PHILADELPHIA – Paul DeJong is recovering from surgery Monday to repair a broken nose, plus his sinuses and orbital bone, procedures that collectively are likely to keep the Nationals third baseman out until sometime around the All-Star break.

DeJong, who was hit in the face by a fastball from the Pirates’ Mitch Keller on April 15, had to wait nearly two weeks for swelling around his left eye to go down before the surgery could be performed. He and the Nationals knew all along he would need to have his broken nose repaired, but doctors also decided to work on his damaged sinuses and insert a titanium orbital plate near his eye, according to USA Today.

The 31-year-old infielder is recovering well at home in Northern Virginia and spoke today with manager Davey Martinez about the incident and his timeline for recovery.

“His spirits were good,” Martinez said. “He came out of it good. Joked around with him for a little bit. Unfortunately, he’s still going to be down for a while. I think they said about a month before he can do any activities. And after that, hopefully we get him back sometime around the All-Star break. But we’ll see. Only time will tell now.”

The Nationals’ biggest concern with DeJong now is more mental than physical. The bones will heal, but psychologically he could face a tough time standing in to face a big league pitcher again, given what happened.

PHILADELPHIA – It may have ended on a sour, ugly note, but the Nationals’ just-completed homestand was still a success in whole. They wound up going 4-3 against the Orioles and Mets, which isn’t bad at all.

Now the Nats begin a six-game road trip through Philadelphia and Cincinnati, hoping for a little more offensive consistency, continued strong starting pitching and some better bullpen work. It all begins tonight with a rematch from Opening Day: MacKenzie Gore vs. Zack Wheeler.

The Phillies won that game, but Gore actually outdueled Wheeler, the former tossing six innings of one-hit ball while striking out 13, the latter still going six innings of one-run, two-hit ball but taking a no-decision. That game was decided in the 10th inning, with Colin Poche charged with four runs in two-thirds of an inning in an unfortunate sign of things to come.

The Nationals would love to provide Gore with a bit more run support this time, which in turn would allow Davey Martinez to use his best relievers late and perhaps pull off another win.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 78 degrees, wind 16 mph out to center field

As much as the spotlight shone on the position players whose late offensive exploits helped the Nationals turn a six-run deficit into a thrilling, one-run win over the Mets on Sunday, Davey Martinez went out of his way early in his postgame press conference to praise his starting pitcher who departed with his team trailing 7-1.

“Look, say what you want with the first inning with Mitchell,” Martinez said. “If he doesn’t do what he does, I don’t even know how we’re going to put that together. Him going out there and giving us five innings like that was awesome.”

Mitchell Parker dug the Nationals into a massive hole with a disastrous first inning. He also quietly set the stage for all the drama that came later by not letting that disastrous first inning turn into anything worse.

During the course of a 43-pitch opening frame, Parker issued four walks, surrendered three singles and two sacrifice flies while letting the Mets score five runs. It was by far the worst inning by a Nats starting pitcher this season, and it left the team facing a monstrous, uphill climb.

Parker, who entered the day with a sparkling 1.39 ERA, clearly looked off as he tried to locate his pitches. Pretty much everything he threw landed far too high, or sometimes far too inside on right-handed batters.

It’s never been a question of effort. No matter how many games under .500 they were the last three seasons, the Nationals always showed an ability to get themselves back in games that felt lost. They always seemed to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, giving their perpetually optimistic manager reason to be “proud of the boys for battling.”

At some point, though, those moral victories had to turn into actual victories. Battling back wasn’t going to be good enough forever. The Nats needed to prove they could get over the hump and finish the job.

So when they found a way to do it this weekend, not just once but twice against a division rival that happened to dominate them a year ago, there was a different feeling of satisfaction inside the home clubhouse on South Capitol Street.

“We’ve always been able to fight,” catcher Riley Adams said. “We’ve always been able to scratch and claw like that. We have great guys in the clubhouse, and everyone’s pulling for each other in these moments. It’s cool to see it pay off.”

Oh, did it pay off this weekend. Two days after storming back in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Mets in Friday’s series opener, the Nationals did it again this afternoon. In even more impressive fashion. Down six runs in the seventh inning, they stormed back to tie and ultimately beat the National League East leaders, 8-7, in dramatic, walk-off fashion.

