PITTSBURGH – The Nationals won Tuesday night’s game, 3-0, but it came at a cost. Paul DeJong fractured his nose when he was struck by a pitch in the face, and he’s now on the 10-day injured list, joining CJ Abrams, who was lost over the weekend to a hip pointer strain. The left side of the Nats infield suddenly is quite thin.

They’ll have to hope Nasim Nuñez (4-for-7) continues to play well at shortstop in Abrams’ absence, and they’ll have to hope the trio of Amed Rosario, José Tena and the just-recalled Trey Lipscomb can hold their own at third base with DeJong out for a while. Some more power from James Wood (five homers over his last eight games) wouldn’t hurt, either.

Mitchell Parker will look to pick up where Jake Irvin left off Tuesday night and shut down a Pirates lineup that looked good in Monday’s series opener but overall has been among the least productive units in the league. Parker was outstanding in his first two starts, less so in his last outing against the Marlins (though he technically does have three quality starts to his name so far this year).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 49 degrees, wind 14 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
RF Alex Call
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Nathaniel Lowe
DH Josh Bell
3B Amed Rosario
CF Dylan Crews
2B Luis García Jr.
SS Nasim Nuñez

PITTSBURGH – The fastball that struck Paul DeJong in the face Tuesday night fractured his nose, forcing the Nationals infielder to the 10-day injured list.

The Nats formally placed DeJong on the IL this morning and recalled infielder Trey Lipscomb from Triple-A Rochester to take his place.

DeJong was struck by a 93-mph, up-and-in fastball from Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller in the top of the sixth during Tuesday’s 3-0 victory at PNC Park, unable to turn his head away in time. The ball appeared to catch his left cheekbone and then the left side of his nose, leaving a cut below his eye and blood coming out of his nose.

Director of athletic training Paul Lessard and manager Davey Martinez rushed from the dugout to assist DeJong, who fell to the ground. Keller and Pirates catcher Henry Davis crouched down about 10 feet away, clearly upset by what they saw.

DeJong was able to get up to his feet and walk off the field under his own power, though he did struggle to maintain his balance as he went down the dugout steps and headed toward the clubhouse.

PITTSBURGH – The major league home run leaderboard may not matter much in mid-April, but there’s nothing wrong with taking a glance at the list even at this early stage of the season. Especially when a particularly notable name can be found there: James Wood.

With his monstrous, leadoff blast Tuesday night in the Nationals’ 3-0 win over the Pirates, Wood notched his sixth home run of the young season, his fifth in his last eight games.

That’s good enough for a nine-way tie for second-most in the majors right now. Athletics first baseman Tyler Soderstrom surprisingly leads the way with eight homers. Wood joins a star-studded list with six that includes Corbin Carroll, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, Fernando Tatis Jr., Tommy Edman, Wilmer Flores and Mike Trout.

That’s some impressive company for a 22-year-old.

“It’s cool,” Wood said, showing off his usual go-with-the-flow mindset. “But it’s still early and it’s a long season, so you’ve just got to stay consistent. That’s what makes those guys so good.”

PITTSBURGH – Jake Irvin had done everything in his power to win this game for the Nationals and put an end to their three-game losing streak, precisely the kind of performance the situation called for.

Irvin authored seven scoreless innings on a frigid Tuesday night, and doing it on an economical 87 pitches. And now all he could do was watch from the visitors’ dugout at PNC Park like everyone else and hope his teammates could finish off the Pirates.

That’s been anything but a given for the Nats bullpen through the first 16 games of the season. But on this night, the two reliable back-end relievers did their job without breaking a sweat, Jose A. Ferrer and Kyle Finnegan teaming up to complete a 3-0 shutout and ensure Irvin's efforts were properly rewarded.

"We needed that today," manager Davey Martinez said. "He stepped up big-time."

Irvin was more than worthy of his first win of the year. Ferrer was more than worthy of his fourth hold of the year, throwing 14 of his 15 pitches for strikes. And Finnegan was more than worthy of his sixth save in as many attempts, finishing things off with a scoreless ninth to complete a 2-hour, 16-minute ballgame.

PITTSBURGH – One day after lamenting a lack of “intensity” from his beleaguered relief corps, Nationals manager Davey Martinez summoned the entire group to his office for a pump-you-up meeting prior to tonight’s game against the Pirates.

