Despite losing ace Max Scherzer to a groin injury just 12 pitches into the series opener on Friday night, the Nationals pitching staff held the San Francisco Giants to just three runs in four games to manage a split against the NL West Division leaders.

Let's take a look at the projected pitching matchups for the series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Monday, June 14, LHP Jon Lester (0-2, 4.19 ERA) vs. RHP JT Brubaker (4-5, 3.90 ERA) | First Pitch: 7:05 pm

Jon Lester will be facing a familiar foe when he makes his ninth start of the season for the Nats. The veteran lefty pitched with the Cubs for six seasons and consistently faced the Pirates in inter-division clashes. Lester is 13-6 in his career against Pittsburgh with a 3.17 ERA.

Lester has been inconsistent thus far and only lasted 3 ⅔ innings in his last start while throwing just 52 of his 91 pitches for strikes. He will need to find his groove and the strike zone Monday night against an anemic Pirates offense. Pittsburgh batters are only hitting .226 this season with a SLG% that is 29 points lower than the struggling Nationals lineup.

The Pirates will be throwing out their number-two starter JT Brubaker to face the Nationals. After posting a 2.58 ERA in his first seven starts, Brubaker has regressed lately, giving up 15 runs in his last four starts. His last outing was against the Dodgers where he pitched 4 ⅔ innings and allowed three runs against them.

(Related Article: Perspective: Trade Max Scherzer and… Trea Turner?)

The game can be seen on MASN and heard on 106.7, the Fan.

Tuesday, June 15, LHP Patrick Corbin (3-5, 6.21 ERA) vs. LHP Tyler Anderson (3-6, 4.52 ERA) | First Pitch: 7:05 pm

Lefty Patrick Corbin gets the ball Tuesday night to face the Pirates in the second of the three game series. Corbin has been fairly mediocre against the Pirates in his career with a 3.53 ERA over eight starts. Despite those numbers, the Pirates have only managed a .220 batting average against Corbin. He still remains unable to pitch deep into games to give the Nationals bullpen a rest. This game will test that once again.

Going against Corbin for the Pirates is fellow southpaw Tyler Anderson, who has arguably been one of Pittsburgh’s top pitchers. He leads the Pirates in innings and is near the top of their rotation in strikeout percentage. While being fairly inconsistent this season, he did manage six innings of work against the Dodgers his last time out, only giving up a pair of solo homers.

Wednesday, June 16 TBD vs. RHP Chase De Jong (2-1, 4.08 ERA) | First Pitch: 4:05 pm

The Nationals have yet to name a starting pitcher for the third game of this series due to the Max Scherzer injury. Depending on the official diagnosis and if there isn’t a stint on the IL, Max could be good to go Wednesday afternoon. If not, we could be getting another bullpen game from the Nationals which could be a toss up as far as results are concerned. One possibility is recent call-up Jefrey Rodgriguez. On Saturday afternoon, Rodriguez got a spot start in the doubleheader and tossed four scoreless innings.

The Pirates starter for the third game is right hander Chase De Jong. He has only made three starts at the Major League level this season, pitching 15 total innings. His previous outing was against the Brewers, where he struggled with command. De Jong walked four batters and threw just 54 strikes on 90 pitches in his five innings of work. He has not lasted longer than five innings in any of his starts thus far.

Series Notes: Pittsburgh Pirates

• The Pirates have been bad this season, they are currently on a seven-game losing streak and have just three wins in their last 13 contests.
• Outfielder Bryan Reynolds is the only Pirates player with double-digit home runs. He has slugged 10 homers and is second on the team with a .902 OPS..
• The Pirates are 14.5 games out of first in the NL Central with a projected 0.0% chance to make the playoffs according to Fangraphs.
• This will mark Josh Bell's first game against his former team since he was traded prior to the 2021 season.
• Nationals infielder Josh Harrison will also be facing his former team. He is just 1-for-10 in his career against Pittsburgh, where he played his first eight professional seasons.