Los Angeles sent Roki Sasaki to the mound Sunday, April 5, with a three-game sweep in reach after the Dodgers opened the series with two lopsided wins over the Washington Nationals. Foster Griffin was set to start for Washington as the clubs closed out a series that had already tilted heavily to one side.
The Dodgers entered the day at 6-2 and in first place in the NL West, while the Nationals were 3-5 and fifth in the NL East. Los Angeles had won the first two games by a combined 23-11, scoring at least 10 runs in each, so Sunday was less about whether the Dodgers had control and more about whether they would finish the job.
Sasaki came in with a 0-1 record, a 2.25 ERA, four strikeouts and a 1.50 WHIP. Griffin was 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA, five strikeouts and a 1.00 WHIP. The matchup was available on + and MLB.TV, giving viewers a chance to see whether Washington could slow a Dodgers offense that had already spent two days piling up runs.
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The contrast was blunt. Los Angeles had looked like the team dictating every phase of the series, while Washington needed more than a solid start from Griffin to avoid leaving with nothing. The numbers from the first two games suggested the Nationals were not just chasing a win, but trying to stop a sweep that had been building from the first pitch of the weekend.
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If the Dodgers finished the sweep, it would only sharpen the sense that they were playing like the No. 1 team in the NL West. If the Nationals found a way to turn the game, they would at least leave with one answer after two days of being overrun. Either way, Sunday was set to decide whether the series ended as a clean Dodgers march or a brief reprieve for Washington.
