The season’s final three weeks will see the Nationals play 11 of their last 19 games against teams in the thick of the pennant race. It makes for a significant challenge for a team loaded with rookies getting used to September baseball in the majors for the first time, let alone games of this magnitude.

The gauntlet begins with a quick, two-game series against the Braves, a division rival the Nats already clinched its season series against. And with MacKenzie Gore having played a huge role in that success, tonight’s matchup on South Capitol Street should have elicited some sense of confidence from the home team.

How much of that confidence remained at the end of a 12-0 drubbing? Gore and Co. can say what they want, but there were no silver linings to be found on this Tuesday night at the park.

In one of his worst starts of the season, and certainly his worst in nearly a month, Gore dug his team into an early 7-0 hole, failing to make it out of the fourth inning and getting battered around by a Braves lineup severely depleted by injury, one just hoping to produce enough to take advantage of great pitching and beat out the Mets for the National League’s final Wild Card spot.

Gore wasn’t solely to blame tonight. He was victimized by two costly defensive mistakes. And the Nationals lineup managed all of three hits despite facing the Atlanta bullpen for eight innings after All-Star starter Reynaldo López departed 25 pitches in with shoulder tightness.

Some 3 1/2 months since he last pitched for the Nationals, Trevor Williams took the mound this evening in Harrisburg for a long-awaited rehab start.

The right-hander, out since May 30 with a flexor strain in his elbow, tossed three scoreless innings in the Double-A game against Reading. And barring any setbacks, he’s likely to return to Harrisburg and build up to four or five innings Sunday afternoon, then be activated off the 60-day injured list and rejoin the Nats rotation.

“It’ll be nice to see him back on the mound for us before the season’s over,” manager Davey Martinez said. “So we’re going to try to build him up for that.”

Why are the Nationals so determined to get a 32-year-old pending free agent starts down the stretch of a season that won’t extend into October? It’s not just about giving Williams a chance to pitch a couple more times in the big leagues and perhaps help his cause as he looks for a job in 2025. It’s also about giving the four young starters who are a part of their future the best opportunity to finish the season healthy without being shut down early.

The Nats have been closely monitoring the workloads of MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz. Each has exceeded his previous career high in innings pitched, with three weeks still to go this season.

We’ve reached the final three weeks of the season, which means the Nationals are looking at a week of home games, then a week of road games, then one last week of home games before heading out for the winter. There are a bunch of contenders on the schedule, though, including two more games with the Braves, who come to town tonight.

Atlanta is right in the thick of the race for the final wild card berth with the Mets (who the Nats face next week at Citi Field), trailing by one game entering tonight’s opener. If the Braves make it, they’ll do so on the strength of their pitching (which has been excellent) and not their hitting (which has not, in large part due to injuries).

Among their best starters, of course, is Reynaldo López, who gets the ball tonight. The former Nationals prospect has a 2.04 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning in 23 starts, and he’s pitched well against the Nats twice already this season (three runs over 12 innings). A lineup that didn’t do much Sunday against Pirates flamethrower Jared Jones faces another stiff test tonight.

Don’t overlook what MacKenzie Gore has done against the Braves, though. The young lefty has made three head-to-head starts this season, and he allowed one earned run in each of them. He’s on a roll here down the stretch as well, with three straight outings of two runs or less allowed in six innings, with an outstanding 19-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio to boot.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees, wind 6 mph in from left field

Josiah Gray may not have made much impact on the field this year, but his continued impact off the field earned the Nationals right-hander another cherished honor.

Gray on Monday was named the Nats’ nominee for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award, given out annually by Major League Baseball to the player who “best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”

It’s the second straight year Gray has been nominated for the Clemente Award, the winner of which will be unveiled during the World Series. The league’s annual Roberto Clemente Day will be held Sept. 15, at which time the right-hander will be honored at Nationals Park prior to the team’s series finale against the Marlins.

After making his first All-Star team in 2023, Gray looked poised to take another bit step forward in his career when he was selected by manager Davey Martinez as the team’s Opening Day starter this spring. Gray, though, wound up making only two starts before reporting elbow pain. Sidelined for three months as he attempted to rehab through the injury and rejoin the rotation, he ultimately learned he had torn the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and underwent both Tommy John surgery and an internal brace procedure July 24 in Dallas. He’s expected to miss the majority of the 2025 season.

The 26-year-old has remained with the club during the early stages of his rehab, and he remains active in his off-field pursuits. As player ambassador to the Nationals’ Youth Academy, he is a regular visitor to the Southeast D.C. facility and has established charitable endeavors to help fund its programs.

