ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – From the outset of this season, there have been several anticipated developments that would signify major steps forward for the rebuilding Nationals. When would CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore become big-time big-leaguers? When would James Wood make his major league debut? And when would the club have enough quality pitching depth to bump Patrick Corbin from his longstanding spot in the rotation?

As the calendar now shifts to July, we’ve already seen the first question come into focus with the ascension of Abrams and Gore. And we’re about to see the second one answered Monday night when one of the top prospects in baseball makes his planned major league debut.

The answer to the third question, though, remains very much up in the air. And today’s events, both here at Tropicana Field and 1,300 miles to the north at Frontier Field in Rochester, did little to clear things up.

During a 5-0 loss to the Rays, Corbin put forth a performance that epitomizes his last four seasons: four runs allowed in six innings. It wasn’t good, but neither was it bad enough to warrant immediate removal from the rotation.

"I thought my stuff today was pretty good," the veteran lefty said. "Sometimes, it doesn't really translate to the scorecard."

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Nationals’ 8-1 victory Saturday was made possible by a six-run explosion in the top of the seventh that turned a tight, low-scoring ballgame into a comfortable rout. But if not for that rally, Luis García Jr.’s bold baserunning play in the top of the fourth might well have been the deciding factor.

Standing on third with two outs in what was at the time a 1-1 game, García watched as Rays starter Aaron Civale bounced a pitch to Jacob Young. Though the ball squirted only a foot away from catcher Ben Rortvedt – and towards the mound, not foul territory – García took off for the plate and wound up scoring easily to give the Nats the lead in impressive fashion.

“I was anticipating, seeing the catcher get on his knees and reading the pitch,” García said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “As I saw it leave the hand of the pitcher, and that it was going toward the ground, I read the catcher. And when I saw him actually going after the ball, not the pitcher, I knew I had plenty of time.”

It was an ultra-aggressive move, one the Nationals might normally expect from the fastest players on the team (Young, CJ Abrams, Lane Thomas). But for García, it was about more than athleticism. It was about preparation and instincts in the moment.

“Awesome,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We watched him, and he got a good secondary lead and broke right away. It was a big play for us.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – We’ve reached the final day of a long road trip, one that saw the Nationals play nine games in three cities in three time zones. They’ve gone 3-5 to this point, so a winning record is out of the question. But a victory today over the Rays at least would seal two series wins to combat the unfortunate sweep in San Diego.

Stymied at the plate for the better part of 15 innings, the Nats finally broke out in a big way in the top of the seventh Saturday, exploding for six runs in rapid fashion en route to an 8-1 win. They will look for more of that, and preferably earlier, this afternoon against Tampa Bay right-hander Taj Bradley. The 23-year-old strikes out a lot of batters (11.1 per nine innings) but he also serves up a lot of homers (10 in 49 2/3 innings). The Nationals aren’t exactly a power-laden bunch, but they might need to try to take advantage of any meatballs they do see at the plate today.

Patrick Corbin, meanwhile, gets the ball. Yes, he’s still part of the rotation, and that could continue if he continues to pitch effectively. Three weeks ago, the lefty looked like he was on his last legs, destined to be bumped to the bullpen. But over his last three starts, he’s got a 2.60 ERA and 0.981 WHIP. Josiah Gray makes another rehab start today in Rochester, so we’ll have to see how this all plays out once today’s results are in.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TAMPA BAY RAYS
Where: Tropicana Field
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
LF Jesse Winker
DH Harold Ramírez
2B Luis García Jr.
1B Joey Meneses
3B Ildemaro Vargas
C Drew Millas
CF Jacob Young

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Josiah Gray got the Opening Day assignment based off his 2023 campaign. MacKenzie Gore got the hype based off his reputation and knack for the occasional dominant outing. But the member of the Nationals rotation who had the best spring and most looked poised to break out might well have been Jake Irvin.

Three months later, the right-hander might just be the best pitcher on the staff. And in a couple weeks, he might just end up representing the team at the All-Star Game.

As the season’s unofficial second half got under way this afternoon with Game 82, Irvin took the mound at Tropicana Field and kept doing what he did throughout the first half. With six superb innings of one-hit ball, he led the way and bought time for his teammates to get their bats going, which they finally did during a late explosion that turned a close game against the Rays into an 8-1 rout.

