The Nationals have won four of their last five series, beating the Orioles, Braves, Mariners and Diamondbacks. And tonight they have an opportunity to win another series if they can topple the Cubs in the rubber game of this three-game set. To do so, they’ll need to overcome the dreaded opener.

Yes, Chicago manager Craig Counsell is going new-school with his pitching plan for tonight’s game. Veteran left-handed reliever Drew Pomeranz is going to start, with right-handed starter Colin Rea replacing him at some point in the first few innings. That creates some potential matchup problems for Davey Martinez, who has to decide if he wants to start his right-handed bats (Amed Rosario, Alex Call) and either replace them in-game or stick with them no matter who’s on the mound.

On the flip side, Jake Irvin makes what feels like a big start for the right-hander. He was roughed up in Arizona last week, giving up four quick runs in the first inning and two more in the third, ultimately failing to record a strikeout over five labored innings. But that came on the heels of eight scoreless innings (with seven strikeouts) against San Francisco. Which version shows up tonight against a good Cubs lineup?

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

CUBS
LF Ian Happ
RF Kyle Tucker
DH Seiya Suzuki
CF Pete Crow-Armstrong
SS Dansby Swanson
1B Michael Busch
2B Nico Hoerner
3B Matt Shaw
C Reese McGuire

It had been 10 days since Amed Rosario, Nasim Nuñez and Alex Call last found themselves in the Nationals’ starting lineup. That’s an eternity for big leaguers who were on the active roster that entire time but were confined to the bench, keeping themselves ready in case the call came but never actually participating (aside from one token inning in the field for Nuñez at the end of a blowout win in Seattle).

So when the opportunity finally presented itself Wednesday night, with all three reserves finding themselves in Davey Martinez’s lineup against Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, it admittedly took a little while to get back into the swing of things.

Once they did, all three contributed in meaningful ways, making the Nats’ 2-0 victory possible.

“We’re mentally strong,” Nuñez said. “We understand the situation that we haven’t played in a while, so we do what we have to do to stay ready and help the team win some type of way.”

It began in the field with Call chasing down Seiya Suzuki’s fifth-inning blooper in shallow right, making a diving stab at the ball and immediately jogging off the field confident he had recorded the third out. The Cubs did challenge, believing Call trapped the ball in his glove after it touched grass, but there wasn’t enough conclusive evidence to overturn, so the initial call stood.

The narrative had already been well-established before tonight’s game. MacKenzie Gore had been pitching as well as anybody in the league but had only two wins to show for it because of a lack of run support from his Nationals teammates and a few bullpen mishaps along the way.

"I wish we could score more runs for him. I hope today’s the day when we score 8-10," manager Davey Martinez said this afternoon. "But he’s pitched in some really good games and kept us in the game. … I know he’s up there in strikeouts and he’s doing really well. A few more wins would be really awesome for him."

And then for six innings tonight, Gore’s teammates proceeded to supply him with zero runs of support, unable to produce even one baserunner against the Cubs’ Matthew Boyd.

Through it all, Gore just kept doing what he does best, escaping a rare jam, then finding his groove and posting zero after zero until his night was over at the seventh-inning stretch. At which point, Amed Rosario decided enough was enough.

With a solo homer into the right field bullpen on the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh, Rosario gave the Nationals the offense they desperately needed. And then Nasim Nuñez (who like Rosario was in the lineup for the first time in 10 days) supplied a huge insurance run to help lock up a 2-0 victory over Chicago.

You’re forgiven if you glanced at tonight’s lineup and didn’t recognize three of the names Davey Martinez penciled in for the second game of the Nationals’ series against the Cubs.

Alex Call? Amed Rosario? Nasim Nuñez? They sound vaguely familiar, but it feels like a while since any of them saw the field.

Indeed, none of those three players has been in the Nats lineup since May 25, the finale of their last homestand against the Giants, a full 10 days ago. Not so coincidentally, that’s the last time the team faced a left-handed opposing starter.

“Yeah, it is good to see some of these guys get a chance to play,” Martinez said with a laugh. “Our left-handed lineup has been doing really well. But these guys get an opportunity to go out there and face a lefty today, which is kind of nice.”

The Nationals had faced seven consecutive right-handed starters before tonight. And with only one exception (Riley Adams for Keibert Ruiz behind the plate Friday in Arizona), every member of the lineup in every one of those games batted left-handed.