PITTSBURGH – CJ Abrams’ first at-bat Sunday afternoon was shaping up to look a lot like so many of his at-bats over the last two months.

Leading off the Nationals’ series finale against the Pirates, the slumping shortstop aggressively went after Jared Jones’ first pitch of the day – a 99 mph fastball over the plate – and could only manage to foul-tip it. He got another 99 mph fastball on the next pitch, this one up and away, and swung through it altogether, leaving himself in an 0-2 hole.

And then Abrams turned what looked like another wasted at-bat into one of his best in a while. Recognizing an 0-2 slider from Jones, he stayed back on the pitch and blasted it 416 feet to right-center field for a leadoff homer.

“It was big,” he admitted afterward. “You’ve just got to believe in yourself when you’re up there at the plate. Keep working, and good things happen.”

Abrams has needed to tell himself that a lot during the last two months. What had been a brilliant first half, culminating in a spot on the All-Star team, has since turned decidedly disappointing.

PITTSBURGH – Patrick Corbin was going to throw 100 pitches this afternoon, no matter how many innings it required, no matter how many runs scored along the way. One day after Davey Martinez had to push his bullpen to the absolute limit to secure a doubleheader sweep over the Pirates, it was time to pay the bill. Martinez was going to have to stick with Corbin, hoping the long-suffering lefty could at least give his team a chance.

He did not. Corbin gave up four runs during a laborious bottom of the first, stayed out there another five innings because he had to, and the Nationals slogged their way through a 7-3 loss that featured very few encouraging moments for the visitors.

It may not have mattered much if Corbin pitched well, because the Nats lineup looked feeble most of the afternoon against Jared Jones. The Pirates’ other flame-throwing rookie right-hander gave up two early runs but completely locked in after that and retired the last 16 batters he faced before departing at the end of the seventh. Reliever Jalen Beeks would extend that streak to 19 before Carmen Mlodzinski gave up back-to-back hits to James Wood and Andrés Chaparro in the ninth, at which point it was too late.

"That kid (Jones) settled down a little bit," Martinez said. "His fastball was electric. His breaking ball was pretty good. ... We just couldn't get nothing going offensively until late in the game. And it just wasn't enough."

Then again, the Nationals could be excused for struggling to summon up much energy after expending so much to pull off Saturday’s impressive doubleheader sweep, especially when they trailed throughout this game.

PITTSBURGH – After combining to close out a tight victory in the opener of Saturday’s day-night doubleheader, Derek Law and Kyle Finnegan were asked jokingly if they were ready to pitch again in the nightcap.

“Of course,” Law said. “It would only be fitting, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Finnegan said. “Yeah, I’ll be ready for Game 2.”

Some 5 1/2 hours later, after both indeed had pitched in the nightcap to help the Nationals sweep the doubleheader against the Pirates, it was pointed out the questioner was joking with the earlier suggestion.

“I wasn’t,” Law said with a smile. “I had a feeling.”

PITTSBURGH – What a Saturday day and night that turned out to be at the ballpark. The Nationals swept their doubleheader against the Pirates, putting together a no-hit bid in the opener and then storming back to score four runs with two outs in the ninth to win the nightcap. It took just about everything out of them to pull that off, especially a bullpen that was pushed to the limit with four guys (Kyle Finnegan, Derek Law, Jacob Barnes, Robert Garcia) each appearing in both games.

So with that in mind, there’s no question what Patrick Corbin’s objective is today: Pitch deep into the game. It doesn’t matter how many runs he gives up, Corbin is going to top 100 pitches for certain, preferably completing at least or even seven innings in the process. And if the Nats find themselves in a position to win at that point, it’ll be up to Davey Martinez to figure out how he wants to manage the late innings.

Some run support would be nice, but the Nationals lineup faces a stiff challenge today. No, they’re not facing Paul Skenes, but don’t sleep on their other rookie right-hander. Jared Jones hasn’t received the same hype as Skenes, but he throws nearly as hard and he’s enjoyed success in his first big league season, striking out more than a batter per inning. Jones did miss more than two months with an injury, but he still reached the seventh inning last time out against the Cubs, so fatigue doesn’t appear to be a concern.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 66 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
DH Andrés Chaparro 
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
3B José Tena
RF Dylan Crews
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young

PITTSBURGH – It’s hard to sweep a doubleheader. It’s even harder when your Game 2 starter can’t get out of the fourth inning, you have to ask four relievers who already pitched in Game 1 to come back and do it again five hours later and you have to ask a lineup loaded with inexperienced hitters to mount a ninth-inning rally against Aroldis Chapman.

