MIAMI – There was a noticeable change in the Nationals clubhouse at loanDepot Park this afternoon. Jake Alu had a locker and Joey Meneses didn’t.

At first, it seemed like a curious development. But it turns out to be a joyous roster move.

The Nationals announced that Meneses has been placed on the paternity list with his fiancé, Mitzy Guzman, giving birth to the couple’s first child, Joseph, today. Alu rejoins the Nats to take his spot on the roster.

“Joey went on their (paternity) list today,” manager Davey Martinez said to begin his pregame media session. “His wife's expecting, so we will find out more here hopefully soon. Jake Alu is on his way. So when we get him here, we'll make that move.”

Meneses is eligible to return to the active roster on Saturday against the Tigers.

MIAMI – The Nationals will try to bounce back after last night’s heartbreaking loss to the Marlins when Hunter Harvey surrendered a two-run walk-off home run to Jorge Soler.

There are still two games left to play in this series and the Nats will have another good chance to get a win tonight with MacKenzie Gore on the mound. The young left-hander is 3-2 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.463 WHIP over his first eight starts, while still sporting an impressive 11.2 strikeout-per-nine-innings rate. Gore gutted through four shutout innings Friday against the Mets, a high pitch count of 96 shortening his outing. He’ll try to keep it down tonight in his first career start against the Marlins.

Edward Cabrera gets the start for the Fish. The 25-year-old right-hander is 2-3 with a 5.35 ERA and 1.670 WHIP over his first eight starts. He has struggled to get deep into games this year, only pitching into the sixth once. Cabrera is 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.063 WHIP in three career starts against the Nats.

The Nationals are planning to platoon left field with Corey Dickerson getting the starts against right-handers and Stone Garrett starting against lefties. With Cabrera on the mound for Miami, Dickerson returns to the lineup for the first time since being reinstated from the injured list on Monday, but as the designated hitter. He only appeared in the first two games of the season, as a pinch-hitter on Opening Day and as the starting left fielder on April 1 before hurting his calf in the eighth inning.

A roster move is expected to come before the game. Jake Alu has a locker in the Nats clubhouse and Joey Meneses doesn’t. Meneses’ wife is pregnant and due soon, so he should land on the paternity list. Ildemaro Vargas is playing left field while Dickerson is the DH.

MIAMI – Last night’s outing probably would have gone very differently for Josiah Gray if it had occurred last year. And for the worse.

Then 24, Gray had to learn on the fly during his first full major league campaign while being entrusted to take the ball every fifth day as part of the Nationals rotation. While there were some positives to take away (he stayed healthy throughout the course of the season while pitching a career-high 148 ⅔ innings over 28 starts), there were some learning curves as well (he led the major leagues with 38 homers and led the National League with 66 walks).

But last night’s start, while nothing too exciting to write home about, showed the important improvement Gray has made so far this season.

If it were a start in 2022, it would have likely been an outing that would have gotten away from Gray and fast. Especially against the Marlins, against whom he went 0-3 with a 5.67 ERA and a 1.560 WHIP in six starts last season.

But now in 2023, he was able to take the good and the bad and turn it into his fourth quality start in his last five outings.

MIAMI – The Nationals have found enough offense to play .500 ball since the first week of the season. Without a lack of a true power source, it was a serious question of how they would generate runs this season.

Since that 1-6 start, they have found that their style of baseball is good enough to win games and score runs in a variety of ways, even without a lot of longballs.

That style was on full display tonight in what appeared to be a 4-2 win over the Marlins. But a walk-off two-run home run by Jorge Soler off Hunter Harvey in the ninth turned it into a 5-4 loss in front of an announced crowd of 8,811 at loanDepot Park.

Pitching against a team for whom his father recorded 51 saves, Harvey entered the ninth trying to protect the Nats' two-run lead that they had built in the previous inning. He recorded a flyout and a strikeout on 10 pitches, needing just one more out for his second career save.

But a double by Garrett Cooper and an RBI single by Luis Arraez made it a one-run game, too close for comfort. Pinch-runner Jon Berti stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position, which was ultimately unnecessary thanks to Soler's 10th homer of the season.

