HOUSTON – It seems hard to believe given his offensive struggles the last three seasons, but Victor Robles’ pending return should be a real boon to the Nationals’ offensive fortunes.

Robles, out since May 7 with a back injury, appears to be in the final stages of a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester and could be activated this weekend, perhaps even in time for tonight’s series opener against the Marlins at Nationals Park.

Will the 26-year-old center fielder with a career .670 OPS really make much positive difference at the plate? If he performs anything like he did prior to suffering the injury while sliding into second base in Arizona, yes.

Robles was making some real strides through the season’s first month-plus. It’s not just his .292 batting average and .388 on-base percentage, impressive as those are. It’s his approach at the plate, a vast improvement from 2020-22.

Robles has always been one of the freest swingers in baseball, often to his detriment. His strikeout rate the last three seasons was a lofty 25.1 percent, his walk rate a scant 6.1 percent that plummeted to 4.2 percent in 2022.

HOUSTON – For 26 innings over three agonizing nights, the Nationals tried like might to hit a baseball high and far at the home run haven that is Minute Maid Park. For 26 innings, they could not get anything to clear the fence.

And then, at last, in the 27th inning of this series against the Astros, Keibert Ruiz finally broke through and delivered the big blast his team had so desired all week.

But because Hunter Harvey couldn't record the 27th out without surrendering the tying run, the series was extended to a 28th inning and the Nats found themselves in extras for the first time this season.

And thanks to some long-awaited offensive execution by several members of the lineup, they emerged at the end of the night with a well-deserved 4-1 victory over the defending World Series champions.

"It always feels good to win," Ruiz said. "I feel really good for the team. We've been playing really good, coming from behind. We lost yesterday, but we've come from behind and we've been playing better. Don't give up, keep the head up and keep playing hard."

HOUSTON – It was easily forgotten, because of what transpired moments later, but prior to the controversial ending of Wednesday night’s game, the Nationals put themselves in an especially disadvantageous position when they allowed Kyle Tucker to steal third off them without even attempting to throw him out.

Tucker, leading off second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth of what was at that point a tie game, took off for third as Hunter Harvey delivered his pitch to the plate and slid in safely as catcher Keibert Ruiz could do nothing but watch from his position.

It may not have mattered, because Harvey proceeded to walk Corey Julks and then surrendered the grounder by Jake Meyers that scored the winning run when Meyers wasn’t called for interfering with Ruiz’s throw to first. But it stuck with manager Davey Martinez, who has grown tired of seeing that type of play happen against his team over and over this season.

“It definitely matters,” Martinez said. “In a situation like that … we’ve got to keep the guy on first base or second base, wherever he may be.”

This has become a disturbing, regular pattern for the Nationals, who enter tonight’s game having surrendered 67 stolen bases (tied for third-most in the majors) while throwing out only 15 runners. The problem is more acute in late innings, with Harvey, Kyle Finnegan, Mason Thompson, Carl Edwards Jr. and Andrés Machado having combined to allow 20-of-22 opposing runners successfully steal of them.

HOUSTON – Tonight is the 15th scheduled game of a stretch that has seen the Nationals play nothing but contenders, including some of the best teams in baseball. It promised to be a difficult stretch, and it most certainly has proven to be that. They enter tonight’s finale at Minute Maid Park with a 3-10 record against the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Braves and Astros. (They of course didn't play one game vs. Arizona due to hazardous air quality in D.C.)

The schedule eases up now, but before that happens the Nats would love to emerge from this series with at least one win over the defending World Series champions. They’ll need to score some runs prior to the top of the ninth, you’d think, but the challenge again isn’t an easy one facing Christian Javier. The 26-year-old right-hander is 7-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 13 starts, though he did give up four runs on seven hits and three walks during a five-inning no-decision against the Guardians last week.

As was the case for Josiah Gray on Wednesday night, MacKenzie Gore faces his own challenge in the form of a potent Houston lineup that gets shortstop Jeremy Peña back tonight. Gore had a rough one in his last start in Atlanta, giving up five runs in five innings, including a pair of homers. He’ll have to keep an Astros team that has launched six homers so far in this series in the park tonight.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at HOUSTON ASTROS
Where: Minute Maid Park
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
3B Jeimer Candelario
DH Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
LF Stone Garrett
SS CJ Abrams
CF Alex Call

HOUSTON – The ninth inning of Wednesday night’s game at Minute Maid Park featured enough drama and twists and turns to capture every ounce of attention afforded the Astros’ 5-4 victory over the Nationals.

