The Atlanta Braves take on the Washington Nationals at 7 p.m. ET and we have a live stream available as the two top teams in the N.L. East face off for their second series of the year.
The Braves should be happy to be at home after hitting the road for a week and a half. Before they left home they were 12-2. Now, they are 15-9 and scuffling having lost four straight games. Having been considered the best team in baseball, this MLB powerhouse can't get it together. When their pitching is awesome, they get no hitting. When their hitting is on point, their pitching is terrible.
The Nationals are doing much better. They recently got back over .500 after stumbling out the door at the beginning of the season. One of the low points of their season was a three-game sweep at home against the very same Atlanta Braves. They have played slightly better baseball down the stretch and will be looking to get payback Monday night.
On the hill for both squads, talented young pitching that has struggled a bit in 2013. It's Stephen Strasburg versus Julio Teheran.
Teheran, of the Braves, has a 5.48 ERA, but he has as many wins as Strasburg; just one. Teheran showed signs of solid pitching in his last start against the Colorado Rockies after going seven innings, allowing just one earned run on eight hits and three strikeouts with no walks. Strasburg, on the other hand, got touched up a bit against the St. Louis Cardinals in his previous start. He went seven innings, gave up three earned runs, walked one and struck out seven.
Strasburg, who is known for being a strikeout pitcher, can pick on the Braves as they are losers of four straight games and struck out 17 times in one of their games against the Detroit Tigers... and Justin Verlander wasn't on the mound.
Click here for ESPN's live stream of the Braves vs. Nationals from Turner Field.