The message of that session?

“I just wanted to let them know it’s early,” Martinez said. “We’ve only played 10 percent of our games. We’ve still got 90 percent of our games left. … I just want them to stay positive, keep their heads up. We’ve got a lot of baseball left.”

Nationals relievers entered the day with a 6.91 ERA and 1.921 WHIP, both worst in the majors by a healthy amount. Each of the last two days, they’ve turned winnable games into blowouts, surrendering a combined seven runs over 5 2/3 innings.

After Monday’s 10-3 loss, Martinez noted there needs to be more intensity shown from some relievers when entering a close game, even if the team is trailing by a couple of runs. Today, he decided to bring the entire group together, offering his own thoughts but also opening the floor for the pitchers themselves to speak up.

PITTSBURGH – The temperature has dropped about 30 degrees since Monday, with a strong wind now blowing in from the west, making the conditions at PNC Park far different than they were for the series opener. Maybe that can be a good thing for the Nationals, because they sure didn’t play well under Monday’s conditions en route to their third straight loss.

They’ll try to get back on track tonight behind Jake Irvin, who makes his fourth start of the season. The right-hander doesn’t have a decision yet, but the Nats have lost all three of his previous outings. He can do his part to put his guys in a better position to win by limiting the damage and going more than five innings this time around. That might also take some pressure off the much beleaguered bullpen, perhaps allowing Davey Martinez to use only his top three guys (Jorge López, Jose A. Ferrer, Kyle Finnegan) at the end.

At the plate, the Nationals will happily face anybody other than Paul Skenes. Not that Mitch Keller is a slouch. The 29-year-old right-hander has been a reliable starter for the Pirates for more than four years now, and he was outstanding last time out against the Cardinals, tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings on only 96 pitches.

Today, of course, is Jackie Robinson Day across the major leagues. Everybody will be wearing nameless No. 42 jerseys in honor of the 78th anniversary of his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, always a special occasion for all involved.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of showers, 46 degrees, wind 17 mph out to left field

PITTSBURGH – There have been times in club history when the Nationals bullpen garnered too much attention for the wrong reasons.

Think of the first half of the 2017 season, when Dusty Baker went through three different closers before Mike Rizzo finally acquired Sean Doolittle at the trade deadline.

Think of the first half of the 2019 season, when Davey Martinez had no choice but to overwork Doolittle because there were no other reliable arms in the pen, at least until Rizzo acquired Daniel Hudson at the trade deadline.

And think of the disastrous 2021 season, in which a veteran-laden roster still believing it could contend was done in by a variety of calamities, including some July meltdowns by a bullpen anchored by the highly combustible Brad Hand.

It’s easy to look at the current team’s bullpen dilemma and compare it to those previous scenarios. But there’s a distinct difference this time around: The problem isn’t the closer, it’s all the guys pitching in front of him.

PITTSBURGH – They weren’t going to come right out and say it, but the Nationals understood the monumental task staring them in the face this evening.

His name is Paul Skenes, and he’s the most intimidating pitcher on the planet right now. The Nats had managed to avoid the hulking Pirates right-hander during his ballyhooed rookie season. They finally ran into the buzzsaw tonight at PNC Park and learned firsthand what everyone else around baseball already knew.

The Nationals did manage to push across a couple of late runs against Skenes, but that wasn’t nearly enough on a night in which they once again saw their bullpen turn a potentially winnable game into a lopsided defeat, this time by a count of 10-3.

"There's got to be a little more intensity from this bullpen when they come into games to keep it close," a clearly agitated manager Davey Martinez said. "Right now, there's two guys back there, we can't even get to them: (setup man Jose A.) Ferrer and (closer Kyle) Finnegan."

You can't use your setup man and your closer if you're trailing by multiple runs, and that's exactly what has happened during three straight losses for a team that felt great about itself when it opened this 10-game road trip with its fourth straight win.

PITTSBURGH – Nasim Nuñez spent the entire 2024 season in the big leagues. Walking into the Nationals clubhouse this weekend shouldn’t have been a big deal for the 24-year-old infielder.

It is different this time around, though. Nuñez may have been a big leaguer all last season, but he was the 26th player on a 26-man roster, a Rule 5 Draft pick tasked with learning everything he could from the bench, rarely getting a chance to play.

