Washington hits the road to Milwaukee: Let's take a look at the projected pitching matchups for the series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Friday, August 20, TBD vs. LHP Brett Anderson (4-6, 4.09 ERA) | First Pitch: 8:010 pm

After a day off, the Nationals return Friday against Brett Anderson. After the injury to Joe Ross, this spot in the rotation may see some turnover to finish off the rest of the season. We may get to see veteran Sean Nolin who pitched three innings in an August 12th loss to the Mets.

With Brett Anderson on the mound, it remains to be seen what kind of outing the Brewers will receive from him. He has been fairly inconsistent this season, pitching games with low inning counts as well as a normal six or seven innings. In April, Anderson pitched against the Nationals, going three innings on 85 pitches. Lifetime, he has a 8.64 ERA in two appearances against Washington.

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

Saturday, August 21, LHP Patrick Corbin (6-11, 5.83 ERA) vs. LHP Eric Lauer (4-4, 3.44 ERA) | First Pitch: 4:05 pm

Saturday afternoon will feature the still struggling Patrick Corbin against the Brewers. Corbin, who has seemingly figured out a way to pitch well twice through the lineup, has given up four or more runs in his last six starts. His ERA in those games is a putrid 7.83 while the Nationals lost each of those games. In 10 appearances against the Brewers Corbin has a 4.94 ERA over his career.

Facing Corbin is young lefty Eric Lauer, who has a nice 3.44 ERA on the season in 16 appearances. Lauer has started eight out of nine games since June 14th and has only given up more than three runs one time in that span. Even in his bullpen appearances, Lauer has still pitched multiple innings each time. He has actually started all three of his appearances against the Nationals between 2018 and 2019 going 0-1 with an ERA of 2.89.

Sunday, August 22, RHP Paolo Espino (3-4, 4.16 ERA) vs. RHP Adrian Houser (7-5, 3.55 ERA) | First Pitch: 2:10 pm

The final game of this series will give Espino to redeem himself after his rough last outing against Atlanta. In that game, he pitched four innings on 77 pitches giving up five runs. While he has been very good most of this season, Espino has gradually started to show some cracks since the start of July. Over that time in eight starts, his ERA is 6.31. In his career, Espino has only pitched one total inning against Milwaukee, giving up just one hit.

Facing Espino is right-hander Adrian Houser who has a very respectable 3.55 ERA and has started in all but two of his appearances. Since May 21st, Houser has pitched at least four innings in every one of his appearances. Over that time frame, Houser has a 3.50 ERA which is slightly better than his season average. In his career, he has faced the Nationals twice and only has a 1.00 ERA.

Series Notes: Milwaukee Brewers

• At 74-47, the Brewers are 1st in the NL Central, 9.5 games ahead of the 2nd place Reds.
• The Brewers have won 8 of 9 prior to the Thursday night finale against the Cardinals.
• Center Fielder Avisail Garcia leads the Brewers in average, hits, RBI, home runs, and OBP.
• The Brewers have a team ERA of 3.31 and have three starters with ERAs under 2.50.