Luis García Jr. has not had the start to the season he hoped for. Entering last night’s series opener against the Cubs, he was hitting only .247 with a .691 OPS. At the same time last year, those numbers were .264 and .729, respectively. And he finished his breakout 2024 campaign with a .282 average and .762 OPS.

Yes, the 25-year-old has been the victim of some bad luck. His expected batting average is now up to .299 and his “squared up” percentage is 34.4, with both good enough to be in the 91st percentile in the major leagues.

As he tries to get back to the level of production he put up last year, García is focusing on getting back to hitting the ball the opposite way and up the middle of the field.

Last year during his career-best season, García hit the ball the opposite way 27.5 percent of the time and straight up the middle 46.3 percent. Those percentages are down to 18.3 and 42.7, respectively, so far this season.

But last night’s showing was a good step in the (opposite) direction.

The Nationals returned home from the West Coast as one of the hottest teams in baseball. Entering tonight after a 4-2 road trip, their 11-5 record since May 14 was the fourth-best in the major leagues.

Their next challenge? The Cubs, who were tied for the best record in the majors over the same stretch at 12-4 and who were singularly the best over a longer stretch at 15-5 in their last 20 games.

A great litmus test for this young Nats team that started this homestand only three games below .500.

Unfortunately, the Nats now find themselves four games under .500 after tonight’s 8-3 loss to the Cubs in the series opener, a game in which they let an early lead slip away.

“It was a weird game," manager Davey Martinez said after his team lost for just the second time in their last six games. "A couple of mistakes on defense. And then, really, the one inning it was the walks. The walks got us that inning, and then a base hit. So we just got to come back tomorrow. We try to eliminate all that stuff. And today was just weird.”

The Nationals returned home after a week on the West Coast with high spirits. They won four of their six games against the Mariners and Diamondbacks, and now they’re about to begin a highly anticipated series with the Cubs, who own one of the best records in baseball.

And as manager Davey Martinez provided some pre-series updates on a few of his injured players, the good news kept coming as it related to their Gold Glove-caliber center fielder.

Jacob Young, who has been on the 10-day injured list since May 23 (retroactive to May 20) with a left shoulder AC sprain, officially begins a minor league rehab assignment tonight with Double-A Harrisburg. The 25-year-old was able to swing his bat and hit over the weekend, crossing off the final mark on his checklist.

So what’s the plan for Young this week?

“To play,” Martinez said. “He's been doing everything, but he finally started hitting; he felt good. The last two days, he was really taking a lot of swings. We broke it down for him as if he was playing in a game. So now he's just going to go down there and get at-bats. We'll see how he does the next few days.”

The Nationals return home after a very successful 4-2 West Coast road trip against two contending teams. The competition doesn’t ease up on South Capitol Street, however, as they face another first-place squad in the Cubs.

Craig Counsell’s club has the second-best record in the National League at 37-22, trailing only the Mets by a half-game. They are 14-4 since May 12, the best record in the majors in the span, with the Nats just behind them at 11-7.

The Nats offense will try to stay hot against rookie right-hander Cade Horton, who is the owner of a 2-0 record, 3.98 ERA and 1.230 WHIP over his first four major league appearances (three starts).

Meanwhile, Trevor Williams will look to carry over his dominance from his last outing, against the Mariners, in which he pitched six shutout innings on three hits, no walks and two strikeouts. The veteran right-hander is 3-5 with a 5.69 ERA and 1.446 WHIP over 11 starts this season and 4-8 with a 4.55 ERA and 1.518 WHIP in 18 career appearances (14 starts) against the Cubbies.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 81 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

Injuries happen over the course of a 162-game season. There’s no avoiding it. Teams need to be prepared.

Organizational depth plays a key role in a team’s success over the course of the six-month season. You need quality players as backups, ideally ones that play in a similar fashion as the players you hope you don’t, but inevitably do, lose to injury.

So when the Nationals had to place Dylan Crews (left oblique strain) and Jacob Young (left shoulder AC sprain) on the injured list last week, they were happy to have two prospects ready to fill the roster spots.

Robert Hassell III and Daylen Lile, ranked as the Nats’ Nos. 11 and 9 prospects, respectively, per MLB Pipeline, have had their moments in their short stint in the majors so far. The tools that have made them some of the highest-rated prospects in the farm system have been on display in their quick swings, speed on the basepaths and glovework in the outfield.

Sure, they may need more seasoning at the plate. After becoming the first National to record a multi-hit game and a stolen base in his major league debut, Hassell is hitless in his last three games. Lile is 2-for-8 in his first three major league games after only 18 games at Triple-A Rochester.

So far in this series between the Nationals and Giants, one team scores and the other does not. That was the case in each of the first two games that the squads split via shutouts.