It also rendered everything that happened prior to the final inning moot, even though there were a few significant developments throughout the bulk of this game. Most notably, Josiah Gray’s seven-inning start and another new pitch he unveiled along the way.

Gray didn’t enjoy anything close to his best results of the season, charged with four earned runs thanks to a two-run double in the first and back-to-back homers surrendered in the fourth. But the right-hander did do a lot of things well, better than he had for much of the season to date.

He didn’t issue a walk for the first time since Aug. 10, 2022 against the Cubs. He threw 66 of his 95 pitches for strikes. He completed seven innings for only the third time this year.

For those reasons, Gray still viewed this as a positive outing, despite the fact he was due to take the loss until his teammates rallied in the top of the ninth.

HOUSTON – That tonight's game, with the Nationals back at Minute Maid Park for the first time since the 2019 World Series, would end the way it did defied all common sense and logic. How could the baseball gods concoct such a scenario – a potential obstruction call on a bang-bang play at first base – with a game between these two teams in this ballpark, and have that call yet again go against Davey Martinez's club? Was this some kind of cruel cosmic joke?

It was not. It was all too real, and it cost the Nats in a way none of the previous similar plays that have befallen them did. This one ended the game. This one gave the Astros a 5-4 walk-off victory moments after the visitors had staged a dramatic, three-run rally to tie the game in the top of the ninth.

And this one left Martinez as steamed as he's ever been at the end of a loss.

"I'm over this play!" the sixth-year manager bellowed as he held up a just-printed piece of paper showing a still frame of Houston's Jake Meyers clearly running in fair territory toward first base as catcher Keibert Ruiz prepared to make a throw from the plate that would hit Meyers' helmet and Michael Chavis' glove right as he arrived at the bag. "Seriously, they need to fix the rule. If this is what the umpires see, as he's running down the line? I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. Fix it! We lost the game, and (plate umpire Jeremy Riggs) had nothing to say about it, because he can't make the right call. Brutal! Brutal!"

In the exact location where Trea Turner infamously was called for obstruction in Game 6 of the World Series, leading to Martinez's ejection, Meyers was not called for it tonight. As the ball squirted away from Chavis, José Abreu waltzed home with the winning run as the crowd of 39,796 rejoiced, fireworks exploded overhead and Martinez stormed out of the dugout to accost Riggs.

HOUSTON – Upon learning the Nationals were skipping his turn in the rotation so he could take a physical and mental break, Jake Irvin almost didn’t know what to do with himself. The rookie right-hander had grown so accustomed to the regimented, five-day schedule for starters since arriving in the big leagues last month, the idea of a layoff for non-injury reasons was quite foreign to him.

Now that he’s had more than a week of rest, though, Irvin has come to understand how valuable it was in the wake of everything that came before.

“Making your debut and going through the whirlwind of the first month in the big leagues is something you can’t really explain,” he said. “It’s something you go through once and hopefully get your feet wet. I’ve taken this time to kind of reflect on what’s happened so far, and how you can move forward as best as possible. Not only does it give the body a chance to reset, but it really gives your mind a chance to reset and move forward and grow.”

The Nationals took advantage of Monday’s scheduled off-day to skip over Irvin’s spot in the rotation. Patrick Corbin went ahead and started Tuesday’s series opener against the Astros on normal rest, and Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore will follow to round out this series.

Irvin, who last pitched June 6 against the Diamondbacks, is likely to return to the mound either Friday or Saturday against the Marlins. Manager Davey Martinez said he planned to meet with pitching coach Jim Hickey today to settle on a plan.

HOUSTON – Josiah Gray enters tonight’s start with a 3.00 ERA, which is quite good. Good enough to rank sixth in the National League, in fact. His 1.403 WHIP, however, is worse than it was in either of the last two seasons. So, how do we reconcile those two facts?

Gray’s peripheral numbers aren’t great because he’s walking a lot of batters (4.6 per nine innings). But he’s not giving up runs because he’s managing to get outs when he needs to (opponents are batting and slugging .145 against him with runners in scoring position) and he’s avoided the home run (1.0 per nine innings, down from 2.3 last season). Can he keep that up? We shall see, but the test tonight against the Astros is a good one for the young right-hander.