This time, Nuñez could be here to play, summoned from Triple-A Rochester after starting shortstop CJ Abrams landed on the 10-day injured list.

“I told my dad I feel like I never left,” Nuñez said. “I’m very excited, but at the same time I’m very calm. I think the calmness came from last year. And the excitedness is coming from actually coming up here and living out my dream.”

Davey Martinez didn’t play Nuñez over the weekend in Miami, wanting to give him some time to adapt and get comfortable again. But he’s got him in the lineup tonight for the Nats’ series opener against the Pirates, including a matchup with ace Paul Skenes.

PITTSBURGH – A road trip that looked much more manageable on paper than the recently completed homestand did has not proven to be all that manageable so far. The Nationals lost two of three in Miami over the weekend, and now they open a four-game series in Pittsburgh with a matchup against the best young pitcher in the sport.

Yes, Paul Skenes is on the mound tonight for the Pirates, the first time the phenom right-hander has faced the Nats in his career. Only two members of the Nationals’ current roster have any experience against Skenes, and even that’s minimal: two at-bats by Amed Rosario, one by Josh Bell. Suffice it to say, this is going to be a challenge tonight for the visiting lineup, which includes Nasim Nuñez at shortstop and Dylan Crews (Skenes’ old LSU teammate) in center field.

On the flip side of the equation, nobody with the Pirates has any experience against Brad Lord, because he’s making only his second career start tonight. Lord was solid in his previous outing, tossing three scoreless innings against the mighty Dodgers on 55 pitches. He should be good to build up to maybe 70 or so pitches tonight, and the Nationals would love for that to stretch out over five innings if possible. If not, it turns into another bullpen game, with Jackson Rutledge probably tasked with throwing multiple innings at some point along the way.

Also complicating matters: There’s a chance of storms here right around or shortly after first pitch. You wouldn’t think either team wants to risk burning up its starter, so they might just have to err on the side of caution and delay the start of the game. Stay tuned for updates.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 72 degrees, wind 11 mph right field to left field

OK, we're two weeks into the 2025 season, and already we've seen some dramatic twists and turns from the Nationals. They lost six of their first seven, then they suddenly won four in a row over the Diamondbacks and Dodgers before falling in Wednesday's series finale. They've lost multiple pitchers to injury, seen several members of the lineup get off to great starts and seen their bullpen give up at least one run in all 12 games played to date.

Now, the Nats embark on a 10-game road trip to Miami, Pittsburgh and Colorado, with visions of returning home with a winning record. Bobby Blanco is en route to South Florida as we speak to cover this weekend's series. I'll pick things up Monday against the Pirates. In the meantime, let's take this opportunity to answer your questions about what we've seen so far this season.

As always, submit your questions in the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning for my replies ...

Even as they opened a season of supposed promise a disappointing 1-6, the Nationals felt like that record was not a true reflection of the way they played. Close losses, often decided by one or two key moments late, defined that first week of games. The belief was that the team’s fortunes could easily change with only a few minor improvements.

Fast forward one week, and sure enough the Nats proved they could change their fortunes and turn those close losses into close wins, no matter the opponent. They just completed a 4-2 homestand against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, winning back-to-back series from the last two National League champions. And the two losses were by a combined three runs.

“We’re a resilient club,” right-hander Jake Irvin said. “We’ve been in every single ballgame. That’s been kind of what we’ve been preaching: Stay in the ballgame. Do what you can to claw back if you’re behind, and keep the lead if you’re ahead. … It’s been really cool to watch everybody click. It was a really good homestand.”

Sure, the Nationals still own a losing record. But had you asked reasonable observers back on Opening Day if they’d be satisfied with a 5-7 start given the stiff competition they were due to face, you’d have probably received a lot of affirmative answers.

A couple of bullpen meltdowns defined a 1-2 opening series with the Phillies. A lack of offense haunted them during a three-game sweep in Toronto. Some gutsy bullpen work made a 2-1 series with the Diamondbacks possible. And a complete, all around performance led to two straight wins over the Dodgers and a shot at a series sweep Wednesday.

They dug themselves into an immediate, four-run hole, then managed to claw their way back and take the lead for a while. That the Nationals even found themselves in this position, setting up the possibility of a series sweep of the Dodgers and a five-game winning streak, was a remarkable turn of events in the season’s second week.