Surely, that meant they were destined for more offensive output in Sunday’s finale in front of an announced crowd of 31,581 at Nationals Park, right?

Early on, it seemed that way. But the Nats were unable to overcome an early deficit in an eventual 3-2 loss to the Giants, giving Washington its first series loss in the last three matchups.

After MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin pitched quality starts in the first two games of this three-game set, it was Michael Soroka’s turn to attempt to get deep in the game and give his team a chance at a win.

Soroka cruised through his first inning, throwing seven of eight pitches for strikes. But he labored over the next two frames to bring his pitch count to 60 after just three innings.

The Nationals are still waiting to see if their All-Star closer is available for this afternoon’s series finale against the Giants. If not, they have no problem giving him some more rest before tomorrow’s off-day and the upcoming six-game West Coast road trip.

Kyle Finnegan has been dealing with arm fatigue after pitching two innings in the Nats’ two wins over the Braves earlier this week. The right-hander recorded his 15th save, good for third in the major leagues, with a perfect ninth inning on Tuesday and then was charged with his third blown save after giving up two hits and an unearned run in the ninth of Thursday’s extra-inning victory.

"Just a little arm fatigue after pitching twice against Atlanta,” Finnegan told reporters yesterday after not appearing in the 3-0 win over the Giants. “I just haven't quite bounced back yet. But I feel fine. It's just an abundance of caution, take an extra day."

Neither the closer nor the team feels too concerned about it. Ideally, he would be available to pitch this afternoon. But even if he’s not, the Nats are confident in their other closing candidates like Jorge López, who recorded his first save of the season Saturday.

“Just like fatigue,” Finnegan said. “Some outings you're more sore than others, really no reason why. Just a little more fatigued. But like I said, it's really not something I'm concerned with at all."

After Friday’s shutout loss to end a five-game win streak, the Nationals bounced right back to shut out the Giants yesterday to get back in the win column. They are now winners of seven of their last nine, and if they can win one more this afternoon, they’ll be winners of three straight series ahead of a long West Coast road trip.

Michael Soroka will try to do what MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin did the last two outings: Hold the Giants lineup to minimal damage and pitch deep into the game. The right-hander enters his fifth start with a 1-2 record, 5.95 ERA and 1.271 WHIP.

Meanwhile, the Nats bats will try to do something few have accomplished this season: Get to Robbie Ray. The veteran left-hander is undefeated at 6-0 with a 2.67 ERA and 1.221 WHIP over his 10 starts. The Giants have only lost one game Ray has started this year, his most recent one in which he pitched seven shutout innings against the Royals.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 68 degrees, wind 10 mph in from left field

The Nationals are promoting their top prospect up a level in their minor league system.

Travis Sykora, the No. 1 prospect in the Nats system and No. 61 overall per MLB Pipeline, is being promoted to High-A Wilmington, a source confirms.

Sykora dominated Single-A once again following his return from offseason hip surgery. He held opponents to one hit, one run and one walk while striking out 14 in just five innings over two starts with the Fredericksburg Nationals.

It was an easy return to form for the 21-year-old, who the Nats selected out of high school in the third round of the 2023 MLB Draft. The 6-foot-6 righty was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Year in 2024 after going 5-3 with a 2.33 ERA, 0.906 WHIP, 129 strikeouts and 13.7 strikeouts per nine innings across 20 starts.

He also dominated in the playoffs to help the FredNats win their first championship since moving to Fredericksburg in 2020.

ATLANTA – The Nationals bullpen has been the most inconsistent and disappointing group to start the season. Entering yesterday’s finale against the Braves, Nats relievers owned the second-worst ERA in the majors.

The group is still trying to mesh together. A few relievers have landed on the injured list and two that started the season on the roster are no longer here, with an outside addition joining a couple of weeks ago.

But while the established veterans continue to get a majority of the high-leverage innings, there is a new young core forming in the Nationals bullpen.

Cole Henry, Jackson Rutledge, Brad Lord and Zach Brzykcy are starting to get more chances to prove themselves as reliable options to pass the ball to the back end of the ‘pen. And they are enjoying the opportunity together after coming up through the Nats system at the same time.

“I think it's been really cool just to have all these guys that we came up together,” Henry said on Wednesday at Truist Park. “We're pretty good friends with each other, and it's just been awesome to have those guys with me all every step of the way. We were actually just talking about it yesterday, how cool it is that a few years back we were all down in Florida together and just got drafted or signed. Just dreaming about the day that we would be here. And now it's here. It just seems surreal.

ATLANTA – After rallying to win last night, the Nationals were in position this afternoon to split this four-game series with the Braves. And given how the frustration mounted over the recent seven-game losing streak, that would have been considered a win in this first leg of a seven-game road trip.