How remarkable, then, was the Nationals’ 8-6 win over the Pirates tonight? Under the circumstances, perhaps their most remarkable win of the year.

Having already won this afternoon’s opener, the Nats pulled out all the stops to win the nightcap. Davey Martinez had four of his relievers (Derek Law, Jacob Barnes, Robert Garcia, Kyle Finnegan) pitch both ends of the doubleheader. And after watching Barnes and Garcia combine to give up the two runs that put Pittsburgh on top in the bottom of the eighth, Martinez watched his team rally to score four runs off Chapman in the top of the ninth, with Ildemaro Vargas coming off the bench to deliver the biggest hit of them all.

"They didn't give up," Martinez said. "I talk about these guys every day, about them playing hard to the last out. And they did it again today."

Vargas’ two-out, two-run double to right on a 3-2, 99-mph fastball from Chapman left the PNC Park crowd of 18,937 stunned and the visitors’ dugout bursting with joy. The veteran utility man, who was dressed in full uniform at 11 a.m. but never appeared in a game until 9:40 p.m., smiled wide as he coasted into second base after right fielder Connor Joe came up just short of a diving attempt that would have ended the game.

PITTSBURGH – The Nationals got the job done in Game 1 of today’s doubleheader against the Pirates. DJ Herz tossed five no-hit innings before departing with his pitch count at 87. Dylan Crews homered, doubled and drove in two runs. The bullpen hung on, with Kyle Finnegan barely surviving another harrowing ninth inning to close out a 5-3 victory.

Now it’s onto the nightcap, with the Nats hoping for a rare doubleheader sweep behind another rookie left-hander on the mound. Mitchell Parker makes his 26th big league start, and his 25th was perhaps his strangest yet. He struck out eight and walked only one but gave up four runs over six innings, done in by some terrible defense that included an errant pickoff throw of his own. There’s only so much Parker can control, but if he can simply make the few plays he has to make in the field, he’ll help his cause a lot.

Davey Martinez has a couple of lineup changes from the opener. Jacob Young gets a rare night off, out of the lineup for the first time since July 31. That opens up center field to Dylan Crews for the first time in his brief major league career. Drew Millas will catch Parker, but Keibert Ruiz is still in there, serving as designated hitter against Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 65 degrees, wind 13 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
1B Andrés Chaparro
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Keibert Ruiz
3B José Tena
CF Dylan Crews
RF Joey Gallo
C Drew Millas

PITTSBURGH – There may come a day when DJ Herz is given the opportunity to make history. That day will come once the 23-year-old left-hander has some more experience, has proven he can pitch a bit more efficiently and gives the Nationals sufficient reason to take the reins off him.

That day wasn’t today, not in Herz’s 16th big league start, not with his pitch count too high after five innings to convince Davey Martinez to let his starter go for broke.

So it was that Herz was pulled after five no-hit innings against the Pirates. The Nats bullpen would give up the no-hitter (and the shutout) in the seventh but still finish off a 5-3 victory in the opener of a day-night doubleheader at PNC Park, with Kyle Finnegan averting disaster during another shaky ninth.

Whatever disappointment Herz may have felt in the moment, he’s come to understand why Martinez has been so careful with him in his first major league season. The Nationals’ goal isn’t to make history, it’s to get young starters through the end of September in one piece, setting them up to pitch even more in 2025 and beyond and perhaps someday have the opportunity to make history.

"That day will come," Herz said. "There's no need to rush it."

PITTSBURGH – There are only three weeks left in the Nationals' season. Trevor Williams is determined to make sure he pitches for them again before everyone heads home for the winter.

The right-hander, out since late May with a flexor strain in his elbow, believes he’s on track to do just that. He’s faced live hitters twice in the last week-plus, and he’s now ready to go on what figures to be a brief minor league rehab assignment that would allow him to rejoin the big league rotation to make perhaps a couple of starts at the end of the month.

“It feels good,” Williams said this morning. “We’re where we need to be. I’ll go on a rehab assignment and get back out here as fast as possible, as long as we’re feeling good.”

Williams faced live hitters here at PNC Park on Thursday, and he has emerged from that session with no issues. He’s now set to start for Double-A Harrisburg on Tuesday in what will be his first competitive game since May 30.

