Baltimore @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 22, 2015 ) Baltimore 4, Washington 1

Time is rapidly running out on the faint postseason aspirations of both the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles will vie for their fourth win in the sixth contest of a 10-game road trip when they visit their Beltway rival on Wednesday.

Chris Davis had an RBI double and scored a run in Tuesday's 4-1 truimph for Baltimore, which resides five games behind Houston with 12 to play in the race for the second wild card in the American League. The slugger, who is 5-for-11 with a homer, three RBIs and as many runs scored in the last three games, is 7-for-20 (.350) in his career versus Wednesday starter Max Scherzer. Washington's second loss in nine outings was a crushing one, as it remained 6 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets in the National League East with 12 to play. Bryce Harper is 14-for-28 with five homers and 10 RBIs in his last eight contests, but is just 1-for-6 (.167) with three strikeouts versus Wednesday starter Chris Tillman.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MASN (Baltimore), MASN2 (Washington)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles RH Chris Tillman (9-11, 5.19 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Max Scherzer (12-11, 2.90)

Tillman saw his winless stretch extend to six games on Thursday after allowing three runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings of a no-decision versus Tampa Bay. The 27-year-old is 0-4 during that streak with 27 runs permitted in 31 1/3 innings. Tillman has faced the Nationals on four occasions without recording a decision, yielding two runs on eight hits in six innings in his last meeting on July 10.

After handcuffing Miami over eight scoreless innings on Sept. 13, Scherzer settled for a no-decision in the return meeting five days later despite allowing two runs in seven frames. The 31-year-old surrendered a two-run homer to Christian Yelich, marking the seventh time he's been taken deep in his last five starts. Scherzer improved to 4-1 in his career versus Baltimore after permitting two runs on four hits and striking out seven in 8 2/3 innings on July 12.

WALK-OFFS

1. Baltimore 1B Steve Pearce is 5-for-13 with two homers, four RBIs and as many runs scored during his four-game hitting streak.

2. Washington 2B Anthony Rendon is 0-for-12 in his last three contests following a nine-game hitting streak.

3. Orioles 3B Manny Machado has scored 11 runs in his last 11 contests.

PREDICTION: Nationals 4, Orioles 2