Riley Adams knows the drill at this point. With Keibert Ruiz healthy and productive, and with plenty of off-days built into the Nationals schedule throughout April, there simply aren’t going to be many playing opportunities for the team’s backup catcher.

Adams today starts for only the fourth time in 28 games to begin the season. Ruiz has started the other 24, the most games played by any catcher in the majors to date.

If you’re looking for someone to complain about the arrangement, you’re not going to get it.

“There’s no awkwardness whatsoever,” Adams said. “We both have jobs to do. We both want to win games. We both want to get our pitchers through games and put zeros on the scoreboard. To me, it doesn’t matter who’s catching. We’re a collective.”

Adams has been through this for more than three seasons now. From 2022-24, he played between 41-48 games, taking between 130-158 plate appearances.

It seems that runs will be at a premium throughout this four-game series, given how good the Mets pitching staff has been as a whole and how good the Nationals rotation has been to date. We saw it in Friday night’s opener, aside from the eighth and ninth innings. And we certainly saw it Saturday in New York’s 2-0 victory, in which Francisco Alvarez’s early home run represented the entirety of the offensive output in the game.

On paper, today’s game looks like another pitchers’ duel. Mitchell Parker has quietly been one of the best starters in the majors to date, with a 3-1 record, 1.39 ERA and (get this) a 1.6 bWAR that leads all major league pitchers. The left-hander has been consistent, he’s provided length and he has kept damage to an absolute minimum. It would be a huge boost for the Nationals if he can continue that trend today.

Tylor Megill, meanwhile, has been outstanding in his own right, the owner of a 1.09 ERA through five starts. That number is maybe a bit misleading, because the right-hander has allowed four unearned runs to go along with three earned runs so far. But he’s still been very good, striking out more than a batter per inning. The Nats have got to find a way to hit the ball in the air against him, especially their left-handed bats, in an attempt to take advantage of the strong wind that’s blowing out to right field today.

NEW YORK METS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 65 degrees, wind 18 mph left field to right field

METS
SS Francisco Lindor
RF Juan Soto
1B Pete Alonso
3B Mark Vientos
DH Starling Marte
LF Brandon Nimmo
C Luis Torrens
2B Luisangel Acuña
CF Tyrone Taylor

On a day in which they got another quality (if abbreviated) start from Brad Lord and then a bunch of zeroes from members of their bullpen who haven’t put up many of those this season, the Nationals gave themselves a golden opportunity to beat the best team in baseball for the second time in 24 hours.

Surprisingly effective pitching is great, but it does still take some modicum of offense to win a ballgame, and the Nats had very little of that during a 2-0 loss to the Mets on a rainy, then windy, Saturday on South Capitol Street.

Despite holding New York’s potent lineup in check aside from one early homer off Lord, the Nationals missed their chance to follow up Friday night’s inspired win with another one before a crowd of 33,867 that weathered two early rain delays followed by strong wind gusts during a day game that turned into a night game.

“You look at what’s going on, you think we’re going to snap out of it and get a couple of hits,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It just didn’t happen today with guys on base. We got some hits, but not any big hits, timely hits.”

The Nats totaled seven hits (all singles) and two walks against Clay Holmes and a quintet of Mets relievers. They took only two at-bats with runners in scoring position, both in the bottom of the seventh.

Scan the stat page and you’ll find that Lucas Sims, Eduardo Salazar and Colin Poche rank among the Nationals’ leaders in appearances as the season’s first month winds down. Then consider none of the three has pitched in at least four days, and you realize just how much Davey Martinez was counting on all of them earlier this month before each struggled.

Poche (owner of a 15.00 ERA and 3.333 WHIP in 10 games) hasn’t pitched since Tuesday. Salazar (owner of an 8.31 ERA and 2.192 WHIP in 11 games) hasn’t pitched since Sunday. Sims (owner of a 15.26 ERA and 2.609 WHIP in 12 games) hasn’t pitched since Saturday, a full week.

Nothing’s physically wrong with any of them, Martinez insisted today. He just hasn’t found the right situation to call upon any of them during this stretch.

