Bubba Chandler draws Miles Mikolas for Sunday's 1:00 PM ET series finale at Nationals Park — a pitching matchup where neither arm walks in with momentum. Chandler (2-7, 4.91 ERA) bounced back with a decent June, posting a 4.28 ERA over 6 starts, but gave up 5 earned runs in 6.1 innings against Philadelphia in his last time out on July 1. Mikolas is a trickier case: his ERA as a traditional starter (8.28) looks nothing like what he's done out of the bullpen (3.56), and Sunday slots him firmly in starter mode. The split is the real Mikolas story. He carries a 1.64 WHIP in starts this year, and Washington has had to run so many arms through the rotation — Jake Irvin (shoulder), DJ Herz (elbow), Josiah Gray (elbow) all on the IL — that Mikolas keeps landing in the lineup. Chandler's command improved in June, but the 5-run July 1 start is the freshest data point, and this Nationals offense is not the group you want testing your inconsistency. Pittsburgh's roster situation compounds the problem on the road. Oneil Cruz (hand) and Spencer Horwitz (hamstring) are both on the 10-day IL, and GM Ben Cherington confirmed Sunday that neither player returns until after the All-Star break. Those are 2 meaningful bats gone from a lineup that already went 0-for-a-game in an 8-run loss to Philadelphia. The Pirates dropped 2 of 3 in their last series, giving up 18 runs in the final 2 games, and now have to close out a 3-game set against a team playing its best baseball of the last month. Garcia Jr. is the reason Washington is impossible to fade right now. He was named NL Player of the Week for June 22-28 after hitting .526 with 6 home runs and 9 RBIs in 7 games — and the production has not let up. Over his last 30 games, Garcia Jr. is slashing .320/.352/.780 with 13 home runs and 33 RBIs. The Nationals just wrapped up a Boston road trip with back-to-back wins of 8-1 and 10-2, and now they come home for a Sunday afternoon close. Short-handed visitors, a starter with ugly splits, and a lineup with a guy who is currently one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball — this is a comfortable spot for Washington.