Nationals to face their former first-round pick Lucas Giolito

Boston right-hander Lucas Giolito makes his first career start against the team that drafted him when the Red Sox open a three-game series at the Washington Nationals Friday.

Giolito (4-1, 3.99 ERA) opposes right-hander Michael Soroka (3-5, 4.70 ERA) in Washington’s traditional 11:05 a.m. July 4 game.

The Nationals made Giolito the 16th overall selection in the 2012 draft. He soon had Tommy John surgery to repair an injured elbow ligament but ultimately made his major league debut for Washington in June of 2016.

He went 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and that December was part of a package sent to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Adam Eaton, who was an important part of Washington’s 2019 World Series team.

Giolito signed with Boston in January of 2024 but missed last season due to right elbow surgery. He enters Friday 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA in his past four starts and the subject of trade rumors should the Red Sox fall out of contention.

“I don’t want to be traded,” Giolito told MassLive.com this week. “I really love it here. I want to help this team win games to the end. I’m really pulling for us here.”

Soroka, meanwhile, is coming off one of his strongest performances of the season. On June 28, he held the Los Angeles Angels to a run on two hits over six innings in a no-decision as Washington ultimately lost 7-2.

“I think everybody wants to fight for this team,” Soroka said. “I think this organization is going in the right direction. It’s just an inning here and there a lot of times.”

Soroka will be making his first career start against Boston after a previous relief appearance.

Thursday night, James Wood had five hits including a home run, Paul DeJong added a three-run blast and the Nationals hung on to defeat the Detroit Tigers 11-7, taking the rubber game of the series.

Alex Call had three hits and drove in three runs for Washington, which has won three of four. On the day he was named to compete in the Home Run Derby, Wood had four singles, scored three runs and drove in two.

Over his last 22 games, Wood is hitting .361 (30-for-83) with seven homers, 22 RBIs and 20 runs scored.

“James continues to amaze us,” DeJong said. “The way he handles his business and the way he goes about playing the game. He has such an edge mentally. You might not see it physically, but you know inside his head he’s an absolute competitor and he’s showing all the greatness that he can do.”

Nationals manager Dave Martinez won his 500th game.

The Red Sox blew a 4-3 seventh-inning lead in an 8-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

Wilyer Abreu hit a two-run home run and Romy Gonzalez drove in two runs for the Red Sox, who took two of three from the Reds. Boston allowed four unearned runs on two errors Wednesday night and entered Thursday with nine more errors (72) than the next-closest American League team.

“If you look back at the season, there’s been a lot of those (games) that have slipped through our hands and, honestly, we’re in the position we are because of that,” manager Alex Cora said.

–Field Level Media