Irvin was stellar again, overcoming an early (and unlucky) home run surrendered to hold Tampa Bay hitless the rest of the way. And thanks to the kind of run support that hasn’t been provided regularly enough, he emerged with his sixth win while lowering his ERA to 3.03 (ninth-best in the National League) and WHIP to 1.061 (seventh-best in the NL).

"When he first got to spring training, he was impressive," catcher Keibert Ruiz said. "And he's been great for us this year."

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – As scared as he was in the moment Friday when his right knee got tweaked and he fell to the ground in pain, Jesse Winker was confident by night’s end he wasn’t seriously injured and hoped he might even feel well enough to rejoin the Nationals lineup Saturday afternoon.

Sure enough, Winker is back in there today, starting in left field and batting third for the Nats against the Rays. His knee was taped up this afternoon as he went to the batting cage, but otherwise he looked no worse for wear.

“I’m thankful it’s not anything worse,” the 30-year-old said. “Because anytime you, as a professional athlete, go down without running into anything, it’s kind of a scary feeling.”

Winker was backtracking to try to catch Isaac Paredes’ first-inning fly ball Friday night when his cleat got caught in the artificial turf at Tropicana Field. He immediately felt his knee twist and was worried it was something bad. But with the ball still in the air, he kept tracking it back to the wall, where he made a circus catch as he fell to the ground.

Manager Davey Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard jogged out from the dugout to check on Winker, who remained on the ground for some time. And even though he was able to get back on his feet and walk himself back to the dugout, he did so at an extremely slow pace and with a noticeable limp.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – We’ve still got more than two weeks to go until the All-Star break, but technically speaking the second half of the season begins today for the Nationals, who have now played 81 games. At 38-43, they’re probably a little better than most people expected, though they also have to acknowledge they could be even better given how good the pitching has been.

They’re also mired in a four-game losing streak and would love to turn that around this afternoon with a win over the Rays. The good news: They’ve got arguably their most consistent starter on the mound in Jake Irvin. The right-hander enters 5-6 with a 3.13 ERA and 1.087 WHIP. Most impressively, he has allowed two or fewer earned runs over six or more innings in 10 of his 16 starts. That’s consistency for you right there, the good kind.

At the plate, the Nats have to do more than they did during Friday night’s 3-1 loss. We’re waiting to find out about Jesse Winker’s status after he tweaked his right knee in the first inning Friday. If he can’t go, that’s a pretty notable loss in the heart of the lineup, and it will be up to others to pick up the slack against right-hander Aaron Civale, who enters with a 5.20 ERA and hasn’t been credited with a win since April 9.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TAMPA BAY RAYS
Where: Tropicana Field
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
LF Jesse Winker
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Harold Ramírez
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Nick Senzel
CF Jacob Young

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The sting of a 3-1 loss to the Rays was still fresh, not to mention the frustration of a losing streak that has now reached four games and dropped the Nationals from a temporary spot in the National Leauge’s final wild card slot to a spot well below that key standing.

But as Jesse Winker contemplated where this team stood upon reaching the official halfway point of the season – 38-43, four games out of a playoff berth with 81 games still to go – the veteran outfielder couldn’t help but think about the expectations way back in March compared to now.

“If we were to all sit in Palm Beach and you said we’d be right here, right now at this point, I think everyone would be pretty stoked about that,” Winker said. “Keeping that in perspective is obviously a big deal.”

Indeed, most anyone associated with a Nationals club that finished last in the division four years in a row and was happy to win 71 games in 2023 would have to be content with the current state of affairs.

This wasn’t a great first half, nor would anyone try to claim it was. But it was better than most probably expected, and it featured far more encouraging developments than discouraging ones.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Help is on the way for the Nationals’ power-starved lineup. But it’s not scheduled to arrive until Monday, leaving the current group to have to try to get the job done this weekend against the Rays.

And if tonight’s series opener was any indication, it’s going to continue to be tough sledding until James Wood joins the bunch. Especially if Jesse Winker has now been lost to injury.

Hours after news broke they intend to promote one of baseball’s top prospects Monday for the start of an eight-game homestand, the Nats slogged their way through a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay that was made worse by Winker’s right knee injury in the bottom of the first.

Already reeling from a three-game sweep in San Diego, the Nationals were held to one run on five hits by the Rays’ pitching staff, leaving them with a 38-43 record at the official halfway point of the season.

