DENVER – The Braves face the Nationals for the second time in two weeks in a series starting Monday night at Nationals Park with opening-day starters Julio Teheran and Max Scherzer squaring off after both got knocked around a bit last week at SunTrust Park.
The Nationals (4-5) have lost five in a row while the Braves (6-3) have won their first three series including two of three games at Colorado to start a nine-game, three-city trip.
Here are five things to know about the series:
1. Monday's opener features a matchup of Scherzer, who won the past two National League Cy Young Awards, and Teheran. Each faces the same opposing team for a second consecutive start. Each gave up five runs last week at SunTrust Park, though only two Scherzer runs were earned in five innings of a 7-1 loss Wednesday. Teheran lasted just 2 1/3 innings Tuesday and gave up six hits, five runs and three homers to raise his ERA to 10.13 in two starts.
2. Scherzer is 1-3 with a 5.28 ERA in his past five starts against the Braves going back to May 20. In that same period he's 12-2 with a 1.70 ERA in 20 starts against everyone else.
3. Teheran was 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts at Nationals Park in 2017, pitching seven innings in each and not allowing a run in the last two. He's 5-2 with a 3.46 ERA in 10 career starts at Washington. Teheran will again face his biggest career nemesis: Bryce Harper is 18-for-39 (.462) with a stunning eight homers, 19 RBIs and a .553 OBP and 1.154 slugging percentage vs. Teheran – the highest slugging percentage of anyone who's had 10 at-bats against him.
4. After going 8-32 with a 5.55 ERA in 40 games overall against the Nationals from April 28, 2015 through April 20, 2017, the Braves are 11-8 with a 4.05 ERA in their past 19 games against them including a 2-1 series win last week at SunTrust. After totaling 19 homers and 137 runs (3.4 per game) in 40 games during the 8-32 skid, the Braves have 29 homers and 117 runs (6.2 per game) in the past 19 games against the Nationals. After losing the opener of last week's series at home, the Braves racked up 20 runs, 22 hits and three homers in the last two games of the series.
5. At Nationals Park, the Braves were a woeful 1-19 with a 6.47 ERA, .310 opponents' average and 30 homers allowed in 20 games in 2015-2016, while hitting just .232 with seven homers and 60 runs (3.0 per game). But last season the Braves won six of 10 games at Nationals Park and totaled 17 homers and 73 runs (7.3 per game) including at least one homer in each game. They out-homered the Nationals 17-8 and outscored them 73-46 in Washington last season, with the Nationals scoring two runs or fewer in half of the 10 games at their home park.
