San Francisco GiantsSan Francisco Giants vs. Washington NationalsWashington Nationals Pick Center

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Nationals have enjoyed success against Giants' Samardzija The pitching numbers overwhelmingly favor Washington when the Nationals host the San Francisco Giants in the second game of the series Wednesday night.Giants starter Jeff Samardzija (1-0, 1.62) is 0-6 with a 7.39 ERA in his last six starts against the Nationals, and he has not beaten them since 2013. Overall, he is 2-8 with a 4.63 ERA in 17 games, with 10 starts, in his career against Washington.He will face another veteran right-hander in Jeremy Hellickson (1-0, 2.25), who will make his second start of the season. Hellickson is 2-2, 3.29 in five starts against San Francisco and has not lost to the Giants since 2015.Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon, who has been on a tear, is 3-for-13 against Samardzija."He has been pretty locked in most of the time," Samardzija said. "Maybe we will try something new. He is just a professional hitter; he has a great plan up there. Hitters like that, every at-bat is its own individual at-bat. You have to be on your toes against them." The former Notre Dame football standout said he benefitted from watching fellow right-hander Dereck Rodriguez face the Nationals. The young hurler got the win Tuesday, going five innings as the Giants won 7-3 with three homers off Stephen Strasburg."It is a little bit of a different lineup (with Bryce Harper)," Samardzija said before Tuesday's game. "I will get a good idea there because Derek is a great pitcher and he knows how to pitch. I will go back and look at the video." Hellickson is the fifth starter for the Nationals and ace Max Scherzer made three starts this year before Washington needed Hellickson. The Iowa native made his first start on April 10 in Philadelphia and pitched six scoreless innings.He has also made one outing from the bullpen for manager Dave Martinez.While the Nationals have the edge in starters, the Giants bullpen has been far superior to Washington so far this season.The San Francisco bullpen had an ERA of 1.77 and allowed one homer in 60 innings in games through Tuesday, while the Washington relievers had a 7.75 ERA with seven homers allowed in 40 2/3 innings.Martinez was encouraged with outings on Tuesday from relievers Trevor Rosenthal and Tony Sipp.Rosenthal hit the upper 90s on the stadium radar gun while retiring three batters and giving up one run. Sipp pitched in his ninth game Tuesday and allowed no runs on one hit in one inning."If we get those guys going in the bullpen, we will be in good shape," Martinez said. "We are definitely headed in the right direction with those guys." The Nationals signed veteran lefty Sipp late in the spring training, and he is still trying to adjust."There's always work to be done for me because I've been playing catch-up," Sipp told reporters Tuesday. "Anything that I can do to make myself a little bit more ready and try to play catch up because it's a little tougher than what I thought, going out there (at) game speed right away. But it's definitely manageable. It's something that you have to work on every day, even when you are not in the game." --Field Level Media

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