NEW YORK – On a day that saw Daylen Lile suffer a scary-looking knee injury, Nasim Nuñez homer, Jacob Young make one of the craziest circus catches in team history and Jake Irvin author his best start in two months, the Nationals ultimately had to ask the unlikeliest of relievers to close out a one-run victory over an opponent fighting for its playoff life.

Mitchell Parker, demoted to the bullpen after posting the highest ERA among all qualified major league starters, made his relief debut in a high-leverage situation in the bottom of the sixth, wriggled out of it and then kept on pitching until the Nats had eked out a 3-2 win over the reeling Mets at stunned Citi Field. With Young pulling off another defensive gem in the bottom of the ninth for good measure.

With most of the usual bullpen arms – especially closer Jose A. Ferrer – taxed from Saturday’s 11-inning win, interim manager Miguel Cairo instead turned to Parker for the final 3 2/3 innings. The 25-year-old responded with the poise of a seasoned late-inning reliever, retiring 11 of the 13 batters he faced, with zero margin for error.

"It was a different feeling, but it was a cool one," said Parker, who wound up with the longest save in Nationals history. "A different part of the game, the energy's a little higher, a close game, a big ballpark ... it was all awesome."

As a sellout crowd of 42,960 pleaded with the home team to mount a rally, Parker calmly closed it out in the ninth, with Young robbing Francisco Alvarez of a potential game-tying homer at the center field wall for the first out (this after an even wilder catch three innings earlier).

NEW YORK – Lost in the shuffle of Saturday night’s dramatic win was the play that nearly cost the Nationals the game.

Moments before Daylen Lile hit his go-ahead, inside-the-park homer in the top of the 11th, CJ Abrams was tagged out trying to advance to third base on Andrés Chaparro’s grounder to the left side of the infield. It was a potentially killer mistake on the basepaths, one the Nats were grateful didn’t end up costing them, thanks to Lile’s subsequent heroics.

It also left Abrams with a banged-up right shoulder that forced him from the game and is keeping him out of the lineup for today’s series finale against the Mets.

“He kind of jammed his shoulder,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “He told me he was fine, but he was a little sore. So we’re just giving him the day. But he’s going to be ready to pinch-hit if we need to. Just a precaution.”

Abrams was the Nationals’ automatic runner at second base to begin the 11th after making the final out of the 10th, representing the go-ahead run in a tie game. And when Chaparro immediately hit a routine grounder to third baseman Ronny Mauricio, the traditional move for the runner would’ve been to retreat and keep himself in scoring position for the next batter.

NEW YORK – Has everybody caught their breath since the end of Saturday’s game? Whew, what a finish for the Nationals, who blew a three-run lead in the eighth and ninth, only to win it in the 11th on Daylen Lile’s inside-the-park home run. Just like that, the Nats had perhaps their signature win of the season while the Mets saw their lead in the National League Wild Card race drop to one game over the Reds, two games over the Diamondbacks.

The series concludes this afternoon, with Jake Irvin on the mound hoping to right his ship and come up with a quality start in this big game. The right-hander hasn’t actually delivered a quality start in nearly two months, not since his July 27 gem in his hometown of Minneapolis. As always, the two keys for Irvin are getting through the first inning with a zero on the board and keeping the ball in the yard. He has surrendered 35 homers, most in the majors and three shy of Josiah Gray’s single-season club record.

The Mets are going with a bit of an unconventional pitching plan in this one. Veteran left-hander Sean Manaea will make the start and go as far as he can. He’ll then be replaced by veteran right-hander Clay Holmes, who in theory could go the rest of the way and give the entire bullpen the day off. We’ll see if that plan actually works or not. The Nationals actually did a good job each of the last two nights making a rookie Mets starter work and preventing him from pitching deep into the game. Can they take a similar approach with Manaea and Holmes and have success?