“They’re good,” the manager said. “We sat up last night for a while and said they’ve got to get back in the game. I don’t want them sitting for a week. We’ll get them back in there.”

The hidden message in there: While the Nationals began the season counting on Poche, Salazar and Sims to pitch meaningful innings, their performances have dropped them out of contention for anything resembling high-leverage spots, of which there have been many over the last week while the team won five of its last seven games.

How wild was Friday night’s 5-4, walk-off win for the Nationals? So wild that a controversial triple play was like the No. 4 storyline of the game. That’s wild.

The Nats happily took that win, their fifth in their last seven games. They’re back to two games under .500 at 12-14, actually only a game behind the Phillies for second place in the NL East. All things considered, that’s not a bad place to be during the final weekend of April.

They’ll look to continue their winning ways later this afternoon with the second game of four against the division-leading Mets (weather permitting). It’ll be Brad Lord on the mound for his fourth major league start. He has yet to complete five innings or exceed 65 pitches, but hopefully his arm is ready for that kind of workload by now, because the Nationals could certainly use some length to take a little pressure off the bullpen.

After a decent showing Friday night against Kodai Senga, the Nats' lineup gets another tough challenge in Clay Holmes, the former Yankees closer who is now starting in Flushing. Holmes has actually seen his strikeout rate go up despite the move from the bullpen to the rotation, with an eye-popping 11.9 per nine innings so far this year. His walk rate is also up, though, to 4.6 per nine innings. The Nationals need to be patient today, something they haven’t necessarily done all that well this season.

NEW YORK METS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 74 degrees, wind 15 mph left field to right field

Just a few years ago, Cole Henry probably envisioned his first two weeks in the major leagues including several starts for the Nationals, perhaps one or two gems in there to set him on his way as a long-term member of the rotation.

It doesn’t always work out as planned, of course, but that doesn’t have to mean it can’t still work out in a positive – if unexpected – way.

Henry’s first two weeks in the big leagues didn’t include any starts, but rather four relief appearances. He twice closed out lopsided losses. Then he closed out a lopsided win Tuesday night. And then on Thursday, the 25-year-old right-hander found himself pitching in a high-leverage spot for the first time.

The Nats still lost the game 2-1 to the Orioles. But Henry’s performance in the top of the eighth and ninth, posting two more zeros, represented a big moment for the rookie, who with each passing day is growing to appreciate this new role as a major league reliever.

“I’m learning every day,” he said. “It’s definitely something different. But I’m up for the challenge. I like being out there, and pitching in those high-leverage spots is really fun. Hopefully I can keep doing it.”

The Nationals lineup tonight, at least on paper, looked as imposing as it has in a while.

CJ Abrams was back after a nearly two-week stint on the injured list. James Wood was back in the No. 3 slot, where ideally he could drive in more runners than himself. The bottom three (Josh Bell, Dylan Crews, Luis García Jr.) featured big names who often hit much higher up in the order.

If only that translated into offensive success once the game actually started.

Imposing or not, the Nats were rendered helpless at the plate tonight by Cade Povich and the Orioles bullpen, which dominated over the course of a 2-1 loss that denied the home team a shot at a rare series sweep over its interleague rivals.

MacKenzie Gore did his part on the mound, tossing six innings of two-run ball, but still was tagged with the loss due to a lack of run support from a lineup that has struggled lately to string together productive nights.

CJ Abrams was all smiles, bouncing around the Nationals clubhouse this afternoon as he prepared to play his first big league game in nearly two weeks.

“It feels good to be back,” the 24-year-old shortstop said. “The boys have been battling, and I’m ready to get in there with them and win some games.”

Officially activated off the 10-day injured list this afternoon, Abrams returns after missing time with a right hip flexor strain, confident that ailment (which he briefly tried to play through before going on the IL) will no longer be a factor.

“No pain. Nothing at all,” he said. “Running, swinging, anything. Everything is 100 percent.”

Abrams played in two rehab games with Double-A Harrisburg, going 0-for-4 with two walks and a sacrifice fly. He played six innings at shortstop Tuesday night, then all nine innings there Wednesday afternoon, emerging from the stint feeling healthy and ready to return.