MIAMI – The Nationals are getting closer to activating Chad Kuhl off the 15–day injured list while he continues his recovery from right foot metatarsalgia. Though they still have time to decide, the question is now becoming: How will they adjust the pitching staff when he’s finally ready to return?

Kuhl is eligible to come off the IL now, having been placed back on May 1 but retroactive to April 30. His biggest step in his rehab was throwing 65 pitches over four innings in a simulated game yesterday afternoon and reporting that he felt great today.

“Chad came out of his simulated game feeling good,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame session with the media ahead of tonight’s opener against the Marlins. “So we're gonna reevaluate and see what the next step would be for him.”

The right-hander, who was only in the Nats rotation because of Cade Cavalli’s Tommy John surgery coming out of spring training, is 0-2 with a 9.41 ERA and 1.955 WHIP over five starts this season. The Nationals have only won one of the games started by him, and that was largely thanks to the 10 runs they scored while he pitched just 3 ⅔ innings on April 22 in Minnesota.

The Nationals are still evaluating the situation and how they’ll move forward with him and the rotation.

MIAMI – Hello from loanDepot Park, where they make sure to stylize that with a lowercase L. I don’t understand why because even now in its third season since the name change from Marlins Park, I still read it as if it’s a capital I. But I digress …

Josiah Gray will get the ball to start this quick three-game road trip in South Beach. He’s been fantastic through his first eight starts of the season, sporting an improved 3-5 record, 2.96 ERA and 1.336 WHIP. The right-hander will look to continue that trend tonight as he hopes to fare much better against the Fish than he did last year: In six starts against Miami, Gray went 0-3 with a 5.67 ERA and a 1.560 WHIP.

To be fair, the Nationals as a team did not do well against the Marlins last year (or anyone in the National League East for that matter). They finished 4-15 against the Marlins in 2022 and started off by losing 12 of the first 13 matchups.

Former Nationals third-round pick Jesús Luzardo makes his ninth start of the season for the home team. You’ll remember him being included in the 2017 trade to the Athletics for Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson. He was then traded to Miami for Starling Marte in 2021. The left-hander is 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.412 WHIP on the season, but 0-2 with a 7.58 ERA and 1.895 WHIP in four career starts against the Nats.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

Jake Alu has waited for this moment his whole life, just like any ballplayer. After four seasons of college ball and the last four seasons of professional ball in the minor leagues, he has finally made the major leagues.

The moment came on Sunday, when the Nationals learned Victor Robles needed to go on the 10-day injured list with back spasms and they needed to call up someone from Triple-A Rochester.

Alu was first in line, hopping on an early cross-country flight Monday morning and meeting the team in San Francisco ahead of their three-game series against the Giants. His lifelong dream finally came true when he entered the visitors clubhouse and stepped on the field at Oracle Park.

“It's been an incredible time. It's been a whirlwind these last three days,” Alu said Friday after the Nationals returned home to start a series against the Mets. “Getting the call and getting called into (Rochester manager Matt LeCroy’s) office and getting told you're going to the big leagues, it's a lifelong goal. It's a dream. Glad that it happened.”

He got to soak in the moment on Monday, watching the Nationals’ victory from the dugout. But he got his first official taste of the big leagues on Tuesday, when he was in the starting lineup as the left fielder batting ninth.

It was unrealistic to expect MacKenzie Gore to repeat a career-best outing this time against the Mets. That’s a difficult feat to accomplish on any given night, much  less twice against the same team in about a two-week time frame.

And sure enough, tonight’s outing was unlike when the young left-hander took the mound at Citi Field on April 26 and shoved for six innings of one-run ball with four hits and two walks while matching a career high with 10 strikeouts.

Though not as impressive tonight, Gore still gutted through four scoreless innings. Unfortunately, it was all for naught as the Nationals bullpen broke down, leading to a 3-2 loss to the Mets in front of an announced crowd of 31,904 at Nats Park.

Gore’s high pitch count did him in early. He needed 37 pitches to get through the first inning, in which he faced six batters while giving up a single and two walks with two outs. He needed 22 pitches to complete the second while giving up two hits. Then he needed 25 pitches to get out of the third after another couple of singles.