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 71 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
DH James Wood
RF Dylan Crews
1B Josh Bell
LF Daylen Lile
2B Paul DeJong
C Jorge Alfaro
3B Brady House
SS Nasim Nuñez
CF Jacob Young

NEW YORK – The Nationals looked defeated, having just squandered Cade Cavalli’s five scoreless innings when Jose A. Ferrer surrendered three runs in search of a six-out save that was not to be. Citi Field was rocking, the Mets just needed to push across one more run to move one step closer to a playoff berth and the Nats were out of reliable relievers.

And then Daylen Lile decided to step up and turn an already remarkable September into something even more remarkable.

With an 11th-inning inside-the-park home run, Lile gave the Nationals the lead back in stunning fashion, then watched as PJ Poulin finished it off in the bottom of the inning for a most unlikely 5-3 victory to deal the Mets’ playoff hopes a serious blow.

"I keep saying it, but this team has a lot of fight in it," Lile said. "We're young. And I feel like we're opening a lot of eyes."

Lile, who on Friday night tied the club’s single-season record with his 11th triple, ripped a line drive off the wall in deep left-center off sidearm reliever Tyler Rogers. That guaranteed automatic runner Andres Chaparro would score the go-ahead run, and it seemed to guarantee Lile had just broken Denard Span’s triples record set in 2013.

NEW YORK – Josiah Gray has made it through his prescribed rehab program healthy. Now the Nationals must decide if they want to activate the right-hander to make one final game appearance in the big leagues before season’s end, fully completing his return from last summer’s Tommy John surgery.

Gray threw 45 pitches Friday night for Triple-A Rochester, tossing 2 2/3 scoreless and hitless innings while walking three and striking out two. That was his third rehab start across three levels of the minor leagues, a stint that ended with zero runs allowed across 6 2/3 total innings, with four hits, five walks and five strikeouts.

With the minor league season ending Sunday, there’s nowhere left for Gray to pitch, unless the Nats believe he’s ready to be activated off the 60-day injured list and pitch for them during next weekend’s final series against the White Sox. The club has not yet made that decision, according to interim manager Miguel Cairo.

“We’re seeing what we’re going to do,” Cairo said this afternoon. “We’ll wait to see. And as soon as I know, I will let you know.”

The Nationals don’t believe a big league start is necessary for Gray before he heads into the offseason, eventually building his arm back up for spring training. But they remained open to the idea if they believed it was worthwhile and wanted to wait until after he made his final rehab start to make that decision.

NEW YORK – Game one of this weekend series didn’t go so well for the Nationals, who took an early 4-1 lead over the Mets but ultimately lost 12-6 behind poor pitching and poor defense. New York, in the process, maintained its two-game lead over the victorious Reds for the final wild card berth in the National League with eight games to go.

They’ll be back at it this afternoon, with another matchup of rookie pitchers on the mound.

Cade Cavalli makes his ninth start, his first against the Mets. The right-hander has allowed three or fewer in six of his first eight outings, an encouraging development overall. Because he’s been held to five innings for the most part, though, Cavalli’s ERA is a bit inflated at 4.76. He also has struck out only three total batters over his last two starts, low by his standards. We’ll see how he fares in this one against a Mets lineup that ranks second in the NL in homers and eighth in strikeouts.

Nolan McLean is yet another New York rookie who has burst onto the scene over the last month, opening his career 4-1 with a 1.19 ERA. The 2023 draft pick has reached the sixth inning in each of his previous six starts, averaging nearly seven strikeouts per outing. He has a deep arsenal that features a mid-90s sinker and a mid-80s sweeper. The Nats did a nice job Friday night of figuring out fellow rookie Brandon Sproat as the game progressed. Perhaps they can do the same against McLean.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 75 degrees, wind 8 mph in from right field

NEW YORK – A Nationals roster loaded with rookies and a bunch of others with only slightly more experience stepped into the cauldron that is Citi Field on a Friday night in late September, recognizing it was going to require both productive and clean baseball to take down a Mets team fighting for its postseason life right now.