The opener of the Nationals’ homestand was pretty much a dud. Despite scoring three early runs against the Cubs, they gave them all back – plus five more – en route to an 8-3 loss. So much for positive momentum coming off that winning West Coast trip. But there’s a golden opportunity to get back on track tonight, and that begins with the man on the mound for the home team.

MacKenzie Gore is putting together the best first half of a season we’ve seen from any pitcher in a while around here. The lefty sports a 3.16 ERA and league-leading 101 strikeouts (while walking only 21, by the way). And his last two starts have been fantastic: one run on two hits in six innings against the Giants, zero runs on four hits in six innings against the Mariners. The problem: Gore wasn’t credited with the win in either game, and in fact his last win came way back on April 19 at Colorado.

In other words, Gore needs some run support for a change. Tonight the Nationals face a left-handed starter for the first time since May 25 (San Francisco’s Robbie Ray). Their lineup since had been almost automatic, aside from Riley Adams starting one game behind the plate to give Keibert Ruiz a night off. So with Matthew Boyd on the mound for the Cubs, we should finally see some new faces in Davey Martinez’s batting order. Whether that translates into enough production to get Gore on the positive side for once remains to be seen.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. CHICAGO CUBS
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, 82 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

CUBS
LF Ian Happ
RF Seiya Suzuki
C Carson Kelly
CF Pete Crow-Armstrong
SS Dansby Swanson
2B Nico Hoerner
1B Michael Busch
DH Justin Turner
3B Matt Shaw

During their recently completed road trip to Seattle and Arizona, the Nationals took 240 total plate appearances. Only five of them were taken by a full-time, right-handed batter: Riley Adams, who started one of the six games behind the plate in place of Keibert Ruiz.

Every other plate appearance the entire week was taken by someone who either bats left-handed all the time or switch-hits, a highly unusual situation for any major league club.

But wait, it gets weirder. Though only five of the Nats’ 240 plate appearances were taken by someone who only bats right-handed, a whopping 167 of them were taken by someone who throws right-handed. That’s because six of the team’s current nine regular position players (infielders Nathaniel Lowe, Luis Garcia Jr., CJ Abrams and Jose Tena, plus outfielders James Wood and Daylen Lile) all bat exclusively left-handed despite throwing right-handed.

“I never really put a thought on that,” Tena said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “But now that you’re saying it … yeah. It feels good to know there are other teammates who also do it.”

Players who bat left/throw right aren’t that unusual in the majors. Of the 540 position players who have appeared in a big league game so far this season, 132 of them bat left/throw right. That’s the second-most-common combination, well behind the 294 players who bat right/throw right. There are 59 switch-hitters (55 who throw right-handed). There are 53 true southpaws who both bat and throw left-handed. And then there are the two real misfits who bat right/throw left: Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers, both from the Astros.

PHOENIX – Informed late Saturday night that the Nationals had just completed their first winning month in nearly two years, only their second winning month in four years, Nathaniel Lowe was pleasantly surprised.

“Oh? Sweet,” the veteran first baseman interjected.

Lowe, of course, would have had no way of knowing such information. He wasn’t here when the Nats began to tear down their roster in July 2021. He wasn’t here when they finally put things together enough to go 17-11 in August 2023, a modest blip during an otherwise losing season. He only joined the organization this winter, having spent the previous four years with a Rangers team that won the World Series in 2023.

“We should get used to it,” he said. “You play this game to win. So ideally you show up every day with a chance to compete and win. Losing is not why we play at all.”

The Nationals are not a winning team yet. They got home from Arizona early this morning sporting a 28-31 record, having lost Sunday’s series finale to the Diamondbacks. Real success remains elusive for this franchise, which hasn’t gotten to two games over .500 since the end of June 2021, at which point everything fell apart and the plan to rebuild emerged.

PHOENIX – A wildly successful road trip for the Nationals ended as it began: With a dud.

They may have won four straight thanks to some unprecedented offensive fireworks in every game, but sandwiched around those wins were a pair of losses featuring very little in the way of offense, including today’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Diamondbacks.

Less than 24 hours after producing the first 10-run first inning in club history to clinch the first four-game streak with at least nine runs scored in club history, the Nats were shut down by ace Corbin Burnes (before he departed with an elbow injury) and Arizona’s bullpen.

It was a tough way to wrap up an otherwise excellent week on the West Coast, but it shouldn’t overshadow what did take place in both Seattle and Phoenix, where this lineup finally showed off the best version of itself and offered hope for what may still be to come the rest of this season.

