Washington Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas (back) is not in the lineup for Thursday's series opener against left-hander Braxton Garrett and the Miami Marlins.
Thomas is still bothered by a back injury that caused him to leave Wednesday's game early against the Toronto Blue Jays. Alex Call is replacing Thomas in right field and batting sixth while Jake Alu makes another start in the other outfield corner. Joey Meneses is batting second and Keibert Ruiz is hitting third while Carter Kieboom cleans up for Washington.
numberFire’s models project Call ($2,500) for 6.8 FanDuel points on Thursday. Per our MLB Heat Map, the Nationals have the lowest implied total on the short four-game slate at 3.82 and the game total is 8.5. Garrett has a 3.96 ERA in front of an elevated 4.67 xERA this season, with a middling 24.3% strikeout rate and sky-high 47.7% hard-hit rate.
Source: MLB.com