"We were one game under .500 before we got to San Diego," center fielder Jacob Young said. "So I think we're right there. We've played a lot of teams tough. We've had a pretty tough schedule. I think we've played well. We just need to keep going one game at a time and try to get some victories and get off this little four-game slide we're on."

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – By most conventional measurements, Josiah Gray should be ready to return from the injured list.

The Nationals right-hander, out since mid-April with a flexor strain in his elbow, has made four rehab starts this month, adding one inning each time out and maxing out at six innings Tuesday for Triple-A Rochester. That most recent start also was by far his best of the group, with only one run and four hits allowed, not to mention zero walks issued. He completed those six innings on only 73 pitches, but he got to 79 pitches the previous time on the mound.

So why aren’t the Nats activating Gray yet?

“I want to make sure when he comes back he’s ready,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We cleaned up his mechanics a little bit. The other day he felt really good, and he rebounded really well. So we’ll get him back out there.”

So Gray is remaining in Rochester and is scheduled to start Sunday, when he could throw as many as seven innings and build up his pitch count to 90.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Obviously, there’s already big news about what’s coming Monday when the Nationals return home. But before James Woodapalooza, there’s a three-game series to be played this weekend at Tropicana Field, where there’s no fear of any rain delays (thank god).

The Nats need to get themselves back on track after a brutal series in San Diego. Most importantly, they need to get their pitching back on track. That group has surrendered 6.3 runs per game on this road trip after allowing only 3.8 over the previous 26 games. So the spotlight tonight is on Mitchell Parker, who struggled in Colorado but actually finished quite strong with five straight strikeouts.

At the plate, the Nationals actually have been productive on the trip, scoring an average of 6.3 runs per game after averaging just 3.8 runs the previous 34 games. Some of that, though, has come too late, as was the case Wednesday in San Diego, when they were one-hit until a five-run top of the ninth that came too little too late. They’ll go up against veteran right-hander Zach Eflin, the former Phillie who has a 4.20 ERA this season but has issued a remarkable six walks in 81 1/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TAMPA BAY RAYS
Where: Tropicana Field
Gametime: 6:50 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
LF Jesse Winker
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
DH Eddie Rosario
3B Nick Senzel
CF Jacob Young

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Nationals plan to promote outfielder James Wood to make his major league debut Monday night against the Mets, two sources familiar with the decision confirmed, calling the top prospect up for their final homestand prior to the All-Star break.

Wood is still scheduled to play this weekend for Triple-A Rochester, according to one of the sources, where the 21-year-old surely will be monitored closely in hopes of keeping him healthy before he travels to D.C.

Wood’s planned promotion, which was first reported by 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen, figures to be the Nationals’ most-hyped debut in years, certainly since the franchise embarked on its roster rebuild three summers ago. One of the centerpiece prospects acquired in the August 2022 trade with the Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, the 6-foot-7 outfielder currently is rated baseball’s No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline, two spots ahead of fellow outfielder Dylan Crews, who was just promoted to Rochester last week.

Wood has dominated at the Triple-A level since the season began and was on target to debut earlier this summer until he suffered a hamstring injury May 23. He spent nearly four weeks on the minor league injured list, then returned to action June 18 (the same day Crews made his Triple-A debut).

In six games since coming back from the injury, Wood is 5-for-19 with one homer, three RBIs, four walks and four strikeouts. In 51 total games this season, he’s batting .346 with a .458 on-base percentage, 10 homers, 34 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and a 1.036 OPS.

DENVER – Jake Irvin had never pitched at Coors Field before. The Nationals’ trip here last season came right in between the right-hander’s major league debut in D.C. and his second start in San Francisco, so he had no personal experience to go off as he prepared for Sunday’s outing against the Rockies.

So Irvin sought out a teammate with loads of experience pitching at high altitude: Patrick Corbin, who has made 13 career starts here. (All three as a member of the Nationals were quality starts, to boot.)

As he stood at his locker following a dominant performance late Sunday afternoon, Irvin noted the words of wisdom he received from Corbin.

“Obviously the elements are a little different than any of the other parks we play in,” he said. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Pat, because coming in here I asked him – he had pitched in Arizona for a while, so he played here a lot. He said you can’t really be intimidated by the ballpark and the conditions. Just pitch your game. That advice really helped.”

Irvin certainly stuck to his usual gameplan, relying primarily on fastballs and curveballs. And he executed that plan brilliantly, striking out 10 over six innings of one-run ball to keep the game close before the Nats rallied to win 2-1 in the ninth.