And it would’ve been quite the story had they pulled it off, capping a brilliant homestand with an eye-opening performance against the defending champs.

That’s not the story they ultimately wrote. After reliever Eduardo Salazar gave up the decisive pair of runs in the seventh, the Nats were left with a 6-5 loss and a sour ending to this otherwise uplifting stretch.

It wasn’t a bad loss, not at all considering the manner in which it played out and the opponent they faced. But it had to leave at least a twinge of "what ifs" circulating around the clubhouse, a potentially stunning series sweep instead morphing into a mere series win.

"It's something that motivates us," second baseman Luis García Jr. said, via interpreter Kenny Diaz. "Obviously, it's important to continue playing together, and I felt like we did a good job of that. And against, obviously, a team of that caliber, I think we did a good job battling. It wasn't our day, but we're going to continue playing and battling as a team."

If Jacob Young was going to lose playing time this season, it figured to be in favor of Robert Hassell III, the Nationals prospect who seemed on the cusp of debuting in the big leagues following a great spring. Two weeks in, though, Young has lost playing time. Not because of Hassell, but because of Alex Call.

Call today finds himself in the Nats lineup for the fifth straight game, the seventh time in eight games. The 30-year-old has been torrid at the plate, going 8-for-18 with two doubles, four RBIs and four walks, while also playing solid defense in both right and left fields.

Young, on the other hand, is still trying to find his stroke at the plate. He opened the season 1-for-15 with three walks, though he did return to start Tuesday night and went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.

Nevertheless, the 25-year-old Gold Glove Award finalist is sitting this afternoon for the fifth time in seven games, turning the daily process of filling out the lineup card a bit more complicated than expected.

“It’s not really complicated, because we still want to work with Jacob on some things, even though he did do better yesterday,” manager Davey Martinez insisted. “We want to get him right. Alex is swinging the bat really, really well, so he’s getting an opportunity to play here a little more. But as I’ve said before, Jacob’s going to be back in there playing center field. He’s going to play a lot of center field.”

The last time the Nationals swept the Dodgers? That would be August 2008, when they won three straight behind the pitching efforts of John Lannan, Tim Redding and Collin Balester. Yeah, it’s been a while.

They’ve got a chance to do the unthinkable this afternoon when they take the field for the series finale, looking to keep up the positive momentum from the last two nights and not only complete a three-game sweep but a five-game winning streak that would leave them with a .500 record heading into a 10-game road trip to Miami, Pittsburgh and Colorado. Who saw that coming five days ago when they were 1-6 and facing this daunting schedule?

The Nats have been getting plenty of offense during this stretch, especially early in games, and they’ll try to do the same today against Los Angeles right-hander Landon Knack. They’ve got CJ Abrams back in the lineup after a two-day absence. Keibert Ruiz, meanwhile, starts his 11th game behind the plate, having sat only once so far this season. And Alex Call makes his fifth straight start (seventh of eight), forcing the issue with his hot bat and forcing Jacob Young back to the bench.

Jake Irvin gets the nod for the series finale. The right-hander wasn’t pleased with his last outing (four runs over five innings against the Diamondbacks), so he’ll be motivated to at minimum provide more length this afternoon. If he can’t, at least the Nationals bullpen is in better shape. Jose A. Ferrer, Jorge López and Kyle Finnegan should all be available today if the game is close late.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 54 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

Orlando Ribalta couldn’t believe his good luck. He had just gotten Austin Barnes to pop up a bunt right back to the mound, and all the Nationals reliever had to do was catch it for the easy out.

And then the ball somehow fell to the ground. At which point Ribalta realized this might actually work out better for him, because now he had an easy double play, with the Dodgers’ Andy Pages stuck in no-man’s land off first base.

Tuesday night’s four-man umpiring crew thought otherwise, ultimately huddling up and determining Ribalta intentionally dropped the routine popup, thus negating the second out made on the play and sending Pages back to first base unscathed.

Davey Martinez was livid, nearly getting himself thrown out of the game by crew chief Chris Guccione. Ribalta was more embarrassed than upset.

“The call is whatever they called. You can’t fight against it,” he said. “But I didn’t do it on purpose. I just couldn’t catch it.”

