jump from the .217/.274/.326 slash line he carried into play that day.

In his most recent outing on August 7 against the Athletics, Parker took the loss, allowing four earned runs on six hits over 5.0 innings, striking out four.

VS. KANSAS CITY – This will be Parker’s second career start against the Royals. In his first meeting on September 24, 2024, he delivered 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out five. With a win today, Parker would surpass his 2024 season win total (7-10).

FIRST-INNING CHALLENGES – Opponents have hit Parker hardest in the opening frame, where he’s posted a 6.65 ERA (17 ER/23.0 IP) with a .295 opponents’ average. From the second inning on, his ERA drops to 5.17 (53 ER/95.2 IP) with a .274 opponents’ average.

TOUGH TO RUN ON – Opposing baserunners have stolen only two bases against Parker this year, tied for the fourth fewest among MLB starters with at least 100 innings pitched — and tied for second fewest among left-handed starters. Since the start of 2024, just six bases have been stolen off him in total, tied for the fourth fewest among MLB starters with at least 250 innings.

HOT START TO 2025 – Parker opened his second big league season on fire, going 3-1 with a 1.39 ERA (5 ER/32.1 IP), a .167 opponents’ average (19-for-114), and allowing just three extra-base hits (two doubles, one triple, one homer) over his first five starts. His best outing came April 22 in Baltimore, when he threw a career-high 8.0 innings of one-hit, shutout ball in a 7-0 Nationals win.

The Royals have traded wins and losses over their last six games and enter tonight’s matchup one game below .500 at 59-60. A victory would give them their first winning streak since taking three in a row from July 29–Aug. 1.

Since the All-Star break, Kansas City has posted a 12-10 record (.545) and is 20-14 (.588) since July 1 — the fifth-best mark in the American League during that span, trailing only the Red Sox (23-11), Blue Jays (23-12), Mariners (22-13), and Guardians (21-14). The Royals sit 4.0 games back of New York (63-56) for the final Wild Card spot, with Cleveland (61-56) and Texas (61-59) also ahead of them. They have 43 games remaining in the regular season, representing just over a quarter of the schedule.

The Royals rank 28th in the Majors this season with 105 home runs through 119 games. However, they’ve found more power of late, hitting 47 homers over their last 31 games since July 4 — the sixth-most in the Majors during that span. Despite that surge, they still sit last in the league with just 34 home runs in 57 home games, including only 15 in their first 44 contests at Kauffman Stadium. Since opening their series against the Pirates on July 7, though, Kansas City has seen a turnaround at home, belting 19 homers in their last 13 home games, including two last night.

Michael Wacha is set to make his 24th start of the 2025 season and the 281st start of his Major League career (302nd overall appearance) tonight against Washington. This will be his ninth career outing (eighth start) versus the Nationals. Now in his 13th MLB season and second with the Royals, Wacha has spent time with the Cardinals (2013-19), Mets (2020), Rays (2021), Red Sox (2022), and Padres (2023). He was selected 19th overall in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft by St. Louis.

Wacha joined Kansas City in December 2023 on a one-year deal with a player option for 2025. Following a successful first season, the Royals and Wacha agreed to a new multi-year contract last November, securing him through 2027 with a club option for 2028.

In his last start on August 6 in Boston, Wacha earned his sixth win of the year, pitching six innings and allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts. His only runs allowed came on a two-run double by Romy Gonzalez in the first inning, but he retired 17 of the last 19 batters faced. The 74 pitches thrown marked his lowest pitch count since May 24. Over his last five starts since July 11, Wacha has posted a 1.78 ERA (6 earned runs in 30.1 innings), the third-best mark in MLB behind Trevor Rogers and Cristopher Sánchez.

Against the Nationals, Wacha has made eight career appearances (7 starts), going 4-2 with a 3.02 ERA (16 earned runs in 47.2 innings). As a starter, he holds a 2.22 ERA with a .173 opponents’ batting average (28 hits in 162 at-bats). His most recent outing vs. Washington was on September 26, 2024, at Nationals Park, where he allowed four runs (3 earned) over five innings but did not factor into the decision in a 7-4 Royals win.

Day: 26-23 | Night: 33-37 | Home Record: 29-28 | Road Record: 30-32 | Home Series Record: 8-10-0

Current Streak: W1 | Current Month: 5-5 | Tuesday Games: 8-9

vs. LHP: 13-9 | vs. RHP: 46-51 | N.L. 24-19