The Mets did what they could not do while striking out 10 times two weeks ago: wore Gore down with long at-bats. They took balls out of the strike zone and fouled off tough pitches to extend their time at the plate.

The Nationals have returned home from a six-game West Coast road trip and received good news on the injury front after yesterday’s off-day.

Jeimer Candelario, dealing with a right ankle issue, is back in the starting lineup for tonight’s series opener against the Mets, batting sixth and playing third base. He had left Wednesday’s win against the Giants after sliding awkwardly into second base and having his right foot get caught in the dirt, twisting his ankle. After the game, he was seen with the ankle wrapped up, and manager Davey Martinez said the Nats would have to wait until today to see how he felt.

Today’s report, obviously, came back positive.

“He just slid and fell funny on it,” Martinez said during his pregame media session at Nationals Park. “It was kind of sore, but he said he feels good today. ... Everything's good.”

The Nats do have plenty of backup options just in case Candelario needed an extra day of rest. Ildemaro Vargas, Michael Chavis and Jake Alu all have experience playing third base.

The Nationals are back home after a 3-3 road trip and Thursday’s off-day. It’s an odd setup for this four-game series before the Nats head back on the road to Miami: They’ll play these four games against the Mets on Friday-Monday this Mother’s Day weekend.

MacKenzie Gore returns to the mound to start this series for the home team. The young left-hander is 3-2 with a 3.65 ERA and 1.432 WHIP over his first seven starts. His 11.68 strikeout-per-nine-innings rate is fifth in the major leagues, thanks to two recent outings. He struck out nine over six innings on Saturday against the Diamondbacks, and he tied his career high with 10 strikeouts over six frames against these Mets two weeks ago in New York.

Tylor Megill will make his eighth start for the Mets, going 3-2 with a 4.33 ERA and 1.500 WHIP to start the season. Since starting the year 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA, the right-hander is 0-2 with a 6.05 ERA over his last four starts, with the Mets losing three of those games.

Since starting the season 1-6, the Nationals have played .500 ball with a plus run differential over their last 30 games. Meanwhile, the Mets have been reeling. Starting with that series at Citi Field in which the Nats won two of three, the Mets are 4-11 with a -34 run differential. Entering this weekend, the Nats are only 1 ½ games behind the Mets in the National League East.

NEW YORK METS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 83 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right-center field

Just over 30 games into the season, who would you guess would be the Nationals’ RBI and slugging percentage leader?

Probably one of their power hitters like Joey Meneses or Dominic Smith. Or maybe even one of their better contact hitters like Jeimer Candelario or Keibert Ruiz.

Any one of them would be a good guess, especially considering how high up the batting order they primarily hit.

But they would be wrong, as the correct answer is CJ Abrams, who is slugging .386 with 15 RBIs over his first 30 games.

“I did know that,” Abrams said with a grin when asked if he knew he was the team’s leader in runs batted in.

The Nationals are enjoying the last three games at home after entering this homestand with a sub-.500 record on South Capitol Street and having dropped two of three to the Pirates over the weekend and the series opener to the Cubs on Monday.

But it all came together these last three days in the forms of a 4-1 win Tuesday, a 2-1 win yesterday and a 4-3 win this afternoon, this one delivered by Alex Call’s walk-off home run down the left-field line to send the announced crowd of 18,577 home happy.

The win was the Nationals’ third in a row and sealed their third series win in their last four matchups. It was also completed in 1 hour and 55 minutes, the third-fastest game in the majors this season.

Coming up for his fourth at-bat, Call had already had an eventful day. Starting in center field for Victor Robles, he made a spectacular diving catch to rob Dansby Swanson of a hit in the seventh and preserve a strong outing by Patrick Corbin. But at the plate, he was less fortunate with an 0-for-3 start and two hard lineouts to third baseman Patrick Wisdom.

That’s why you always look to the next one.

Jake Irvin had a solid major league debut Wednesday for the Nationals.

