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Nats hand Gonzalez ball against Rays

Jun 15, 2015 - 2:14 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Gio Gonzalez will have a tough act to follow on Monday night when the Washington Nationals open up a home-and-home set with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Gonzalez gets the call in the first of four straight meetings between the clubs, the first two in St. Petersburg before the series moves to D.C.

Gonzalez is 4-3 on the year with a 4.42 earned run average but winless over his last three starts, with one loss over that span. He did not factor into a 5-4 win over the hosting New York Yankees on Wednesday, charged with two runs on four hits and three walks over 6 1/3 innings with five strikeouts.

The left-hander is 2-1 with a 4.37 ERA in five career games versus the Rays, three of those starts.

The Nationals got an absolute gem from starter Max Scherzer in Sunday's 4-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, with Scherzer flirting with a perfect game before settling for a one-hit shutout.

Scherzer struck out a career-high and team-record 16 batters and the only hit he allowed was a broken-bat blooper to Carlos Gomez to lead off the seventh inning.

Scherzer broke the Washington mark of 14 set by Stephen Strasburg in his big league debut in 2010.

"I was able to execute every pitch for the most part where I wanted to," Scherzer said.

Washington, which won the final two games of the series after dropping the first two, needed a good effort on the mound given that outfielder Bryce Harper sat out after taking a fastball off his left quad in Saturday's game. Harper's status for this game is unknown and he is hitting .343 on the year with 21 homers and 51 RBI.

Erasmo Ramirez looks to pick up a fourth straight winning start tonight for the Rays and has yielded just three runs over his streak.

The right-hander was touched for a pair of runs on five hits over five innings on Wednesday versus the Los Angeles Angels, striking out three without a walk in a 4-2 decision. He is now 5-2 on the year in 15 games (8 starts) and has lowered his ERA from 6.62 before his win streak to its current 4.96.

The 25-year-old righty has never faced the Nationals.

The Rays were held in check for the most part on Sunday by Chicago White Sox hurler Chris Sale, but took advantage of one mistake to win a 2-1 decision and sweep the three-game set.

Steven Souza Jr. drew a leadoff walk in the seventh off Sale before Asdrubal Cabrera connected on a fastball for a go-ahead, two-run homer.

"I was looking for one pitch," he said. "He threw me a fastball and missed in the middle."

Nathan Karns and three relievers limited the White Sox to a 1-for-9 effort with runners in scoring position and the Rays won for the ninth time in 12 games.

Tampa Bay swept a three-game series when it last hosted the Nationals in 2009, with Washington taking two of three in the most recent series in 2012.