They actually got the productive baseball part down, scoring six runs by the fifth inning and watching rookie Andrew Alvarez induce a bunch of ground balls out of the most imposing lineup he’s faced so far in the majors.

They didn’t come close to getting the clean baseball part down, and that’s ultimately was cost them during a 12-6 loss to New York in which they very much looked the part of a 92-loss team crawling toward the finish line nine days from now.

Committing three errors to go along with several other sloppy plays in the field, the Nationals helped make life a whole lot easier for the Mets, who needed this win to maintain a two-game lead over the Reds (who beat the Cubs tonight) for the final Wild Card berth in the National League. (The Diamondbacks also can remain within two games if they beat the Phillies later tonight.)

Whether this one ballgame before a boisterous crowd of 39,484 proves these Nats aren’t yet ready for this kind of spotlight is debatable. Either way, they didn’t come close to putting their best foot forward on a night that demanded a much better brand of baseball for them to emerge victorious.

The Nationals are moving Mitchell Parker to the bullpen for the remainder of the season, a reflection both of the left-hander’s year-long struggles and the recent emergence of rookie Andrew Alvarez in the rotation.

Parker, whose 16 losses and 5.85 ERA both rank last in the majors, was informed of the switch earlier this week and said he understands the club’s rationale, even though he’s never pitched in relief before.

“Obviously, this year hasn’t been ideal,” he said. “And really, it is what it is. Roles change, goals stay the same. Still got to pitch, still got to get guys out, still trying to win ballgames.”

In spite of his struggles, Parker had held onto his starting job for months, with no viable alternatives knocking on the door in the Nats’ farm system. But when MacKenzie Gore landed on the 15-day injured list in late-August with a minor shoulder issue, the club promoted Alvarez from Triple-A Rochester and then watched the left-hander deliver a 1.15 ERA over his first three big league starts.

Gore’s return to the active roster last week left the Nationals with six healthy starters, but they stuck with the extra man knowing they’d need him to get through Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader against the Braves. Now that they’ve reached the season’s final stretch, with nine remaining games over the next 10 days, they decided there was no need to use a six-man rotation.

NEW YORK – Hello from Citi Field, where tonight the Nationals open their final road trip of the season with the opener of a big weekend series against the Mets. Big for the Mets, that is. New York is clinging to a two-game lead over the Diamondbacks and Reds for the final Wild Card berth in the National League. These games mean a lot to the locals. The Nats, who just got swept by a Braves team playing for nothing, perhaps will be inspired playing in front of a big crowd and a team fighting for its postseason life.

We’ve got a matchup of rookie pitchers tonight. And not just rookies, but extremely inexperienced rookies. Andrew Alvarez makes his fourth career start for the Nationals. Brandon Sproat makes his third career start for the Mets.

Alvarez (1-0, 1.15 ERA) has been outstanding so far, but the left-hander faces probably his toughest challenge yet in Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and the rest of the Mets. Alvarez has managed to surrender only seven hits in 15 2/3 innings to date, and only two of those hits have gone for extra bases (one double, one homer). Can he somehow keep that going tonight?

Sproat, a second-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft out of Florida, was OK in his major league debut against the Reds (three runs in six innings), then great in his next start against the Rangers (six scoreless innings). The right-hander throws a 95-96 mph fastball, but has a deep repertoire of five pitches that he has already thrown at least 12 percent of the time each, so the Nats' hitters need to be ready for anything.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees, wind 6 mph in from left field

With five of their final six series coming against sub-.500 clubs, the Nationals haven’t really had a chance to play any meaningful baseball down the stretch of the season. With one exception: This weekend’s series in New York.

The Mets are the only opponent on the Nats’ late-September schedule that both owns a winning record and is still fighting for a postseason berth. New York enters the day holding a slim, 2-game lead over the Diamondbacks and Reds (and possibly the Giants, pending the outcome of their game late Thursday night against the Dodgers) with nine to play.

Which means the Nationals have a real opportunity to make a difference this weekend, whether hurting or helping the Mets’ chances.

