A familiar face will return to Washington, D.C., when the Texas Rangers open a three-game series against the Nationals on Friday night.
Left-hander Patrick Corbin, a key member of 2019 World Series champion Washington, will start for the Rangers.
Signed as a free agent by Washington in December 2018, Corbin posted a 14-7 record with a 3.25 ERA in the 2019 regular season. He was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series as Washington clinched the pennant and later was the winning pitcher in relief in Game 7 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.
The remaining five years of his contract with the Nationals were a slog. Pitching for a rebuilding club most of the way, Corbin went 33-70 with a 5.62 ERA. He led the NL in losses three times.
Corbin (3-4, 3.71 ERA) signed a one-year contract with Texas in March and has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his 10 starts. Last time out he gave up two runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
“He’s done a terrific job since we got him,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said last month. “He’s got pitchability, he uses the sinker in and out, he’s got a feel for offspeed. He knows how to pitch.”
Corbin, who began his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks, is 1-1 with 5.00 ERA in five career starts against the Nationals.
Right-hander Michael Soroka (2-3, 5.81) will start for Washington on Friday. He is 2-1 with a 5.29 ERA over his past three starts. He picked up the win against the Diamondbacks last Saturday after Washington scored 10 runs in the opening frame, and Soroka went 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits. Washington won 11-7.
“Big number early, and you kind of get a chance to go out there and pitch freely,” Soroka said. “At the same time, you can’t let them back in. The thing we always say is step on some throats, make sure they don’t get any breathing room.”
Soroka has yet to face Texas in his career.
The Rangers limp into Washington following a three-game sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays. On Thursday, the Rays scored three times in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure a 4-3 win.
With the bases loaded and Texas leading 3-2, Tampa Bay’s Taylor Walls hit a grounder to second baseman Marcus Semien, but no one was covering first base and Junior Caminero scored from second for the winning run.
Semien hit two solo homers, and Jake Burger also went deep for Texas.
“He’s a good hitter,” Bochy said of Semien. “He tried to put us on his back tonight. We couldn’t tack on. You keep it close and you saw what happened.”
The Nationals dropped the rubber game of their series against the visiting Cubs 7-1 on Thursday.
CJ Abrams, Robert Hassell III and Luis Garcia, Jr. each had two hits for the Nationals, who have lost three of four while scoring a total of seven runs.
“We competed today,” García said via an interpreter. “We had good contact. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the win. But I thought we had really good at-bats.”
–Field Level Media
