Foster Griffin was in line to take on Kyle Schwarber on Monday night at Nationals Park, putting the Washington Nationals starter in the path of one of baseball’s hottest bats as a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies began.
That matchup is the one readers were looking for because Schwarber finished the previous weekend as MLB’s home run leader with 29, and he did it in a burst that made the number feel even larger. Over his previous six plate appearances, he had four homers, one single and one walk, including three home runs on Saturday night against the New York Mets and another three-run shot on Sunday.
The Saturday power show was the kind of night that can change the feel of a series before it starts. Schwarber opened the eight-run third inning in a 15-3 win with a 456-foot blast, later added a 457-foot three-run homer and then a two-run homer in the seventh. He finished with six RBI and became the first MLB slugger to connect on two 450-foot home runs in the same inning. A day later, his second-inning homer in a 6-2 win supplied the game-winning runs.
By the time the Phillies reached Washington, Schwarber’s last five at-bats against the New York Mets had sent home runs a combined 1,690 feet. He also entered with 216 home runs for the Philadelphia Phillies, a total that left him third behind Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire for the most homers during a five-year span with one team.
That is what made Griffin’s assignment the story. The game was not just another date on the schedule; it opened a four-game series between NL East rivals, and the Nationals were asking a starter to navigate a hitter who had already stacked up 29 home runs and was arriving with momentum that had not slowed for a night.
There is still the small uncertainty that hangs over any matchup built this way. Griffin was slated to face Schwarber, but the clean paper version of the pairing can only go so far before the first pitch. The next answer comes Monday night, when the innings begin at Nationals Park and the Nationals find out whether Schwarber’s run keeps going or whether Griffin turns the page on a hitter who has been punishing almost everything in sight.