Given how poorly they played earlier this week against a fourth-place Braves team, there’s little reason to think they’re going to flip the switch and perform better against a much better opponent now. But in a strange twist to this most frustrating 2025 season, some of their best performances actually have come against better competition.

The Nats have a winning head-to-head record this year against seven opposing teams. And four of them are playoff contenders: the Tigers, Mariners, Diamondbacks and Reds. They’ve also won individual series along the way against the Dodgers, Mets, Cubs and Giants.

Inside their clubhouse Wednesday evening, the Nationals packed up their bags and prepared to depart for New York. What they really were looking forward to, though, was the day off they’ve got in the Big Apple before opening a three-game series Friday against the Mets.

It’s their first day off in two weeks, since the Thursday they had in Chicago on Sept. 4. In between, they played 14 games in 13 days, winning six and losing eight, the quality of baseball seemingly getting worse as the days passed. To wit: After winning four of their first five during this stretch, they proceeded to lose seven of their next nine.

It was, to be sure, a grueling two weeks. And that would have applied no matter the time of year, but was especially true here in September of a season that was lost months ago.

These Nationals are limping to the finish line, that much seemed clear as they were suffering a four-game sweep at the hands of the Braves this week. A Braves team, by the way, that has nothing to play for itself at the end of an even more frustrating season for a perennial contender that is about to finish with a losing record for the first time in eight years.

Why, then, did Atlanta look so energized during this series while the Nats looked so flat?

As the bottom of the fifth came to a close at windy, gray Nationals Park late this afternoon, the home team finally had reason to feel encouraged for the first time in this four-games-in-48-hours series against the Braves. Brad Lord had tossed five scoreless innings to continue his September resurgence. The lineup had figured out Atlanta starter Hurston Waldrep at last, scoring three runs in rapid fire to take the lead and snap a 15-inning scoreless streak.

And then Miguel Cairo sent Lord back to the mound for the top of the sixth, a curious decision in the moment that only looked worse when the rookie right-hander gave up hits to two of the three batters he faced before getting pulled.

Not that the bullpen performed any better. Clayton Beeter really turned the top of the sixth into a mess, the Braves ultimately scoring four runs before tacking on two more against newly promoted reliever Sauryn Lao and three more off Shinnosuke Ogasawara to hand the Nats a thoroughly frustrating 9-4 loss that completed a miserable three days at the park.

When this series opened Monday evening, the Nationals trailed the Braves by four games at the bottom of the National League East standings, still with a shot at catching them for fourth place before season’s end. Four straight losses to Atlanta, however, dashed any hope of that and left the Nats at 62-91, matching their loss total from each of the previous two years with nine games still to be played.

"It's never easy to lose," rookie right fielder Dylan Crews said. "We want to win every single day, trust me. We want to go out there and win every single time we walk out onto that field. But we've got to fix some things. We've got to command the strike zone a lot better, from both sides. We do that, a lot of good things happen."

The Nationals will get a look at another newly acquired reliver before season’s end, calling up right-hander Sauryn Lao from Triple-A and optioning Orlando Ribalta to Rochester before today’s series finale against the Braves.

Lao was claimed off waivers from the Mariners on Sept. 3, a 26-year-old rookie who pitched in two major league games for Seattle earlier this season after spending the first nine years of his professional career in the Dodgers organization.

Lao (whose name is pronounced “SOW-rin low”) made three appearances for Rochester following his acquisition from Seattle, allowing one run over 5 2/3 innings, with five hits, two walks and two strikeouts. He primarily throws a four-seam fastball that averages 92 mph and a slider that averages 86 mph, utilizing those two pitches an equal number of times in his brief big league career.

“It’s a fresh arm that can help us,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “We got him on waivers, and they want to see him, and this is a chance for him to show what he’s got, and if he can help us.”