It wasn’t anything too spectacular, nor was it expected to be. A promising pitcher in his own right, he didn’t come with the pedigree of his former University of Oklahoma teammate Cade Cavalli. And his debut definitely didn’t come with the pomp and circumstance that surrounded the debut of Stephen Strasburg, who remains the last starting pitcher to make his major league debut with the Nationals and earn the win back in June 2010.

But Irvin’s start against the Cubs was still encouraging enough that the Nationals are going to keep him around for a little while longer, though not fully committing to him making another start in the big leagues.

“Yeah, we're gonna keep him around,” manager Davey Martinez said of Irvin during his pregame media session ahead of Thursday’s afternoon finale against Chicago. “We haven't decided yet what we're gonna do for that starter's spot. But if he's here till then, he'll get a chance to start again.”

The 26-year-old right-hander pitched 4 ⅓ innings last night and gave up just one run on two hits and four walks while striking out three, all looking. He threw 81 pitches, 45 strikes, after throwing 82 pitches, 52 strikes, in his previous start for Triple-A Rochester last week. That was his best start with the Red Wings before getting the call to Washington, striking out six and allowing two runs over 5 ⅓ innings.

The Nationals will look to win this four-game series against the Cubs this afternoon on South Capitol Street after taking the last two games. A win will also give them a winning homestand. They’ll hop on a flight tonight and embark on a six-game West Coast road trip to Phoenix and San Francisco after finishing with Chicago.

Patrick Corbin will take the mound for his seventh start of the season, fifth at home, bringing his 1-4 record, 5.74 ERA and 1.660 WHIP. The numbers still don’t impress, but Corbin has been better so far this year in keeping the Nationals close. He has departed the game with his team ahead, tied or within two runs in five of his six starts, and he has turned in quality starts in two of his last three outings with a much better 4.15 ERA over those games.

The Cubs will activate Jameson Taillon from the injured list to start for the visitors. The veteran right-hander went down with a groin strain after only three starts, going 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.357 WHIP. He’s 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA over five career starts against the Nats and 0-1 with a 3.32 ERA over three starts at Nationals Park.

Today will be the Nats’ last chance on this homestand to improve their record at Nationals Park. Overall, they’re 5-12 at home while actually playing above-.500 ball on the road with a 7-6 record. They’re 3-3 so far on this homestand.

CHICAGO CUBS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 58 degrees, wind 9 mph in from left to right field

NEW YORK – The Nationals have always built their roster around strong starting pitching.

They’ve shown that in the past with rotations headlined by Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. And they’re showing it now by acquiring two young starting pitchers in the blockbuster trades they’ve made in each of the last two summers: Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore.

This week’s series in New York showed the potential in what Gray and Gore can bring as frontline starters: the right-hander pitched six shutout innings with nine strikeouts on Tuesday and the left-hander pitched six innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts on Wednesday.

But behind every great pitching performance is also an often overlooked great catching performance. And the Nationals have committed to that position for the long-term as well.

Keibert Ruiz, included with Gray in the 2021 trade with the Dodgers for Scherzer and Trea Turner, signed an eight-year, $50 million extension during spring training, an agreement that can reach 10 years and $76 million if both club options are selected.

NEW YORK – It might have been too much to ask for the Nationals’ first three-game sweep since June 2021 and first three-game sweep on the road since August 2019.

After dominating performances in the first two games at Citi Field, going home with just a series win should be satisfactory for the last-place Nats. But, man, did they put up a fight for the sweep.

After a dramatic comeback to take the lead in the top of the eighth, the Nats bullpen had a rare meltdown in the bottom half of the inning, as they couldn’t complete the sweep with a 9-8 loss to the Mets in front of 20,726 stunned fans in Queens.

With an 8-7 lead thanks to CJ Abrams’ first career grand slam, Mason Thompson, who has been one of the best relievers in baseball but who also threw 28 pitches over three innings here two nights ago, entered the bottom of the eighth to try to get it to the ninth.

Thompson surrendered a leadoff single to Brandon Nimmo, who then stole second base. Starling Marte moved him up to third with a flyout to center and then back-to-back RBIs from Francisco Lindor on a double and Pete Alonso on a single brought home the tying and go-ahead runs.

NEW YORK – The Nationals had one noticeable player missing from the clubhouse before tonight’s series finale against the Mets. Ildemaro Vargas, on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder strain since April 11, left the team to start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester.