He had already hit 11 home runs in the big leagues, more than a few of them jaw-dropping in nature whether because of exit velocity or distance traveled. D.C. already knows what James Wood is, and what he can be.

Perhaps tonight, thanks to a jaw-dropping performance against the most-watched ballclub in the world, any portion of the baseball community that didn’t already know learned what everyone here had long since come to accept: This kid is special.

With two titanic home runs, not to mention an infield single and a bases-loaded walk for good measure, the 22-year-old outfielder drove in five runs to carry the Nationals to a convincing 8-2 victory over the Dodgers to clinch a series win over the defending World Series champions.

A Nats team that lost six of seven to begin the season has now won four in a row against top competition and remarkably will have a chance to sweep L.A. on Wednesday afternoon before embarking on a 10-game road trip to Miami, Pittsburgh and Colorado.

"I just think it kind of proves we're really not far," Wood said. "Even when we were losing games, we weren't off by much. Being able to put these games together, I think it just proves that."

CJ Abrams is out of the Nationals lineup a second straight day with an upper right leg ailment, but the shortstop expressed confidence he’ll be back “very soon.”

Abrams didn’t play Monday night’s series opener against the Dodgers, with manager Davey Martinez revealing his shortstop had complained of thigh tightness stemming from the final play of Sunday’s win over the Diamondbacks, in which he charged in to field a grounder and then threw off-balance to first base.

Abrams today referred to his ailment as “kind of a hip flexor thing,” saying it’s not a problem with his thigh. He didn’t seem concerned about it forcing him to miss anything more than a few days.

“It wasn’t anything specific. I just kind of felt it after (the last play Sunday),” he said. “Just took a couple days off, and I should be back out there soon.”

Abrams did take ground balls this afternoon and was planning to take batting practice in the cage prior to this evening’s game. There’s a chance he could come off the bench if needed, but it sounds more likely he returns to the lineup for Wednesday’s series finale or Friday’s series opener in Miami.

Who would’ve thought three days ago the Nationals would find themselves on a three-game winning streak, against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers no less? And yet here we are, with the team having already clinched at least a .500 homestand against two of the best teams in the league, and now a chance to clinch a winning week with one more victory tonight or Wednesday.

After going all-in to win Monday’s opener, Davey Martinez has no choice but to take a different approach tonight. That starts with the guy starting the game: Brad Lord. After three relief appearances to begin his career, the 25-year-old right-hander now makes his first career start, essentially taking the injured Michael Soroka’s place.

Because he hasn’t been stretched out, Lord is probably good for only 45-50 pitches. Which means Jackson Rutledge will probably come out of the bullpen, either directly behind him or later on in the game, to provide multiple innings himself. And if the Nationals are in a position to win the game late, there’s no way Kyle Finnegan is pitching for a fourth straight day. So who gets the ninth? Jose A. Ferrer? Jorge López? Martinez would love to be in a position to find out.

Offensively, the Nats have done a lot more during this homestand than they did during the season’s first week, especially early in games. They will look to do the same tonight against the Dodgers’ own fill-in starter. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski was called up from Triple-A to replace the injured Blake Snell, who was supposed to take the mound tonight but is dealing with a shoulder ailment. Wrobleski is Los Angeles’ 11th-ranked prospect and made six big league starts last year, going 1-2 with a 5.70 ERA. He threw 76 pitches over 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his lone outing for Oklahoma City to begin the season, so he is stretched out to make a full start if he pitches well.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 45 degrees, wind 17 mph left field to right field

James Wood hasn’t been a big leaguer long, but he’s been a big leaguer long enough to have some experience with big situations at the plate.

And what has the Nationals’ 22-year-old budding star learned from those experiences?

“I feel like if I go up there trying to create a big moment, I’ll get myself into trouble,” he said. “I just try and keep the same approach.”

Wood’s general laid-back persona certainly helps, but it’s another thing to actually put it into practice during a critical moment in a ballgame. What he did Monday night was further evidence he can handle the pressure just fine.

The situation: Bottom of the seventh, Nats already leading the Dodgers 3-2, one out and a runner on second. On the mound: Veteran left-hander Anthony Banda, himself briefly a member of the Nationals bullpen in April 2023, having since reestablished himself as a member of Los Angeles’ championship bullpen.