The Nationals still head home having won 10 of their last 14, creeping ever so close to the elusive .500 mark.

PHOENIX – At the end of a long Saturday night, at the end of a stretch of five straight late-night games on the West Coast, the last four of them Nationals victories, Davey Martinez was asked who had been available out of his bullpen to close out this one.

“Um, you saw the availability,” the manager said with a laugh. “That’s what we had.”

With Kyle Finnegan needing a night off, and with Jorge López designated for assignment earlier in the day, what they had was Jackson Rutledge, Jose A. Ferrer and Cole Henry. And after five runs crossed the plate with Rutledge on the mound in the sixth, and after Ferrer tossed a scoreless seventh in his third appearance in four nights, that left Henry to finish out an 11-7 win over the Diamondbacks.

It got a little dicey in the bottom of the eighth, with Henry allowing three straight batters to reach base. But the rookie escaped the jam unscathed, thanks in part to a fantastic defensive play by James Wood and Keibert Ruiz, and then he closed out the ninth with no drama in arguably the biggest relief appearance of his young career.

“It’s definitely been pretty fast. I feel like just yesterday I was throwing in blowouts,” he said. “It’s been cool to get in there in close games, the adrenaline pumping, everything’s on the line.”

PHOENIX – We have come to the final day of a West Coast trip that has been both eventful and successful. The Nationals have gone 4-1 against the Mariners and Diamondbacks, and they’ve done with the most impressive offensive run in club history: Four straight games scoring at least nine runs, capped off by Saturday night’s historic 10-run top of the first.

Given all that, the Nats could be excused if they take their foot off the gas pedal today. They’ve already won the series and the road trip. They’re physically exhausted after five straight late-night games and now have to make the quick turnaround to a 1:10 p.m. local time finale at Chase Field. And they’re facing Arizona ace Corbin Burnes. Then again, with this team you never really know what you’re going to get until the game starts, so perhaps there’s a fifth straight offensive explosion coming.

This much is certain: Mitchell Parker desperately needs a solid start, and he faces a tough challenge in a Diamondbacks lineup that has scored 14 runs the last two nights with nothing to show for it. Parker started off this trip way back on Tuesday night with a dud in Seattle in which he served up three homers in 4 2/3 innings. He hasn’t had a quality start since April 22 against the Orioles. He may not be pitching for his job quite yet, but he’s inching in that direction if he doesn’t right the ship.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Chase Field
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
1B Nathaniel Lowe
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Josh Bell
CF Robert Hassell III
C Keibert Ruiz
3B José Tena
RF Daylen Lile

PHOENIX – It began innocently enough, with CJ Abrams getting hit by a wayward 0-2 pitch from Brandon Pfaadt, with James Wood singling to right and with Nathaniel Lowe doubling to left to give the Nationals a quick lead over the Diamondbacks.

And then it kept going. And going. And going. And going some more until the only thing the demoralized Chase Field crowd of 29,434 could do was give the loudest, most sarcastic standing ovation in history to the Arizona pitcher (Scott McGough, in relief of Pfaadt) who finally recorded the first out of tonight’s ballgame.

That out, by the way, was made by Lowe, who was making his second plate appearance of the top of the first, the Nationals’ 12th plate appearance of the game. They already led 9-0 at that point, en route to a 10-run top of the first and an 11-run lead by the top of the second.

And though the D-backs made a spirited attempt to pull off what would’ve been one of the most remarkable comebacks in major league history, the Nats ultimately did win 11-7 thanks to the greatest first inning in team history.

"I've been a part of some crooked numbers, but that was a good one," Lowe said. "It was nice to jump on a pretty solid major league starter and put up a first inning like that. You don't see it often, but we capitalized off it. And obviously, we like a win."

PHOENIX – The Nationals cut ties with another struggling veteran reliever, designating Jorge López for assignment prior to tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks and recalling Eduardo Salazar from Triple-A Rochester to take his place in a bullpen that has undergone a significant overhaul since Opening Day.

López was signed over the winter for $3 million to serve as the team’s primary setup man and backup closer when Kyle Finnegan wasn’t available. He had a handful of moments, which in part led to his surprising 6-0 record. But he was plagued by inconsistent performances, which led to an inflated 6.57 ERA and three official blown saves over 26 appearances.