The Nationals and Orioles have faced each other annually since 2006, and in all that time the Nats have swept only two three-game series from their interleague rivals (2018 at Camden Yards, 2021 at Nationals Park). So if they can pull it off tonight, it’ll be a rare occurrence, indeed.

They’ve won the first two games of this series with some outstanding starting pitching from Mitchell Parker and Trevor Williams. And now they’ve got their ace on the mound in MacKenzie Gore, coming off a dominant 13-strikeout start in Colorado last weekend. Baltimore has really struggled against lefties this season, so there’s a real opportunity for Gore to keep things going in the right direction and put together another stellar start … if he can throw strikes and not let anything negative spiral out of control on him.

The Nationals have also won the last two nights thanks in large part to early offense, thanks to three first-inning homers totaling five runs. And for the first time in nearly two weeks, they’ve got CJ Abrams back in the lineup. Abrams was officially activated off the 10-day injured list this afternoon, with Trey Lipscomb (not Nasim Nuñez) optioned to Triple-A Rochester.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (out-of-market only), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 10 mph right field to left field

ORIOLES
CF Cedric Mullins
C Adley Rutschman
SS Gunnar Henderson
1B Ryan Mountcastle
3B Jordan Westburg
LF Heston Kjerstad
RF Ramón Laureano
DH Ryan O'Hearn
2B Jorge Mateo

James Wood’s reaction the first time he found out he’d be leading off for the Nationals?

“Uh, I don’t know,” he admitted. “But whatever the manager thinks gives us the best chance to win, I’m OK with.”

Wood has been more than OK batting first. He’s been downright unstoppable.

With another big night Wednesday in the Nats’ 4-3 win over the Orioles, the 22-year-old left fielder further established his credentials as a big bat who can provide instant offense for his team.

Wood opened the bottom of the first with a towering, 431-foot blast to the second deck in right-center field at Nationals Park. The exit velocity on that home run: 116.3 mph, making it the hardest-hit homer by a Nats player in this ballpark since such things began getting tracked in 2015.

If Tuesday night’s blowout over the Orioles was a rare cakewalk win for the Nationals, this one felt all along like a walk across a lengthy tightrope, with no net visible down below.

Even after scoring three quick runs in the bottom of the first, the Nats found themselves in a tight contest, their bullpen unable to protect a two-run lead, the game ultimately decided in the eighth and ninth innings.

It’s the kind of pressure situation that has haunted this team too often during its rebuild. But all that experience may be starting to pay off. Even after blowing their slim lead tonight, the Nationals still felt like they were going to emerge victorious.

“We’ve hung in there with some really good teams, some teams that are supposed to be postseason teams,” closer Kyle Finnegan said. “We’ve proven to ourselves and to other people we can play with anybody. I think it’s big for the young guys to recognize that if we focus on what we can control, when we look up at the end of the game, we’ll be in it.”

The Nats were more than just in it tonight. They were indeed victorious, securing a 4-3 win over Baltimore thanks to Luis García Jr.’s go-ahead sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth and another good-enough top of the ninth from Finnegan, who closed out his ninth save in as many opportunities.

CJ Abrams should be back at Nationals Park on Thursday. Then, it’s just a question of whether the team will activate their All-Star shortstop off the 10-day injured list in time for their series finale against the Orioles or will wait for Friday’s series opener against the Mets.

Abrams, who has a right hip flexor strain, played his second rehab game today for Double-A Harrisburg, completing all nine innings while taking four plate appearances. This after he played six innings in the field Tuesday night and took three plate appearances.

His total offensive stats over these two games: 0-for-4 with two walks, a strikeout and a sacrifice fly.

“I think they were a little scared to pitch to him,” right-hander Michael Soroka, who pitched Tuesday as part of his own rehab assignment with Harrisburg, said with a laugh.

Of far more consequence than Abrams’ production was his ability to play 15 innings in less than 24 hours without any apparent physical issues.

It’s a beautiful spring day in the nation’s capital, and everyone around here is in a good mood after Tuesday night’s 7-0 win over the Orioles. The Nationals have quietly won three of their last four as they try to creep closer to the .500 mark. A duplicate performance tonight would certainly help them get closer to that break-even point.

