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Nats close out wild weekend with finale vs. White Sox

Jun 26, 2011 - 2:41 PM (Sports Network) - Despite the rotating coaching carousel that has taken place over the past week, the Washington Nationals will try to continue their winning ways when they take on the Chicago White Sox in the finale of a three- game set at U.S. Cellular Field.

After completing a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners Jim Riggleman abruptly stepped down due to contractual issues. Bench coach John McLaren was named the interim head coach, but that isn't expected to last long with Davey Johnson reportedly set to take over the role by Monday.

McLaren, meanwhile, is expected to be reassigned into a scouting role.

Regardless of the coach, the Nats continue to progress and will look to bounce back into the win column this afternoon when they send Livan Hernandez to the hill. Hernandez has had a rough year thus far, and rolls into this game with a 4-8 ledger. At 36, Hernandez does not have much heat left in that arm, but instead he uses an array of off-speed pitches to strike down his opposition.

The last time the Cuban native was on the hill he surrendered five runs -- four earned -- on 10 hits in just four innings of work. Despite the poor effort, the Nationals still grabbed a victory.

Pitching on the road this season has been tough for the 36-year-old. In eight starts outside of D.C. the crafty righty is 0-6 with a 5.66 earned run average.

His numbers against the White Sox are not much better, as Hernandez is just 1-2 in three outings against the Pale Hoes and that comes along with an ERA of 6.88.

The White Sox will hand the ball to Phil Humber, who is riding a rather impressive winning streak. Throughout a baseball there are plenty of surprising performances and Humber's is right near the top of the list.

Humber did not pitch more than 50 combined innings in his first five years and spent those seasons with three different teams. However, with the White Sox, he has racked up a 7-3 ledger with an even stronger ERA of 2.90.

The right-hander has claimed four straight victories and the most recent win came against Arizona. In the win over the Diamondbacks, the 27-year-old allowed just two runs in seven innings and also racked up five strike outs.

On Saturday, Chicago's relievers were able to silence the Washington bats as the White Sox beat the Nationals, 3-0.

After starter John Danks left the game in the second inning with a strained right oblique, Brian Bruney, Jake Peavy and Sergio Santos combined for 7 1/3 shutout innings to get Chicago its fifth win in seven games.

Peavy (4-1) earned the win in his first career relief appearance in 239 games.

"I felt fine, I felt better today than I did on my start the other day," Peavy said. "I needed to do it for my team, that's the bottom line. We had to find a way to win the game to give us a chance to win the series tomorrow."

Ramon Castro went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Carlos Quentin knocked in a run for the White Sox.

Ian Desmond and Roger Bernadina had the only two hits for Washington, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Tom Gorzelanny (2-6) was tagged with the loss after giving up one run on seven hits over seven frames.

"Going 14 innings and using every single guy out there (yesterday) I kind of realized today was a big day," Gorzelanny said. "I had to go out there and give it everything I had to go as far as I could in this game."

The White Sox swept a three-game set from the Nats last year.