A little run support wouldn’t hurt, either. After an uptick in production that included 5.4 runs per game from May 15-June 2, the Nationals are averaging only 3.1 over their last eight games. Is it any wonder they’ve lost seven of those games?

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at HOUSTON ASTROS
Where: Minute Maid Park
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
3B Jeimer Candelario
DH Joey Meneses
LF Stone Garrett
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Ildemaro Vargas
1B Dominic Smith
CF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams

HOUSTON – There was what appeared to be a bounceback performance 2 1/2 weeks ago in Kansas City, prompting the question: Was Mason Thompson back?

The answer, at that time: No, he wasn’t. The Nationals reliever followed up an encouraging, two-scoreless-inning appearance May 27 against the Royals with a three-run meltdown three days later at Dodger Stadium.

So take this with a grain of salt. But after another dominant performance Tuesday night during the Nats’ 6-1 loss to the Astros, Thompson continued a more recent trend that suggests he may actually be coming out of his long funk at last.

“Absolutely, he’s getting back,” manager Davey Martinez insisted.

What did Thompson do in this game to stand out? He faced three batters in the bottom of the sixth and proceeded to retire the side, inducing a grounder to short and then back-to-back strikeouts of Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers.

HOUSTON – Minute Maid Park has always been kind to Patrick Corbin, and we’re not just talking about Game 7 of the 2019 World Series here.

While that epic, three-inning relief appearance may have represented the pinnacle of the left-hander’s career and proved essential to the Nationals’ championship victory that night, Corbin has enjoyed pitching in this supposedly hitter-friendly park for years.

When he took the mound for the bottom of the fifth tonight, Corbin was the proud owner of a 16 2/3-inning scoreless streak at the home of the Astros. He hadn’t surrendered a run here since Aug. 18, 2012 as a rookie with the Diamondbacks.

This place, for whatever reason, just brings out the best in him.

Then Corbin began pitching the bottom of the fifth, at which point the streak ended, the Astros reminded him just how powerful they still are and the Nationals reminded everyone how much has changed since the night of Oct. 30, 2019.

HOUSTON – Davey Martinez walked into Minute Maid Park this afternoon and couldn’t help but think about the last time he was here.

“Pretty cool,” the Nationals manager said. “It was four years ago, but it brings out good memories. I was sitting around with some of the guys who were here in ’19. There’s not many of us left. But we were reminiscing a little bit. It was fun.”

Indeed, there aren’t too many members of the Nats’ current roster or staff that were part of the 2019 World Series. Martinez is one of the last remaining, uniformed links to the franchise’s lone World Series title, so he found himself today sharing stories of that glorious late October week with young players who weren’t even in the major leagues at that point, let alone a part of this organization.

The next three nights, with the Nationals facing the Astros here for the first time in four seasons, offer everyone a chance both to reminisce about better days and to think about what it will take for this franchise to return to that kind of prominence.

There’s only one player on the active, 26-man roster who appeared in the 2019 World Series. And by sheer coincidence he takes the mound for tonight’s series opener.

HOUSTON – Hello from Minute Maid Park, where tonight the Nationals will take the field for the first time since Oct. 30, 2019. You probably remember some details about that night.

The guy who won that game is the only player on the Nats’ current active roster, and would you believe he starts tonight’s series opener against the Astros? Patrick Corbin gets the nod on normal rest, with the team using Monday’s day off to skip over Jake Irvin’s turn in the rotation and give the rookie a chance to work on some things. Corbin won’t be pitching in relief tonight, of course. He’ll be trying to hold in check a tough Houston lineup, albeit one that doesn’t bear much resemblance to the one from 2019, either.

The Nationals lineup, which broke out for six runs Sunday in Atlanta, has a familiar look against Astros right-hander Hunter Brown. Davey Martinez can only hope Joey Meneses, Jeimer Candelario and Dominic Smith pick up where they left off at Truist Park.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at HOUSTON ASTROS
Where: Minute Maid Park
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
SS CJ Abrams
CF Alex Call

Victor Robles is ready to start playing in games again. Another week or so and he should be ready to play for the Nationals again.

