Nationals on deck for Cardinals in first road series

Washington provided competition for the St. Louis Cardinals eight times in spring training, including a split-squad game early in camp.

The teams will meet for real for the first time at 6:05 p.m. Monday when the Cardinals begin their first road trip of the season, which will include a stop in New York to play three weekend games against the Yankees.

Adam Wainwright (0-1, 3.60 ERA) will pitch against Tanner Roark (1-0, 3.00 ERA) in the opener. Lance Lynn (0-0, 3.88 ERA) will oppose left-hander Gio Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at 6:05 p.m. Tuesday before Mike Leake (0-1, 1.13 ERA) works against Max Scherzer (1-0, 2.70 ERA) at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday.

Entering the series, manager Mike Matheny said his Cardinals will have “a little less scouting than what you would normally do because we saw them so much of them this spring.”

“But also,” Matheny said, “we didn’t see their entire lineup for an entire game. We seemed to see a lot of (Stephen) Strasburg. It seemed like we faced him every time his opportunity came around. Same with Michael (Wacha). Michael was in that same rotation.”

The Nationals allowed 12 first-inning runs Saturday in a 17-3 loss at Philadelphia. Still, Washington is a contender for the NL East championship with a solid rotation and an everyday lineup featuring Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy and Adam Eaton.

“A good club, no question about it,” Matheny said. “(Solid) starting pitching. Powerful lineup. You talk about that speed and athleticism, that’s something the Nationals have had for a while. Then a good back end of their bullpen. So it’s a good team.”

Piscotty’s pain

Stephen Piscotty endured a horrible first week of the season from a physical standpoint.

The right fielder’s latest malady is a sore left knee injured Friday when he was nabbed at second on a stolen-base attempt.

Piscotty didn’t start Saturday and also was out of the lineup Sunday in an 8-0 loss to Cincinnati.

“I slid into second the other night when stealing and just kind of bent it a little bit and it was sore in the morning (Saturday),” Piscotty said. “So we’re taking some precaution with it.”

Matheny said before the game Sunday that he probably would find a way to get Piscotty into the finale of the three-game series against Cincinnati.

“The trainers are doing a good job of making it feel better, and it feels better today,” Piscotty said Sunday morning before resuming his pregame activities.

Piscotty is batting just .111 (1-for-9) with five strikeouts.

Piscotty’s absence meant another opportunity in left field for Matt Adams, which shifted Randal Grichuk to right field.

“(Piscotty) probably could have gone today,” Matheny said. “It’s a good opportunity to get him a little more rest and also get Matt Adams some more at-bats.”

Rosenthal’s role

Indications are reliever Trevor Rosenthal will travel with the Cardinals to Washington and could be activated Monday or Tuesday.

Regarding a role for Rosenthal, the former closer, Matheny said only that he would be “in the back end (of the bullpen) somewhere.”

“I think we’re still defining that,” he said. “You bring in another pitcher like we’ve done with (Brett) Cecil just to see how he’s going to work and where he fits in and how his role will be defined. I think you just have to kind of roll with it and it will be matchup-driven until it becomes obvious that certain guys should be in certain places.”

Rosenthal said after the game Sunday that all systems are go.

“The next step is live games,” he said. “That’s where we feel comfortable heading. It’s not fun being on the sidelines, especially the first week. I’ve been anxious to be back out there and be excited to make the trip to Washington. I’m good to go (Monday) if that’s what we do.”

The bullpen has been in flux the first week of the season. Five relievers have allowed six homers, accounting for 11 runs, in the seventh inning or later.

“We’re trying to get the ball to (Seung Hwan) Oh,” Matheny said of his closer who has allowed two homers. “That’s the one constant we know of; he’s going to be finishing the game for us. Just (need to) figure out how we can get to him with the lead.”　

This story was originally published April 9, 2017 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Nationals on deck for Cardinals in first road series."