Williams is scheduled to throw four innings and perhaps build up to 65-70 pitches. Manager Davey Martinez has said the 32-year-old probably needs to get up to 80 pitches before he’s activated off the 60-day injured list, so he may need to make one more rehab start before returning.

PITTSBURGH – And we’re back. After Friday’s rainout – FYI, it didn’t even start raining until about 9 p.m. – the Nationals and Pirates reconvene for what’s going to be a very long Saturday afternoon and evening. It’s a day-night doubleheader, the first game starting at 1:35 p.m., the nightcap starting at 6:40 p.m. as initially planned.

Both of Friday night’s scheduled starters will be on the mound for today’s opener. So it’s DJ Herz, again looking not only to get his outing off to a good start but also to have a strong finish, pitching for the Nats. The rookie left-hander might need to be pushed a bit harder in this one, because Davey Martinez has to make sure he’s still got enough relievers available for the nightcap.

(For what it’s worth, the teams don’t get to call up an extra player for the doubleheader, because rosters are already expanded for September. So it’s a 14-man pitching staff, no changes.)

At the plate, the Nationals will try to get something going against right-hander Luis Ortiz, who didn’t give up a run in either of his previous two outings. Martinez was hopeful Friday night that the return of CJ Abrams to the top of the lineup would help jump-start the offense, believing Abrams could fare well against Ortiz’s fastball. We’ll see how that goes.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 65 degrees, wind 10 mph out to center field

PITTSBURGH – Tonight's game between the Nationals and Pirates has been postponed due to a line of storms expected to arrive about an hour after scheduled first pitch and linger throughout the night.

The two teams will now play a split doubleheader Saturday, with the makeup game at 1:35 p.m. followed by the originally scheduled game at 6:40 p.m.

After a brief period of rain this afternoon, the skies over PNC Park actually cleared up and looked to remain that way until approximately 7:30 p.m. In theory, this game could have started on time at 6:40 p.m., with officials hoping to get as many innings as possible in before the rain arrived.

But with the storms expected to be strong and last throughout the night, the Pirates decided not to take any chances and announced the postponement about 30 minutes before first pitch.

DJ Herz, who was supposed to pitch tonight, will now start Saturday's 1:35 p.m. game. Mitchell Parker will start the 6:40 p.m. nightcap as planned.

PITTSBURGH – There wasn’t much for the Nationals to get excited about out of Thursday night’s game, a 9-4 loss to the Pirates in the opener of a four-game series. They didn’t get good starting pitching. They didn’t get good relief pitching. They got a couple of big hits in the top of the first, then nothing else the rest of the way.

So the Nats will hope to hit the reset button tonight and get back on track. If the weather cooperates. There is a line of storms approaching from the west, and it’s scheduled to arrive at some point this evening, potentially lasting into Saturday morning. No idea yet if it will prevent this game from starting on time, being disrupted or even being played at all. Stay turned.

Whenever they play, it’ll be DJ Herz on the mound for the Nationals. The rookie left-hander had a string of solid outings disrupted last weekend when the Cubs got to him for four runs in 4 2/3 innings, all of those coming in the top of the fifth. Herz has typically done better in the early innings than the late innings; something to keep an eye on tonight.

Right-hander Luis Ortiz starts for Pittsburgh, and he has been outstanding of late. Ortiz has tossed six scoreless innings each of his last two starts and gave up only one hit to the Guardians last Saturday.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Storms arriving, 80 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

PITTSBURGH – The ball would have cleared the fence in any major league park, as any 419-foot blast to left-center field should. But if there’s one left-center field gap in baseball that might be big enough to keep such a drive in play, it’s this one at PNC Park, with its “North Side Notch” just to the left of the two bullpens.

So when Andrés Chaparro made contact in the top of the first Thursday night, he didn’t want to assume anything.

"As soon as I hit it, I knew I hit it well," the Nationals first baseman said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "I knew I made hard contact. I wasn't sure if it was going to go out or not, but luckily it did and I was able to contribute to the scoreboard."

Chaparro’s blast indeed was deep enough – barely – to reach the stands and give the Nats a 3-0 lead they thought would hold up better than it did during what eventually became a 9-4 loss to the Pirates.

And it was merely the latest such blast from the 25-year-old rookie, who continues to make the most of his unexpected playing opportunity and try to convince the Nationals he should be part of their 2025 plans.

PITTSBURGH – The 162-game season is unforgiving. It rewards those who have both the physical and mental fortitude to deal with some adversity along the way and right their ship. It penalizes those who can’t bounce back when things start to go south.