The Nats were able to overcome some early mistakes Wednesday. Not a great recipe for success, but they did just enough to scratch out a win. Unfortunately, that was not the case in this matinee finale.

Facing a familiar deficit from last night by the middle innings, the Nationals dropped their third game at Truist Park 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 34,074. And they can really only blame themselves.

Davey Martinez once again reconfigured his infield defense. With Luis García Jr. landing on the paternity list earlier this week, the manager moved José Tena from third base to second and inserted Amed Rosario at the hot corner for the previous two games.

That was costly a couple of nights ago when both infielders made mistakes on routine plays. So Martinez swapped them today, and at first, it paid dividends.

ATLANTA – It had been eight days since Kyle Finnegan took a mound in an actual game when he jogged out from the Nationals' bullpen in the ninth inning last night. And quite frankly, it was hard to know how it was going to go with him protecting a one-run lead.

Finnegan entered the tight ballgame with a 6.92 ERA in 27 career appearances, pitching on five-plus days of rest. The All-Star closer usually likes to pitch with more frequency, and when he doesn’t, he gets rusty.

So when the inning started with a leadoff single by Drake Baldwin on Finnegan’s second pitch, some dread probably sank into the hearts of Nats fans.

But the right-hander locked in and retired the next three batters on a scant 10 pitches, needing only 12 total to record his 13th save, which is now tied for second-most in the major leagues.

“You just try to stay ready,” Finnegan said Wednesday night. “We've had a lot of games that could have gone either way late. So I still felt like I was in that game mindset, which is good. But just pulling for the guys to go out there and perform. The ball wasn't bouncing our way, and that's why this one feels really good.”

ATLANTA – Well, the Nationals finally won one. Would two be too much to ask?

If the Nats can find a way to win this afternoon at Truist Park, they will earn a four-game series split, which they would happily accept after suffering through a seven-game losing streak.

The offense scored five runs last night, the most they’ve put on the board in a week. Today the Nats will try to continue their moment against AJ Smith-Shawver. The 22-year-old right-hander is 2-2 with a 2.76 ERA and 1.347 WHIP in six starts. He hasn’t given up more than three runs in an outing so far, and is only two starts removed from a dominant appearance against the Reds in which he pitched eight shutout innings of one-hit ball.

Meanwhile, Trevor Williams will try to help his team end this leg of the road trip on a high note. The right-hander enters his ninth start with a 2-4 record, 5.88 ERA and 1.573 WHIP. He has given up four or more runs in each of his last three starts, so he’ll need to be more effective against this tough Braves lineup.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 12:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (out-of-market only), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 77 degrees, wind 12 mph in from right field

ATLANTA – When things don’t go your way, they really don’t go your way. And things had not gone the Nationals’ way for the better part of the last eight days.

In order to break an extended losing streak, the Nationals had to do almost everything right. And even though they made more mistakes than positive plays in the early parts of this game, the fact that they put together a late rally showed a lot about what this team has: Fight.

This 5-4 comeback victory may look like any ordinary win over the Braves, but it in fact snapped a seven-game losing streak and may have been the first sign that the Nats can finally turn this thing around.

“That win was great," manager Davey Martinez said after the first victory in over a week. "Put one on the board for the good guys, how's that? The boys played well. We're playing baseball. It's fun to watch these guys come out and compete. … It was a good team effort today.”

Down 4-3 in the eighth, the Nats finally put together the clutch at-bats they’ve been searching for over the past week.

ATLANTA – Looking for anything new to spark the Nationals' offense, manager Davey Martinez has shuffled his lineup a bit for the third of a four-game set against the Braves.

With the Braves starting right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver (2.76 ERA) for tomorrow’s noon getaway game, Martinez decided to get Keibert Ruiz off his feet today to play tomorrow and start Riley Adams behind the plate tonight against right-hander Bryce Elder (4.97 ERA).

Also, Amed Rosario has been bumped up to the No. 2 spot to split up leadoff hitter CJ Abrams and slugger James Wood and combat the two lefty relievers the Braves have in Aaron Bummer and Dylan Lee.

“We got a 12 o'clock game tomorrow,” Martinez explained during his pregame media session. “So Riley gets tonight, Keibert gets tomorrow. He's available to pinch-hit if we need him. Moved Rosario between the lefties. They have two good left-handed pitchers in the bullpen, so trying to break those lefties up. But yeah, trying to get everybody in there with the early day game tomorrow.”

Adams has been productive in limited playing time, collecting hits in five of his last six games including two doubles, two home runs and six RBIs.

ATLANTA – While the Nationals were able to finally score first in last night’s game – swinging at strikes and accepting a few walks – they weren’t able to sustain that early success at the plate in their seventh straight loss.