Lao didn’t exactly take a conventional path to get here. The Dominican native was originally signed by the Dodgers in 2016 as a corner infielder, converting to a pitcher only in 2023 after his hitting career stalled out at Single-A. He has found new life in the new role, going 8-5 with a 3.46 ERA and 1.251 WHIP in 99 minor league games, including 19 starts for the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma this season.

It was a miserable Tuesday at Nationals Park, in more ways than one. There was a day-night doubleheader. There was a two-hour rain delay before they could start the nightcap. There were extra innings in that nightcap. And, ultimately, the Nationals lost both games to the Braves, leaving them in danger of a four-game sweep if they lose today’s series finale as well.

But it’s a new day, so who knows what might transpire when these teams meet again at 4:05 p.m. (weather permitting, yet again)?

It’s Brad Lord on the mound for the Nats, looking to finish out his rookie season strong after a little blip recently. Lord gave up seven runs in back-to-back starts against the Yankees and Rays, which made his ERA spike from 3.84 to 4.34. But he was much better his last two times out against the Cubs and Pirates, allowing a total of four runs in 11 2/3 innings, which has brought his ERA down to 4.21. He faced the Braves three times this season, all in May, but all as a reliever. So they’ll be seeing a different version of the right-hander this afternoon.

Offensively, the Nationals desperately need to get something going at the plate early against Hurston Waldrep after getting worked by Spencer Strider, José Suarez and Chris Sale in the first three games of the series. Waldrep, 23, is making only his 10th career start, but his major league debut actually came last summer at Nationals Park. How did the home team do that afternoon? They scored seven runs in the fourth inning off Waldrep, with the big blow being a three-run homer by Keibert Ruiz (who, alas, is not playing today).

ATLANTA BRAVES 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: Chance of rain, 66 degrees, wind 10 mph in from center field

The National League East standings suggest the Nationals aren’t much worse than the Braves, entering the night trailing their division foes by a mere four games in the battle to finish fourth at the end of a miserable season for both clubs.

The baseball that was on display tonight, though, offered up little evidence these two teams deserve to be lumped into the same category. This 11-3 loss felt far more like the lopsided losses the Nats routinely suffered at the hands of the playoff-bound Braves the previous four years.

At the plate, the Nationals were overwhelmed by a young flamethrower in an Atlanta jersey, in this case the resurgent Spencer Strider, who dominated over seven innings. On the mound, a Nats left-hander finishing out the string of a ragged season was battered around by experienced hitters, in this case Mitchell Parker taking the punishment.

It all made for a familiar, frustrating night on South Capitol Street, where the home team was overmatched in every way by the opposition, even if their respective positions in the standings suggest that shouldn’t have been the case.

"We didn't hit today," interim manager Miguel Cairo said. "They just hit better than us today. They were better. They beat us."

Jarlin Susana had surgery last week to repair his right lat muscle, a procedure that could impact the top pitching prospect’s availability for Nationals spring training.

Susana, the organization’s third-rated prospect behind shortstop Eli Willits and fellow right-hander Travis Sykora, injured himself during an Aug. 30 start for Double-A Harrisburg, departing after allowing three runs on one hit, three walks and a hit-by-pitch in 1 2/3 innings. A subsequent MRI revealed a lat strain, the Nats announced Sept. 5, though they were still consulting with doctors to determine a course of action.

The final determination was that the strain was significant enough to require surgery, which was performed last week. The Nationals did not offer a timeline for his recovery, but pitchers who need lat surgery typically miss a considerable amount of time.

Mets left-hander AJ Minter had season-ending lat surgery in early May. Brewers right-hander JB Bukauskas has missed the entire season following lat surgery in late February.

According to Major League Baseball’s injury glossary, Grade 1 lat strains are considered mild and require only 2-3 weeks of recovery, Grade 2 strains are considered moderate and require a month of recovery and Game 3 strains are considered severe because the muscle ruptures, requiring surgery with a considerably longer recovery period.