Robles will join Triple-A Rochester on a rehab assignment Friday, the final step in the outfielder’s recovery from a back injury that has sidelined him more than a month.

“Hopefully everything goes well and we get him back here soon,” manager Davey Martinez said.

Robles departed Thursday and is expected to play four innings for Rochester, which is on the road at Worcester, on Friday. Given the amount of time he has missed, he will likely build up his workload over several days and could spend a full week on the rehab assignment before the Nats decide to activate him off the 10-day IL.

“He’s got to go out there and play, start getting some at-bats,” Martinez said. “I want to see him do everything that he normally does. If he gets an opportunity to steal some bases, take the extra bases, play good defense, all that stuff.”

With smoke from Canadian wild fires getting worse in the region, Major League Baseball postponed today’s scheduled series finale between the Nationals and Diamondbacks, citing the health risks current conditions pose for players, fans and stadium workers alike.

The teams were able to play Tuesday and Wednesday night as planned under a hazy sky that wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in Philadelphia and New York, where games were postponed Wednesday. They were supposed to finish the three-game series at 1:05 p.m., but the air quality is considerably worse today, with Washington officially categorized as “Code Purple.”

The decision whether to play or not was made by MLB, with consultation with both teams and the MLB Players Association, and was announced about 90 minutes before first pitch.

“This postponement was determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and the two impacted clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in Washington, D.C.,” the league said in a press release.

This was to be the last time the Nationals and Diamondbacks faced each other this season, but Arizona will now be forced to come back to Washington for a June 22 makeup game at 1:05 p.m., a common off-day for both teams. The Nats begin a West Coast trip to San Diego and Seattle the following day. The D-backs will make a side trip to D.C. in between series at Milwaukee and San Francisco.

Perhaps if other things had progressed in a different manner the rest of the night, Lane Thomas’ throw in the top of the fifth Wednesday would’ve carried more weight. In the end, the play had no bearing on the outcome of the Nationals’ game, a 6-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.

That doesn’t mean it didn’t feel significant in the moment, though. Or that it wasn’t noticed by everyone at Nationals Park.

When Corbin Carroll lined a hit to right to open the top of the fifth, Arizona looked like it was poised to start another rally against Patrick Corbin and perhaps cash in this time after being shut out since taking a quick 3-0 lead in the first. And when Thomas couldn’t cleanly field the ball on a hop, Carroll looked like he was destined for a leadoff double.

Until Thomas retrieved the ball and fired it toward second base, where CJ Abrams made a nice scoop and applied the tag to Carroll in time for the out.

It was a big play in what was a 3-2 game at that moment. And it was only the latest by Thomas, who has really come to his own in right field this season.

They got a quality start out of Patrick Corbin despite another roughshod first inning that set an ominous tone for the evening. They kept it close for most of the proceedings, remaining within one clutch hit of tying the game or taking the lead. Until the bullpen failed to keep it close late in its latest subpar showing.

And so the Nationals found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, done in by one of their weaker offensive performances in a while, the three-run hole Corbin dug them into from the outset and the three tack-on runs Carl Edwards Jr. and Jordan Weems surrendered late.

Make it seven losses in nine games for a Nats club that was feeling pretty good about its ability to compete and play .500 ball for more than a month not that long ago but has since regressed while facing stiffer competition.

They aren’t facing the Tigers and Royals anymore. The Nationals have now dropped three straight series to superior opponents, first the Dodgers, then the Phillies and now the Diamondbacks, who will be looking for a three-game sweep Thursday afternoon.

Then comes a road trip to Atlanta and Houston that could threaten to derail much of the forward momentum the Nats had built through most of May. They're a season-worst 11 games under .500, hoping not to keep plummeting. 

The Nationals, for the second straight day, designated a struggling reliever for assignment, with Erasmo Ramírez suffering that fate this afternoon in the wake of a particularly ragged appearance during Tuesday’s loss to the Diamondbacks, and Cory Abbott recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his spot.

Ramírez joined fellow right-hander Andrés Machado, who was designated for assignment Tuesday, in getting dropped from the active roster. Machado officially cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Rochester today. Because he had already been through that process over the winter, he had the option to declare himself a free agent but instead chose to remain in the organization.