The bats will have to try to get going against right-hander Bryce Elder. The 25-year-old is 2-2 with a 4.97 ERA and 1.289 WHIP in seven starts. But he has given up three or fewer runs in four straight outings, with three quality starts. He also struck out a season-high eight batters (while also giving up two home runs) in his last start against the Pirates.

Mitchell Parker will try to keep the Nats in the ballgame from the mound, something he has struggled with over his last three starts, in which he gave up a combined 15 earned runs and 11 walks. The left-hander hasn’t pitched past the fourth inning in either of his last two outings, so the Nats will also hope their starter can give some more length.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 7:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
3B Amed Rosario
LF James Wood
1B Nathaniel Lowe
RF Alex Call
DH Josh Bell
CF Dylan Crews
2B José Tena
C Riley Adams

ATLANTA – When the Nationals walked into the visiting clubhouse for the first time on Monday, Michael Soroka was greeted with some familiar faces. The longtime Brave already knew some of the clubhouse managers from his first six seasons in the major leagues, all spent in Atlanta.

Hugs were exchanged. Questions about life and family were asked. Smiles were shared.

Then when the Nats returned Tuesday afternoon for the second of a four-game set against the Braves, Soroka was focused on his 20th start at Truist Park, the first as a visitor.

“I was excited,” Soroka said last night after his third start in a Nationals uniform. “Obviously, it's been a while since we were over here. Took that mound. And yeah, there's not a ton of guys over there that I played with all those years back then. But still, certainly some that I came up with and made good memories with. But I definitely wanted to give them my best tonight and felt like we did that.”

Due to a high pitch count of 81, Soroka finished only four innings, giving up four hits, two runs, one walk and four strikeouts, in his first outing against his former team. And while doing so, he did something he had not previously done over the course of his career.

ATLANTA – The Nationals have thought that in order to snap their six-game losing streak they needed better at-bats from their lineup. Specifically, they needed to accept their walks, get the ball in the strike zone and score first.

Well, the Nationals were able to do all three of those things in the second of this four-game set against the Braves. But wouldn’t you know it, that wasn’t enough as the Nats took a 5-2 loss for their seventh straight defeat, marking their longest losing streak since July 7-16, 2022 (nine).

This night immediately started on a positive note as CJ Abrams smacked Spencer Schwellenbach’s first pitch of the game over the right field wall for a leadoff home run. And just like that, for only the fifth time in their last 17 games, the Nationals scored the first run of the contest.

“I wanted to start things off," Abrams said. "Stay aggressive on the fastball. It was a little out of the zone, but I put a good swing on it and it went out.”

Abrams’ 10th leadoff homer is second in Nationals history (2005-present) only to Trea Turner’s 14. Funny that both shortstops originally started their careers in the Padres system.

ATLANTA – The Nationals made a small roster move ahead of their second game against the Braves. Luis García Jr. was placed on the paternity list and Trey Lipscomb was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to fill the open spot on the roster.

“Feels great. Every time you get to come back up here is another opportunity,” Lipscomb said in front of his locker before today’s game. “You enjoy it and you want to cherish it.”

Lipscomb has found some sustained success in Rochester, hitting .283 with three doubles, two home runs, 14 RBIs, 12 walks, six stolen bases and 14 runs scored in 26 games.

“Just kind of being myself,” he said. “Day by day, just doing things like having a better routine, going up there and just letting the game happen.”

While it will likely be a short one (players are only allowed to be on the paternity list for a maximum of three days), this will be Lipscomb’s second major league stint this year. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored across three games in late April when Paul DeJong was placed on the injured list.

ATLANTA – The Nationals need a win and they need it badly. It doesn’t matter how they get it. Whether it’s via a blowout or by one run, they just need to come out on top of the Braves to stop this six-game losing streak.

After Jake Irvin turned in the Nats’ first quality start since Tuesday in the series opener last night, Davey Martinez will turn to Michael Soroka in hopes he'll repeat the feat tonight. Soroka makes his first start at Truist Park, which he called home for the first six years of his career, since the Braves traded him to the White Sox in November 2023.

The emotions could be high for the right-hander as he faces his old team, with which his once-promising career was derailed by injuries. Soroka is 8-6 with a 4.67 ERA and 1.311 WHIP in 20 appearances (19 starts) in Atlanta. He made a strong start in his return from the injured list last week, shutting out the Guardians over five innings before ultimately being charged with four runs after the sixth got away from him.

We know the Nats’ issues at the plate. They’ll try again to correct them against right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach, who is 1-3 with a 3.42 ERA and 1.099 WHIP in eight starts.

Roster move: The Nats placed Luis García Jr. on the paternity list this afternoon and recalled Trey Lipscomb from Triple-A Rochester.