The Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates will take the field at 11:05 AM at Nationals Park on Saturday
The Washington Nationals picked up their third consecutive win after Luis Garcia Jr and Daylen Lile each belted a pair of home runs en route to a 9-5 win to kick off the series agains the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, Washington will kick off a loaded slate of games to begin an all-day schedule of MLB baseball on July 4.
Washington will take the field at Nationals Park against the Pirates with first pitch scheduled for 11:05 AM, marking the first game of the day across the league.
While they enter the matchup this year on a much better note, they will look to turn the page from a poor past given the Nationals have dropped four of their last five on July 4 and are 4-6 on the day since 2015.
Yet Washington has also announced festivities for the upcoming game at home, both pre and postgame with some new perks for fans available on Saturday.
The Nationals already hosted postgame Freedom Fireworks following the game on Friday night with a special 50/50 raffle early bird prize, and the celebrations will continue into Saturday.
The Nationals previously announced that 30,000 fans will receive a mini American flag presented by America250, available at all gates, with a pregame happy hour featuring a live DJ along with free 25 oz. select beer at select concession locations. Washington is also accommodating for the heat wave sweeping the DMV with fans permitted to bring two empty or factory sealed, unfrozen water bottles into Nationals Park. Washington will also offer a 'Firecracker Footlong,' a loaded hot dog with roasted red peppers, shredded white cheddar and fried blue potato shreds, along with a 'Liberty Shake,' a raspberry, vanilla and blueberry loaded milkshake.
Zack Littell is set to take the mound where he will look to avoid his record dropping to .500 overall this season. Saturday also marks the second career start on Independence Day in as many years for Littell as the 30 year old right hander has allowed at least two earned runs in each of his last four appearances and eight total runs over his last 14 innings pitched.
The Nationals will look to keep the good news rolling into Saturday night when the list of reserves in the 2026 MLB All Star game are officially announced with all eyes on James Wood earning a nod. CJ Abrams, meanwhile, is in position to become a starter.
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