We’ve reached the final two weeks of the season, with only four series remaining on the Nationals’ schedule. And while they will face an interleague opponent (the White Sox) to wrap up 2025, before that they’ve got three straight series against fellow National League East opponents, two of them against the Braves.

And this first series vs. Atlanta is a four-games-in-three-days series, with a day-night doubleheader on the docket Tuesday. First up, though, is tonight’s 6:45 p.m. opener. It’ll be Mitchell Parker on the mound, hoping to pick up where he left off in Miami last week when he allowed just two runs over 7 2/3 innings in his best start in weeks. The left-hander was OK in two back-to-back starts against the Braves back in May, allowing seven runs over 10 innings but emerging with a win in one of the games and a no-decision in the other.

Spencer Strider was Parker’s opponent for the May 20 meeting between these teams, and the Nationals jumped all over him for three runs in the first and another in the second. Strider was making only his second start off the injured list at the time. And while it’s been a rocky road for the hard-throwing right-hander, he has been better of late, posting a 3.00 ERA over his last three outings.

ATLANTA BRAVES 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: Mostly cloudy, 77 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right field

BRAVES
LF Jurickson Profar
1B Matt Olson
RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
2B Ozzie Albies
SS Ha-Seong Kim
C Drake Baldwin
DH Marcell Ozuna
CF Michael Harris II
3B Nacho Alvarez Jr.

The call came down to the bullpen as the bottom of the eighth was about to get underway Sunday afternoon. The Nationals and Pirates were tied 3-3, but Clayton Beeter was informed he should start warming up, because if his teammates scored that inning, he was going to be pitching the ninth.

Yes, in a save situation for the first time in his career. And how did the 26-year-old rookie handle that news?

“It felt pretty much the same,” he insisted. “Obviously, I knew what it was. But I felt confident that I was going to go out there and keep doing what I’ve been doing.”

Which is precisely what Beeter did do. Though he put two runners on base with two outs, the right-hander responded by striking out Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds to end the game, preserve a 4-3 victory and lock up his first career save.

How was it that Beeter found himself in this unlikely situation?

They waited it out all morning and early afternoon, the game tied since the end of the second inning, just looking for some kind of break to take the lead for good.

And when that break came in the form of another misplay in center field by Oneil Cruz, the Nationals took full advantage and then rode a makeshift bullpen to a 4-3 victory over the Pirates.

Daylen Lile provided the long-awaited club hit with a one-out double to left-center in the bottom of the eighth. And when Cruz (who already let one hit scoot under his glove earlier this weekend) did it again, James Wood (who started the rally with a walk) was able to race all the way home from first with the go-ahead run.

"At first, I was just thinking double. I thought it was going to be second and third," said Lile, who finished 2-for-2 with two walks, the rookie raising his OPS to .796. "And as soon as I saw it get past Cruz, I just kicked it into second gear, get to third base, and I saw James score."

Clayton Beeter, pressed into surprise closer service, then finished it off in the top of the ninth, overcoming a two-out walk and subsequent single to earn the first save of his career, capping an impressive game for the Nationals bullpen.

Cole Henry’s impressive rookie season has come to an unfortunate and premature end.

The Nationals placed Henry on the 15-day injured list this morning with a back strain, bringing an abrupt halt to the reliever’s first big league season with exactly 15 days remaining on the schedule.

Orlando Ribalta, who had just been optioned to Triple-A Rochester three days ago to clear a spot for MacKenzie Gore’s return from the IL, was recalled and will be back in the bullpen for today’s series finale against the Pirates.

Henry struggled during a high-leverage appearance Saturday afternoon. Entrusted with the top of the eighth with the Nats leading 1-0, he walked two of the three batters he faced, throwing only seven of his 18 pitches for strikes before getting pulled in favor of left-hander PJ Poulin, who allowed both inherited runners to score during what became a four-run rally for Pittsburgh.

It was Henry’s third consecutive shaky outing. He gave up three runs (two earned) on two hits, a hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch Monday in Miami, then returned to the mound two nights later and walked two during a scoreless inning.