There appears to be some growing tension between the Washington Nationals and the Cincinnati Reds. The two teams faced off for the first time on Friday and leading-batter Bryce Harper took a pitch to the body, something he was not thrilled about. Tony Cingrani hit him in the back on the first pitch in the seventh inning. Harper then got into a heated argument with Joey Votto at first base. Expected to respond, the Saturday game now has added drama.
Harper has been on a roll at the plate as of late. He homered in two straight games before missing a chance on Friday. He is currently hitting .460 with 13 home runs and while being an NL best with 18 home runs and 43 RBI on the season. However, he has struggled against the Reds as of late. The outfielder is 7 for 41 with one home run in his last 10 games at Cincinnati. He went 1 for 4 on Friday night.
Washington will start Gio Gonzalez in hopes of avoiding a losing streak. Gonzalez is 2-1 with a 1.06 ERA against the Reds. He has been strong as of late, going at least seven innings in each of his last four starts against the team. He has been inconsistent with the team. He gave up 11 runs over 10 innings in his two previous starts while getting back with a one-run game while striking out seven against the Phillies.
The Reds will counter with Raisel Iglesias who is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA on the season. He is filling in for Johnny Cueto. He looked strong in his debut, but his pitch count hit 84 through three innings. This is the first time he will see the Nationals and getting an angry Harper is not an ideal welcome. He will not face Jayson Werth who suffered a broken wrist two weeks ago. He was batting .208 with 12 RBI and two home runs. The Reds denied the hit on Harper was intentional, but that is certainly not how the outfielder took it.