DENVER – For two nights, the Nationals shrugged off their hitting woes and took full advantage of Coors Field and everything it has to offer. And then when it came time for today’s series finale in the best hitter’s park in America, they reverted right back to the form they displayed earlier in the week when they swung at almost everything the Diamondbacks threw at them and emerged with very little to show for it.

Until it mattered most at day’s end and the bats finally woke up just enough to do the impossible.

Held to one hit for eight innings, the Nationals strung together three of them in the ninth, getting clutch RBI knocks from Lane Thomas and Joey Meneses to storm back and beat the Rockies, 2-1, with Kyle Finnegan atoning for his disastrous bottom of the ninth Saturday night to notch the save on Sunday afternoon.

"You look at the last few games and know that the last few innings ... you feel like no one's going to win 1-0," Thomas said. "I think at no part in that game did we think we weren't going to score at least one. We were able to get it done." 

Unable to do anything at the plate for nearly the entire day, aside from Jacob Young’s sixth-inning infield single, the Nats finally put it together in the ninth against Colorado left-hander Jalen Beeks. Young got it started with another infield single, and though he was wiped out on CJ Abrams’ chopper to third, Abrams got himself into scoring position on a wild pitch.

DENVER – The 2024 Nationals established their offensive identity way back in April. Knowing they couldn’t match most other clubs in the power department, they decided to take advantage of their above-average speed and try to become the majors’ best baserunning team.

And for eight good weeks, they delivered in that department. The Nats racked up an astounding 77 stolen bases through their first 47 games, getting caught only 14 times for an impressive 84.6 percent success rate.

Since then, the numbers have plummeted and left the Nationals as the majors’ least effective baserunners. Over their last 29 games, they’ve stolen 27 bases but have been thrown out 24 times, a hard-to-believe 52.9 percent success rate that ranks far and away at the bottom of the league during the last month.

And it perhaps reached a low point Saturday night during an agonizing 8-7 loss to the Rockies that garnered attention for Kyle Finnegan’s walk-off pitch-clock violation in the bottom of the ninth but featured plenty more miscues along the way.

The Nats attempted four stolen bases in the game and were thrown out three times, including CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas in back-to-back plate appearances in the top of the seventh, just as the team was taking a 7-5 lead.

DENVER – It’s a new day at Coors Field, and the Nationals are grateful for that, because it means they don’t have to dwell on Saturday night’s disastrous, 8-7 loss to the Rockies, a game that saw them run into four outs on the bases, then give up runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, the last of them scoring on the first walk-off pitch clock violation in major league history. Good times.

The good news: In spite of all that, the Nats still have a chance to win the series this afternoon. Jake Irvin gets the ball, and he’ll take his crack at trying to keep the ball in the yard here on what is going to be a hot, dry afternoon made for offense. Irvin had his first rough outing in a while last time out, allowing four runs in five innings to the Diamondbacks. He makes his first career start in Colorado, having missed this assignment last year right after he was called up for his debut.

At the plate, the Nationals will try to keep the good offensive vibes going against Kyle Freeland, just activated off the 60-day injured list after missing two months with an elbow strain. The veteran left-hander was awful in his first four starts in April, going 0-3 with a 13.21 ERA before landing on the IL. You would think he’ll be limited today.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 3:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 93 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
LF Ildemaro Vargas
1B Joey Meneses
DH Nick Senzel
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Trey Lipscomb
2B Luis García Jr.
CF Jacob Young

DENVER – The Nationals and Rockies engaged in a good, old-fashioned Coors Field Saturday Night Special. The kind of night when anything can and will happen, and whatever happened in the first six innings doesn’t mean diddly squat because there’s still too much time for too much else to happen the rest of the way.

This game had five home runs. It had four runners caught stealing. It had multiple substitutions, either for injury or strategy. It had an ejection over one of countless erratic calls by plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. And it ultimately had the Nats’ top two relievers desperately try to replicate what they’ve done with ease everywhere else in Coors Field, the toughest pitcher’s park in America.

And then it ended in the most unimaginable manner possible: a pitch clock violation by Kyle Finnegan with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, handing the Rockies an 8-7 victory in historic fashion.

It was the first major league game to end on such a violation since baseball adopted the rule last year.

"It sucks," Finnegan said. "We played a great game and deserved to win, and I wasn't able to do my job."

