Miami Marlins (77-84) at Washington Nationals (95-66), 1:35 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - Washington Nationals starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann will tune up for the playoffs Sunday in the finale of a four-game series versus the Miami Marlins.
Zimmermann has made 31 starts for NL East-champion and top-seeded Nationals, going 13-5 with a 2.78 earned run average. Zimmermann will make 32 starts for a third consecutive season and the Nationals have won each of his last 10 starts with the right-hander going 7-0 with a 2.06 ERA in that span.
Washington defeated Miami, 3-2, in Zimmermann's last start on Sept. 20 and he gave up two runs -- one earned -- in six innings of work. He has given his club at least six innings over the past 11 outings.
He is 6-2 in 16 starts at Nationals Park and has made that many starts in his career against the Marlins. Zimmermann is 6-3 with a 3.68 ERA in this series and 2-0 in five starts against Miami this season.
Stephen Strasburg got his playoff tune-up out of the way for the Nationals in Saturday's 5-1 triumph and delivered six scoreless innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and one walk.
"He's been unbelievable for this past month and pretty much all year long," Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper said of Strasburg.
Dating back to Sept. 13, the Nationals have won 12 straight games started by a regular member of their rotation.
Asdrubal Cabrera drove in three runs for Washington, winners in 12 of the last 15 games. Washington is 74-11 when scoring four or more runs.
Nationals outfielder Denard Span had two hits Saturday and broke Cristian Guzman's record for the most multi-hit games in a season with his 58th. He also tied Guzman for the most hits in a season (183).
The Marlins haven't been to the playoffs since winning the 2003 World Series and lost for the seventh time in 10 tries on Saturday. One game after recording a 15-7 rout at Nationals Park, the Marlins fell back into the loss column and starter Nathan Eovaldi pitched well in defeat, allowing two runs in seven innings of work.
Casey McGehee had two of Miami's four hits.
"We just couldn't get anything going on Strasburg today," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.
Miami hopes to have a stronger Jose Fernandez back in 2015 and a healthy Giancarlo Stanton in order to compete in what was a weak NL East this season. Fernandez was out with an elbow issue and Stanton suffered damage to his face and teeth after getting hit by a fastball at Milwaukee on Sept. 11.
Stanton and Fernandez are the future of the franchise and so is starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez. Alvarez is 12-6 with a 2.70 earned run average and makes his 2014 finish this afternoon. Alvarez has won two straight starts and is 6-1 in his past seven decisions, including Tuesday's 2-0 win over Philadelphia in which he posted 7 2/3 shutout innings.
Alvarez defeated the Nationals with seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 win on July 29, but is only 1-3 with a 2.61 ERA in seven career starts against them.
The Nationals swept a four-game set in Miami last weekend and are 12-6 in the season series.