Davey Martinez will hope his lineup continues to rake after producing 10 extra-base hits Tuesday night. The opponent tonight is Tomoyuki Sugano, the 35-year-old Japanese rookie who enters with a 3.43 ERA in four starts but has surrendered four homers while striking out only eight batters in 21 innings. He’s going to be around the plate; it’s up to the Nats to swing at the right pitches that will lead to solid contact.

Trevor Williams starts for the Nationals, coming off his best outing of the young season (one run over five innings in a 1-0 loss to the Pirates). We know the game plan with the veteran right-hander; he has been capped at five innings every time out so far. So it’s probably going to come down to the Nats' bullpen, for better or worse. Buckle up.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 75 degrees, wind 6 mph in from right field

ORIOLES
CF Cedric Mullins
SS Gunnar Henderson
C Adley Rutschman
1B Ryan O’Hearn
RF Tyler O’Neill
LF Heston Kjerstad
DH Jordan Westburg
2B Jackson Holliday
3B Ramón Urías

The afternoon began with Davey Martinez suggesting Jose Tena was going to start getting more playing time, perhaps establishing a righty-lefty platoon at third base with veteran Amed Rosario.

If Tena keeps playing like he did Tuesday evening, he won’t have any trouble convincing his manager to pencil him into the lineup with more regularity.

On a night in which the Nationals lineup totaled 10 extra-base hits en route to a 7-0 blanking of the Orioles, Tena was a surprisingly significant contributor. He went 3-for-4 with a triple and two doubles, turning in far more production than he had in any of his previous seven games played this season.

“Obviously, I hadn’t played in a couple days. But I felt comfortable and felt relaxed,” he said, via interpreter Kenny Diaz. “I felt thankful that I had the game I had today.”

With Paul DeJong on the 10-day injured list after fracturing his nose when he was struck by a fastball last week in Pittsburgh, and with top prospect Brady House still waiting in the wings at Triple-A Rochester, the Nationals find themselves with no clear daily answer at third base. Rosario got the first opportunity during the final stages of last week’s road trip but saw his production cool off. Trey Lipscomb got a start Sunday in Colorado but struggled to hit the ball in the air.

Mitchell Parker’s Tuesday night actually got off to a rough start.

He walked Orioles leadoff man Cedric Mullins on four pitches, then elicited some Bronx cheers when he finally threw a strike to Adley Rutschman. Little did anyone realize what was still to come.

“It definitely wasn’t ideal,” the Nationals left-hander said with a sheepish grin. “But it basically ended up working out, so I can’t be too upset about it. But maybe we’re going to try to not do it next time.”

Maybe Parker should try to do it again, especially if it leads to the same end result he got this evening: eight scoreless innings of one-hit ball to lead his team to a dominant 7-0 win.

Building off the four quality starts he already had authored to begin the season, Parker took things to another level tonight with the best performance of his young career. The 25-year-old became the Nats’ first starter to complete eight innings since Jake Irvin last July 4. He surrendered one single and two walks. He retired the final 17 batters he faced.

The Nationals can now start counting down the days until CJ Abrams returns to their lineup. But first, the All-Star shortstop needs to prove he’s good to go in a rehab assignment.

Abrams is playing tonight for Double-A Harrisburg, his first game action since aggravating his right hip flexor April 11 in Miami. He’s technically eligible to come off the 10-day injured list now, but the Nats wanted him to get some reps in the minor leagues before activating him.

“I’d like to get him on his feet, get him some at-bats and make sure he’s OK,” manager Davey Martinez said. “The last time he felt it was on the field, so we want to get him out there and let him play shortstop. And if it takes a day or two or three, then we’ll prepare for that. But hopefully he comes out today feeling good and not bothering him.”

Abrams is slated to play six innings at shortstop tonight and take at least three at-bats, with the possibility of more if he feels up for more. The Nationals would love to have him back in their lineup before the end of this week’s series against the Orioles, but they won’t rush it if he doesn’t look ready.

Nasim Nuñez has excelled in the field in Abrams’ place, to nobody’s surprise. But the 24-year-old infielder doesn’t provide nearly the offensive punch as the man ahead of him on the depth chart. In seven games since taking over as the everyday shortstop, Nunez is batting .182 (4-for-22) with three walks and two stolen bases.