Tampa Bay Rays at Washington Nationals: How long can the hot start continue?

The Tampa Bay Rays are headed on the road for the first time this year to face the Washington Nationals. This will be the first of two interleague series in the month of April for the Rays.

Tampa Bay (3-0) has gotten off to quite a nice start to the season, sweeping the Detroit Tigers at home and outscoring them 21-3 over the series. Wander Franco has been locked in at the plate to start the 2023 campaign with seven hits in 11 at-bats including his first home run of the year on Opening Day. Rays pitching was stellar over the weekend as well, with Shane McClanahan, Zach Eflin, and Jeffrey Springs all earning wins in their starts. Tampa Bay will certainly look to keep the momentum rolling during their quick road trip to D.C.

The Nationals (1-2) got off to a rough start after dropping 2 of 3 games to the Atlanta Braves in their opening series. MacKenzie Gore, who came to Washington as a part of the Juan Soto trade, made his Nationals debut on Sunday and helped his team avoid the sweep with only one run allowed and six strikeouts over 5-1/3 innings. Most of the offense for Washington has struggled mightily however, only scoring three combined runs in the first two losses and after putting up four runs in the first inning on Sunday, failed to score again in the win.

Rays vs. Nationals: Game times and probable pitching matchups

• Monday, April 3, 7:05 p.m. ET) -- Drew Rasmussen (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Trevor Williams (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
• Tuesday, April 4, 7:05 p.m. ET) -- Josh Fleming (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Chad Kuhl (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
• Wednesday, April 5, 1:05 p.m. ET -- Shane McClanahan (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Patrick Corbin (0-1, 6.00 ERA)

Injuries

• Rays -- 2B Brandon Lowe fouled a pitch off of his foot on Saturday against the Tigers and did not return, but was able to enter the game on Sunday as a pinch hitter.
• Nationals -- OF Corey Dickerson was put on the 10-day IL on Sunday with a left calf strain.