The 32-year-old right-hander immediately comes off the 40-man roster, which now has an open slot. If another team claims him off waivers in the next 72 hours, that team would take on the remainder of his salary. If he clears waivers and is released, the Nats would be responsible for the full $3 million.

“Sometimes, places aren’t the right fit,” manager Davey Martinez said. “And I don’t think this was the right fit for him. And I’d rather, instead of dragging things on, go ahead and do something different.”

López becomes the third veteran reliever signed by the Nationals prior to this season to be dropped before June 1. Lefty Colin Poche, who made $1.4 million when he made the Opening Day roster off a minor league deal, was designated for assignment May 1 and opted to become a free agent four days later. Righty Lucas Sims, who like López was signed for $3 million, was released May 10 after posting a 13.86 ERA in 18 games.

PHOENIX – It’s the final day of May, and though it had some bumps along the way, this turned out to be a successful May for the Nationals. Regardless of the outcome of tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks, they already clinched a rare winning month with Friday night’s wild 9-7 victory. It’s only their second winning month since the teardown of July 2021, the previous one coming in August 2023 when they went 17-11.

The Nats enter this one on a three-game winning streak, having won nine of their last 12 overall to get to three games under .500 at 27-30. They would love to keep their offensive explosion going, though it might be too much to ask for a fourth straight nine-run output. Let’s see what they can do against Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who enters with a 7-3 record and 3.90 ERA.

Michael Soroka gets the ball for the visitors, looking to build off his quality start last weekend against the Giants (three runs in six innings) even though he was charged with a tough loss in a 3-2 game. We’ll see who’s available in the bullpen tonight, though we already know one name who won’t be: Jorge López, who was just designated for assignment. Eduardo Salazar was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his place, leaving rookies Cole Henry, Brad Lord and Jackson Rutledge as Davey Martinez’s top right-handed setup men in front of closer Kyle Finnegan.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Chase Field
Gametime: 10:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
1B Nathaniel Lowe
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Josh Bell
CF Robert Hassell III
C Keibert Ruiz
3B José Tena
RF Daylen Lile

PHOENIX – When he got out of a seventh-inning jam Friday night, thanks to a tricky 4-3 double play turned by Luis García Jr., Brad Lord returned to the Nationals dugout and made eye contact with his manager.

The account of who said what exactly at that point varied between the two participants.

“After he got out of the seventh, he came in and said: ‘I’m good for one more,’” Davey Martinez recalled. “And I said: ‘OK, you’ve got it.’”

Lord’s version: “He was like: ‘Stay ready, you’re still going back out.’”

Whoever instigated the decision to send Lord back to the mound for a second inning of high-leverage relief, it worked. With another zero in the bottom of the eighth, the rookie right-hander helped bridge the gap and get the ball to closer Kyle Finnegan on a night in which several of the Nats’ usual setup men (Jorge López, Cole Henry, Jose A. Ferrer) appeared to be unavailable.

PHOENIX – Remember when the Nationals scored six total runs over four games? It happened less than a week ago.

You’re forgiven if you can’t recall such historical facts, because over the last 72 hours this same lineup has managed to turn itself into a powerhouse.

They did it during back-to-back wins in Seattle, the first leg of this West Coast trip. And now they did it in the opener of their weekend series here at Chase Field, riding two more homers from James Wood and Josh Bell and two more clutch hits from Robert Hassell III to a 9-7 victory over the Diamondbacks.

That’s three straight games the Nationals have scored nine runs, a feat achieved only seven times in club history and not since Aug. 17-19, 2019.

"We talked about it in spring: We know we can be an offensive threat," Bell said. "And right now, it seems like it's a different person every night ... aside from Woody. It seems like it's every night for him. It's definitely fun to be a part of it."

PHOENIX – Jacob Young, technically speaking, is eligible to come off the 10-day injured list today. The Nationals outfielder, of course, hasn’t been activated yet. And he won’t be activated for this weekend’s series against the Diamondbacks.

But Young appears to have cleared all hurdles in his recovery from a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder and tonight was scheduled to participate fully in all pregame drills, offering optimism he’ll be back on the active roster in short order.

“It’s going well,” he said. “I hit the last three days in a row, feeling much better. I can take a full swing again. I can do my normal work in the cage again. So I can get back to what I was doing before (the injury).”