DENVER – Tanner Rainey knew the significance of what he had just done. In closing out the Nationals’ 11-5 win over the Rockies on Friday night, he not only had been given the chance to pitch at the end of a victory instead of a loss for the first time in months. He also was given the chance to pitch multiple innings for the first time in nearly two years, his final appearance before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

“It’s not necessarily a milestone,” the reliever said, “but it’s something cool to have back under my belt.”

It’s been a painful season to date for Rainey, and not because his surgically repaired elbow has hurt at all. In his long-awaited return from that 2022 procedure, the 31-year-old former closer had seen himself plummet to the bottom of the Nats’ bullpen depth chart.

Rainey hadn’t pitched in a game the Nationals won since April 27 in Miami. And though this wasn’t exactly the definition of a high-leverage situation, a six-run lead in Colorado is probably more akin to a three- or four-run lead elsewhere.

Rainey took the mound for the bottom of the eighth and promptly retired the side, striking out a pair and needing only 13 total pitches to do it. So when he returned to the dugout, manager Davey Martinez asked how he felt about going back out for the ninth as well.

DENVER – The Nationals exploded for 11 runs on a season-high 19 hits Friday night against the Rockies. Can they carry any of that success over into tonight’s game and keep the positive offensive vibes going?

Davey Martinez’s bunch seemed to find the right balance between aggressively hitting fastballs in the zone and working the count when there wasn’t the perfect pitch waiting for them. They went 7-for-8 with 15 total bases when they put the first pitch of an at-bat in play, but they also drew five walks, showing the kind of patience they didn’t have the previous series against the Diamondbacks.

The Nats are facing statistically the Rockies’ best starter tonight in Cal Quantrill. The right-hander boasts a 3.43 ERA in 15 starts, which is no small feat pitching in this ballpark. He doesn’t strike a lot of guys out (6.3 per nine innings) but he doesn’t give up homers either (only eight in 84 innings). His two primary pitches are a sinker and a splitter, so the Nationals have to make sure they’re not chasing him down in the zone and pounding the ball into the ground.

Mitchell Parker makes his 13th major league start tonight, hoping to keep his streak alive by limiting Colorado to three or fewer earned runs. The lefty was really good against the Marlins last time out, allowing one run over six innings without walking anybody. Parker’s challenge tonight: Don’t leave the curveball or splitter up in the zone in the thin air.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 9:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 9 mph in from left field

DENVER – DJ Herz’s start Friday night bore no resemblance to his previous outing, when he took Nationals Park by storm and struck out 13 Marlins batters over six innings of one-hit, shutout ball.

In this game at Coors Field, the rookie left-hander lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits, all while throwing 76 pitches before getting the hook from manager Davey Martinez.

There was one similarity, though, and it was an important one that could bode well for future starts. As he did against Miami, Herz did not issue a walk against Colorado. He forced the Rockies to beat him, not giving them any help along the way.

“I thought it was good for the most part,” he said after the Nats’ 11-5 victory. “I’m happy about the amount of strikes, and the no walks again. Every time they scored, we answered, so it was good to see the run support and everybody hitting the ball tonight. It was really fun.”

Herz was hit hard, serving up three homers during a seven-batter span between the third and fourth innings. But two of those were solo shots, and the other was a two-run homer only because of third baseman Nick Senzel’s throwing error moments earlier. Herz didn’t create jams by losing control.

DENVER – Nobody in the clubhouse wanted to admit it this afternoon, but surely everyone was thinking it. If ever there was a place built to snap a moribund lineup out of its funk, it had to be Coors Field, right?

The Nationals arrived in the Mile High City reeling from a three-game series against the Diamondbacks in which they scored a total of five runs and saw a grand total of 287 pitches. (Somehow, they still won one of those three games.) But spirits remained high, because a weekend set with the Rockies felt like just what the doctor ordered.

And indeed it was, because in the series opener in the best hitter’s park in America, the Nats put forth one of their best offensive performances of the year, cruising to an 11-5 victory behind a season-high 19 hits.

"They responded really well," manager Davey Martinez said. "We talked a lot about know yourself. Know who you are. Know what pitches you want to attack. Stay on the fastball. We did well today."

Everybody in the lineup reached base once, and all but Nick Senzel reached multiple times. But Lane Thomas led the way with an RBI single, a two-run double and an RBI triple, the red-hot right fielder coming up just short of his first career cycle when he grounded out and then struck out in his final two at-bats.