A number of prominent Nationals are experiencing the latter these days, stellar first halves undone by subpar second halves. There are still 21 games left to try to salvage things and end on a positive note. But time is running out for them, and Jake Irvin is very much on that list.

A potential All-Star on Independence Day, the right-hander is now just hoping to get his ERA back under 4.00 by season’s end. His last two starts, each of them undone by one really bad inning, have left him in such an unexpected position.

With six runs allowed overall tonight, five of them in the bottom of the second alone, Irvin turned what the Nationals hoped would be a good series opener against the Pirates into an unsightly, 9-4 loss. Plenty more calamities befell them over the rest of the game, but that ugly second inning loomed largest.

"The big innings stink, and they're going to kill you," Irvin said. "We've lost two games in a row that I've started now because of those innings. We're just trying to do whatever we can to avoid those situations in the future."

PITTSBURGH – Davey Martinez has already tried moving CJ Abrams down in the lineup. Now the Nationals manager is trying to get his slumping shortstop some more rest in an attempt to get his hitting stroke back on track.

Abrams is not in the Nats’ lineup for tonight’s series opener against the Pirates, the third time that’s been the case in the team’s last 12 games. Rookie Nasim Nunez instead is starting against left-hander Bailey Falter.

It’s an unfamiliar situation for Abrams, but it has become harsh reality for the 23-year-old All-Star after two months of diminished production.

“We all know that he’s struggling a little bit,” Martinez said. “And against a lefty, I’ll give him a day off, let Nasim play. We’re trying to get him going again. I know he’s been struggling lately. So just another day. We got in pretty late (from Miami). Give him a day off his feet. He’ll be ready to go later on.”

Abrams’ two-month decline has been steep. He sported a .282/.353/.506 slash line on July 7, only a few days after he was named an All-Star for the first time in his career. In 46 games since, he’s slashing .163/.231/.270, with only five doubles, four homers and nine walks while striking out 46 times.

PITTSBURGH – It would be hard to find a more striking difference in ballpark vistas than the one the Nationals just saw in Miami and the one they’ll see the next four days at PNC Park. And the weather here looks great, as well, aside from a chance of rain Friday night into Saturday morning.

The Nats arrive in Pittsburgh after splitting their two-game series with the Marlins, a series that absolutely was there for the taking if they had simply converted in the ninth or 10th innings when they had the chance. Oh well, maybe it was too much to expect a season sweep of a division opponent.

The Nationals haven’t seen the Pirates since way back in early April, the first homestand of the season. A lot has changed for both teams since then, perhaps most notably the promotions of the top two picks in last summer’s draft, the former LSU teammates. Dylan Crews will get plenty of action this weekend, but unfortunately Paul Skenes will not. The Pirates, looking to keep Skenes in the rotation through season’s end, are going to a six-man rotation, so he won’t start again until Monday.

So tonight it’s Jake Irvin for the Nats and Bailey Falter for the Pirates. Irvin needs to bounce back from his bizarre start against the Cubs, when he was torched for seven runs in the top of the second but didn’t give up anything else the rest of his outing. This is an important month for Irvin, who is trying to make sure his outstanding first half doesn’t become an afterthought. He’s facing a Pittsburgh lineup that was no-hit by Shota Imanaga and two Cubs relievers Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

Falter faced the Nats four times over the last two seasons as a member of the Phillies, and was quite successful, going 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA. The left-hander has been pretty mediocre for the Pirates this year, and he enters this one having allowed four or more runs in three of his last four starts.

The Nationals are getting their most durable reliever back for the season’s final month.

Derek Law, the workhorse setup man who landed on the injured list two weeks ago with a flexor strain in his right elbow, was activated Monday and will be available for tonight’s series opener in Miami.

Law was confident all along his IL stint would be short, and indeed he was back throwing within a week of being shut down. He threw 20 pitches to live hitters Saturday and pronounced himself ready to return. The Nats acquiesced, activating him without first requiring a minor league rehab stint.

Even with the time missed, Law still leads all National League relievers with 75 2/3 innings pitched. If he returns to his normal work rate, he would become the Nationals’ first reliever to reach 90 innings pitched since Tyler Clippard in 2010. And if he can throw 17 2/3 innings in the season’s final 25 games, he will eclipse Saul Rivera’s club record of 93 relief innings pitched in 2007.

Needing to clear a spot on the active roster for Law, the Nats optioned right-hander Orlando Ribalta to Triple-A Rochester following Sunday’s game. The rookie has struggled in four big league appearances over the last several weeks, allowing five runs and 10 hits in only 3 1/3 innings.