“He went out this morning, though they, unfortunately, had a day game today,” manager Davey Martinez said of his backup utility infielder. “So he's got to start playing tomorrow.”

Vargas jammed his shoulder while making a diving play earlier this month in Colorado. He had recently been able to most of the usual baseball activities, but Martinez had said it still bothered the switch-hitter when swinging right-handed.

When he arrives at Rochester, Vargas will get most of his reps at shortstop while also getting at-bats from both sides of the plate.

“Yeah, he's got to go out there,” Martinez said. “I want him to play some shortstop. I want to see him field. He's definitely got to swing the bat. Hopefully, he can swing both left-handed and right-handed. But we'll see how he does and we'll see how long it's gonna take for him to go out and come back. There's no timetable yet, but hopefully it's only a few days.”

NEW YORK – Here we go again: For the second straight series, the Nationals have put themselves in position to earn their first three-game sweep since June 14-16, 2021, when they took three straight at home against the Pirates. It’s also the second straight series they’ll have this opportunity on the road, this time at Citi Field against the Mets, who entered this series only a half-game out of first place in the National League East. The Nats last swept a three-game road series Aug. 23-25, 2019 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Trevor Williams will look to become the fourth straight Nats starting pitcher to turn in a quality start and fifth in the last six games. He’ll also be doing so while taking the mound at Citi Field for the first time since signing a two-year, $13 million contract with the Nats this offseason.

Williams is off to a strong start with his new team. He’s a respectable 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.078 WHIP over his first four starts, completing at least five innings each time out and allowing no more than three runs per start.

The Nationals offense will be tasked with facing their first left-hander of this series in Joey Lucchesi. The 29-year-old made his first major league start since recovering from Tommy John surgery last year on Friday in San Francisco, completing seven shutout innings and allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out nine in a win over the Giants.

Victor Robles is the only Nationals regular to have faced Lucchesi ahead of tonight, going 4-for-8 with a solo home run. Meanwhile, Dominic Smith gets a day off and Stone Garrett will DH against Lucchesi, moving Joey Meneses to first base. And Luis García takes tonight off, but it’s Michael Chavis playing second base instead of Jeter Downs.

NEW YORK – The talk around the Big Apple the past two nights when it comes to baseball has been about the Nationals’ young starting pitchers. And rightfully so.

Josiah Gray (nine strikeouts over six shutout innings on Tuesday) and MacKenzie Gore (matching a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball on Wednesday) have dominated recent headlines like they dominated the Mets lineup over the last two nights.

But lost in the pitching hysteria last night was how the Nats’ own lineup handled one of the more difficult pitches to face in the sport.

Kodai Senga, the 30-year-old right-hander the Mets signed to a five-year, $75 million deal over the offseason out of Japan, is known for throwing a “ghost forkball.” It’s not officially called that by any metric. If you look at his Statcast page, it’s just a forkball.

But it got its name from the way it comes at hitters like a fastball and just seems to disappear right before crossing the plate. Coming into last night’s start, the pitch had a 54 percent whiff rate and a 30 percent putaway rate. Opponents had managed just three hits in 25 at-bats ending with the forkball for a .120 average.

NEW YORK – The Nationals were looking for an encore from another one of their young starting pitchers after Josiah Gray tossed six scoreless innings against the Mets last night.

Next up in the rotation was MacKenzie Gore. And like Gray, he did not disappoint.

After Tuesday’s dazzling performance by the young right-hander acquired in the trade of Max Scherzer and Trea Turner two summers ago, the young left-hander acquired in the trade of Juan Soto and Josh Bell last summer held the Mets lineup in check while leading the Nationals to a 4-1 victory in front of 20,191 fans in Queens.

In doing so, Gore helped the Nationals seal their second consecutive series win. They will go for a Citi Field sweep here tomorrow night.

It’s hard not to see the similarities between the two games played here so far. Gray struck out nine batters last night using his four pitches. Gore struck out 10, matching his career high, and like Gray, he used his full arsenal to confuse the opposing lineup, with his fastball and curveball racking up the Ks.