(Photo credit: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images)

Andrew Alvarez will be in search of a second consecutive sharp start when the Washington Nationals go for a back-to-back road win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.

One of the team's top starters last September, Alvarez (1-0, 3.54 ERA) began the season in the bullpen before getting the ball for his first start of the year last Wednesday at home against the Miami Marlins. He responded with 4 2/3 innings of one-run work in a 4-1 loss.

The left-hander earned a second start, which, at least in the mind of one teammate, could be second of many for a team surprisingly in wild-card contention in the National League. The Nationals were 30 games under .500 in 2025.

'Alvie is a weapon,' veteran Zack Littell told the media recently. 'I think you could plug him into the rotation right now and he's just as good, if not better, than a lot of us.'

After four relief appearances in which he earned a win, a save and two holds, the Nationals tried Alvarez in a bulk-innings role May 29 against the San Diego Padres as manager Blake Butera attempted to plug a hole created by an injury to Jake Irvin.

That didn't go particularly well. Alvarez allowed three runs in three innings in a 7-5 loss, which prompted Butera to cut out the opener in last week's start.

Alvarez was credited with the win when he threw shutout ball over the final 4 1/3 innings of a 3-0 home win over the Giants on April 19. It was the only time he's seen the National League West opponent in his 11 career games.

This time around, he'll go head-to-head with a San Francisco team that impressed manager Tony Vitello even in blowing a 3-1, ninth-inning lead in a 4-3 defeat in the series opener Monday.

The Giants were coming off a grueling 10-day trip that ended with an extra-innings night game that led to an early morning flight from Chicago to San Francisco.

Vitello had nothing but good things to say about his club's performance about 14 hours after touching down.

'Of course you always want to score more runs,' he told reporters after the Monday loss. 'But I thought the guys showed character with the way they played and their at-bats.'

Five Giants got multiple hits in the game, including Jung Hoo Lee, who had four. He's now had four or more hits five times this season. No other major-leaguer has done it more than three times.

Hoping for more of the same will be Giants right-hander Adrian Houser (2-5, 5.49), who has had the benefit of 10 or more runs of offense in three of his past four starts. The veteran is coming a Thursday start in which he limited the Milwaukee Brewers to two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings -- not a long enough outing to qualify for the decision in a 12-9 win.

The Giants gave him and the bullpen seven runs of help in a 7-6, 12-inning win at Washington on April 18. Houser went 5 2/3 innings in that game, allowing four earned runs.

Houser has never beaten the Nationals, going 0-1 over seven games, five of which have been starts, with a 2.49 ERA.

- Field Level Media