Young, who hurt himself May 17 when he slammed into the wall at Camden Yards trying to make a leaping catch, hoped to avoid the IL stint altogether but couldn’t finish the follow-through on his swings without experiencing shoulder pain. The Nats finally conceded and placed him on the IL on May 23, backdating the transaction the maximum three days permitted.

Young has traveled with the team on this West Coast trip, participating in pregame drills but confined to the dugout during games, no easy task for the high-energy player.

PHOENIX – Hello from the Valley of the Sun, where the sun is shining bright today. Yes, it’s 105 degrees here. Of course, the roof at Chase Field will be closed tonight, so nothing to worry about.

The Nationals arrived very early in the morning after a late-night flight from Seattle following a wild 9-3, 10-inning win over the Mariners. They’ve taken two of three from the first quality opponent they’re facing on this trip. Now they’ll try to do at least the same against another quality opponent in the Diamondbacks.

It’s Jake Irvin on the mound, and the right-hander has already faced Arizona earlier this season, allowing four runs over only five innings. He’s been much better since, and so far in four starts this month he’s 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA, coming off eight shutout innings against the Giants last weekend.

The all-left-handed Nats lineup that produced nine runs back-to-back days in Seattle will try to keep that going tonight against right-hander Merrill Kelly. Kelly did not pitch in that April series in D.C. Over his last eight starts, he’s got a sparkling 2.39 ERA, but he did give up four runs in six innings to the Cardinals last time out.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Chase Field
Gametime: 9:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

SEATTLE – Daylen Lile came up to bat in the top of the 10th on Thursday night feeling some combination of frustration and exasperation. The Nationals’ rookie right fielder was 0-for-3 in the game, having twice failed to get down a called sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning and then having scorched a 110-mph liner directly to the first baseman with two outs and a runner on third in the seventh.

Now, here was Lile again at the plate in a big spot. The Nats and Mariners were tied 2-2 heading to extra innings, with teammate Jose Tena serving as the automatic runner and immediately advancing to third on Collin Snider’s first pitch wild pitch.

Lile knew the assignment in that situation, with the go-ahead runner 90 feet away.

“Just think about the team,” the 22-year-old said. “See the ball up. Get something into the outfield and make sure I’m doing my job, so the guy behind me can do his job.”

And what did Lile think when he launched the next pitch he saw from Snider deep to right field?

SEATTLE – MacKenzie Gore did his job, churning out six scoreless innings and escaping an emotional bases-loaded jam to end his night. And James Wood did his job, delivering the clutch hit off a lefty that gave the Nationals a two-run lead to put Gore in line for the win.

For the Nats to emerge victorious at T-Mobile Park and pull off an impressive road series win over a good Mariners club, though, several others were going to have to do their job before night’s end.

By the time the Nationals gathered at the center of the diamond to celebrate at the end of the 10th inning, there were no shortage of teammates to congratulate, from Jose A. Ferrer to Daylen Lile to Nathaniel Lowe to Luis García Jr. to Josh Bell, whose titanic blast to right capped off a stunning seven-run rally that lifted the visitors to a 9-3 win that turned from a taut pitchers’ duel into a wild extra-inning rout.

It may have required some extra work late at night, not to mention the first seven-run rally in extra innings in club history, but the Nationals left Seattle with back-to-back wins over a first-place opponent and now head to Arizona having won eight of 11, thanks to some offensive fireworks at the end of a captivating ballgame.

"Starters are keeping us in games," Bell said. "And when our offense clicks, we can put five, six, seven runs across the board at any given moment."

SEATTLE – On a night when there was plenty for the Nationals to feel good about, the first three-hit game of Josh Bell’s season stood out from the pack Wednesday night.

Bell entered the night with a .151 batting average and .289 slugging percentage, a slow start even by his traditional standards. He delivered in the Nats’ 9-0 win over the Mariners, though, launching an opposite-field homer in the second, then singling and scoring in the fourth and singling again in the ninth. He even came within a few feet of another home run in the eighth, the ball caught just shy of the wall in center field.

“You can’t help but root for Josh Bell,” manager Davey Martinez said of the 32-year-old designated hitter. “The guys love him. We love him. And when he goes oppo like that, it’s huge. Hopefully he stays like that for a while.”

There’s the rub. Every time it has looked like Bell might be poised to break out of his season-long slump the last two months, he’s fallen back into the same funk.

Bell is a notoriously slow starter: His career .692 OPS in April is the lowest of any month. But he has also shown a propensity for getting hot right after that: His career OPS in May is a robust .820.