Ramírez will face a similar decision in the next few days. The 33-year-old got the news after retiring only two of the six batters he faced in the top of the sixth Tuesday night, having hit the first batter he faced on the first pitch he threw, nearly hitting the next batter on his next pitch and then committing a balk when he turned to make a pickoff attempt to first base but never threw the ball because nobody was covering.

That outing left Ramírez with an unsightly 6.33 ERA and 1.556 WHIP in 23 games this season, a dramatic drop in effectiveness from the previous year. In 60 games in 2022, Ramírez produced a 2.92 ERA and 1.077 WHIP, earning the team’s Pitcher of the Year Award for his performance.

“It’s tough. Erasmo meant a lot to this team, and to me,” manager Davey Martinez said. “This guy worked really hard to get back to the big leagues and had an unbelievable year last year. This year, he just couldn’t find himself.”

It’s another hazy afternoon in the nation’s capital, with smoke from wildfires in Quebec hovering over the region again. It’s not as bad here as it is in New York, and for now tonight’s game is on as planned. But stay tuned in case things take a turn for the worse.

It’s “UK-US Friendship Day” at Nationals Park, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scheduled to attend what I can only assume will be the first Major League Baseball game he’s ever seen in person.

The Nationals are trying to snap a three-game losing streak, and to do that they’ll need a better all-around pitching performance, beginning with starter Patrick Corbin, who faces his former team. Corbin’s last outing came one week ago at Dodger Stadium, where he trailed 3-0 after three batters, but ultimately made it through five innings allowing only one more (unearned) run. The Nats would really like a more effective, and longer, start from the lefty tonight.

The bullpen has another new face. For the second straight day, the Nationals designated a struggling reliever for assignment, with Erasmo Ramírez the victim this time following a ragged appearance Tuesday night. Cory Abbott was recalled from Triple-A Rochester, where he was originally scheduled to start tonight. If Corbin doesn’t go deep and Davey Martinez needs multiple innings from a reliever, Abbott is probably the guy.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Hazy, 77 degrees, wind 7 mph left field to right field

The sting of the Nationals’ 10-5 loss to the Diamondbacks still loomed over the entire home clubhouse Tuesday night, but Stone Garrett couldn’t help but light up when asked about the grand slam he clubbed way back in the first inning off a team and a pitcher he knew all too well.

“It felt freaking good,” the 27-year-old said, his smile growing wide. “That’s my best friend pitching. And your old team. Keibert (Ruiz) just hit two home runs off his old team (last week at Dodger Stadium), so it feels good. Revenge game.”

Designated for assignment by Arizona last November, then signed by the Nats two weeks later, Garrett already faced his former team last month at Chase Field. And he already faced Tommy Henry, the 25-year-old left-hander who became one of his closest friends and a regular roommate through their respective treks up the organizational ladder.

This, though, meant far more. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Garrett launched a changeup from his good buddy deep to left, the ball clearing the fence for the first grand slam of his career and the first grand slam by any Nationals player at home since Yan Gomes on June 15, 2021.

“It felt like a good pitch,” Henry told reporters in the visitors’ clubhouse. “Yeah, it’s unfortunate it was him. It’s unfortunate in any circumstance, but unfortunate it was him because I probably won’t hear the end of it now.”

For the second straight game, Davey Martinez pulled a struggling starter in the middle innings and entrusted a struggling reliever to keep a close game against a quality opponent close.

And for the second straight game, that struggling reliever not only couldn’t keep the game close, he couldn’t even keep it close enough for his Nationals teammates to have a realistic shot at coming back by night’s end.

Jake Irvin was tonight’s fading starter, and Erasmo Ramirez was tonight’s struggling reliever. They bore a striking resemblance to Trevor Williams and Andrés Machado from two days prior in a loss to the Phillies. In this case, the opponent was the Diamondbacks, who took full advantage of the Nats’ pitching woes during a 10-5 victory that further underscored some major problems for the home club.

"Walks," an unusually and visibly aggravated Martinez lamented. "We're walking too many guys. Hitting batters. Falling behind. Pitching 2-0, 1-0, 3-1. You're not going to win very many games like that. We've got to clean that up."

The Nationals have now lost six of their last eight, and a recurring theme throughout this stretch has been ragged relief pitching, whether in the middle or late innings. The situation already was dire entering the day, with the Nats owning the National League’s worst bullpen ERA (4.73) and WHIP (1.433), and things only got worse.