Washington Nationals’ lineup for 2nd of 3 with Seattle Mariners in D.C.

In nine starts this season, Washington Nationals’ right-hander Tanner Roark has receieved 55 runs of support from his teammates, good for the third-highest average run support in the National League in 2017.

Roark currently trails only Zach Davies of the Milwaukee Brewers (6.44) and Colorado Rockies’ starter Antonio Senzatela (7.11) in terms of average run support among the qualified starters in the NL.

That’s nothing, of course, compared to the run support Joe Ross has received in his four major league starts.

After last night’s 10-1 win over the Seattle Mariners, the 24-year-old right-hander has received 62 runs of support in four outings, or an average of 15.5 runs per start this season.

“They’ve done a great job. They’ve been hitting all year and I’m hoping we just keep it going,” Ross told MASN’s Dan Kolko after the game.

Dusty Baker said he wasn’t aware that Ross received that kind of support, which isn’t too surprising considering that the right-hander hasn’t pitched in the majors much in 2017.

“It’s been a while since he’s been out there, so I don’t really keep those numbers, but he’ll take them and we’ll take them whenever we can get them,” Baker said last night.

As for why some starters end up getting more support than others, it’s random, of course.

“That’s how the years go, sometimes you get all the runs, sometimes you don’t get any runs,” Baker added.

“I really didn’t notice, but tonight we were just happy to score when we did.”

Washington also improved to 12-1 all-time against Seattle with the win and 7-0 against the Mariners in the nation’s capital with two more to play this week in Nationals Park.

HERE’S THE NATS’ LINEUP FOR TONIGHT’S GAME WITH THE MARINERS: