The set-up: The Washington Nationals last won a baseball game back on Sunday, May 13 (6-4 at Arizona). That victory gave the Nats 13 wins in their previous 15 games. However, Washington then saw one game suspended and two more postponed due to Mother Nature to open last week. The Nats then lost three in a row Friday-Sunday to the LA Dodgers to fall four games off the NL East lead with a 24-21 record. Washington will now welcome the 20-28 San Diego Padres to town for a three-game series beginning Monday night. When the Washington Nationals visited San Diego from May 7-9, they won the first two games of a three-game series to move within 1 1/2 games of the National League East lead. At the time, the Nationals were on a bit of a run and the Padres were reeling with a 13-24 record. However, two weeks after that series, the Padres and Nationals meet again in Washington, D.C. and the fortunes of the two teams have changed a bit. Since winning that series finale at Petco Park to avoid being swept by the Nationals, the Padres have gone 7-4 and are riding a three-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Nationals have gone 4-4, after losing a third straight game to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday

The pitching matchup: It's a 'battle of lefties' on Monday night, as the Padres' Robbie Erlin (1-2, 3.46 ERA) squares off against the Nats' Gio Gonzalez (4-2, 2.36 ERA). Erlin will be making his second spot start this season, as fellow lefty Joey Lucchesi nurses a hip injury. Erlin's first start of 2018 came way back on April 16 in a 10-3 loss to the Dodgers. Erlin lasted just three innings while allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits. The bad news for San Diego (and good news for the Nats) is that Erlin has met the Nationals twice in his career (both at Nationals Park), where he has given up 17 runs, 19 hits and six walks with six strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings (that's a 16.39 ERA!). As for Gonzalez, he was saddled with the first of his two straight no-decisions on May 9 despite allowing one run on five hits over six innings against San Diego. He then received the same fate six days later, although he issued four walks to drive up his pitch count (111) against the New York Yankees in a suspended game. Gonzalez owns a 3-2 mark with a 3.21 ERA in seven career appearances against San Diego.

The pick: Gonzalez is pitching well and deserves to pick up a win here. However, while Erlin's numbers (albeit in just two appearances) are awful against the Nats, Washington scored just seven runs in losing three games to the Dodgers this weekend at home. Washington batted only .149 in losing three straight to LA. What's more, Washington's top-two power hitters, Bryce Harper and Matt Adams, are slumping. Since leaving San Diego on May 9, Adams has hit only .143 and Harper is hitting .125 in the last eight games with just one HR and three RBI. Make the Under a 10*