ATLANTA – The Nationals have another tough pitching matchup in tonight’s game against the Braves. Not because it’s another established major leaguer like Charlie Morton or Max Fried. But because it’s a 23-year-old making his first major league start.

Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach had his contract selected to the Braves roster this morning to make his debut tonight. It’s not the first time the Nats have faced a young pitcher making his debut, but it still proves to be difficult when there’s only so much to scout beforehand.

“He's new. He's an up-and-coming young prospect,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame media session on how his team is preparing to face Schwellenbach. “So we did our due diligence, watched a bunch of videos. But our guys get to face him for the first time. So for me, as a young player, as a team facing a new guy, you should be a little excited. The big thing is we gotta get him in the strike zone. He might have a little nerves. But get him in the strike zone and swing at good pitches.”

Schwellenbach, the Braves’ No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline, provides an especially difficult challenge because he doesn’t have a lot of film to study. A second-round draft pick out of Nebraska in 2021, he had Tommy John surgery immediately after the draft and started his minor league career last year, making 16 starts between Single-A and High-A.

He started this season at High-A Rome for eight starts before being promoted two weeks ago to Double-A Mississippi, where he struck out 51 batters in 45 innings and did not allow a run over 13 innings.

The 95.5 mph sinker that crashed into Jordan Westburg’s right-hand last night threw a scare into the Orioles. He didn't toss him onto the injured list.

Westburg is out of tonight’s lineup to give him an extra day to heal. X-rays came back negative, and Thursday’s off-day should improve his chances of playing Friday night against the Rays at Camden Yards.

“I think we really caught a break and got lucky,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He’s sore, but feels a lot better than he did last night. It squared him up pretty good on the hand.”

Brayan Bello drilled Westburg in the sixth, and the infielder crouched on his way to first base as Hyde and athletic trainer Mark Shires rushed onto the field. Westburg stayed in the game, the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs, and they didn’t score.

Adley Rutschman also is out of the lineup but he’s healthy. Hyde is making concessions to the brutal schedule that includes only one open date in June.

ATLANTA – Two down, two to go. After splitting the first two games, the Nationals now have a chance in the next two days to at least split this four-game set, if not win it.

Although the Nats have outscored the Braves 8-6 so far, all eight of their runs came on Monday, having been shut out in last night’s loss.

They’ll try to get past their struggles against Max Fried and look to attack Spencer Schwellenbach early. The 23-year-old right-hander had his contract selected this morning to make his major league debut tonight. A second-round draft pick out of Nebraska in 2021, Schwellenbach had Tommy John surgery immediately after the draft and started his minor league career last year. He began this season in High-A Rome and was promoted to Double-A Mississippi two weeks ago.

In eight minor league starts this season, Schwellenbach is 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA. He struck out 51 batters in 45 innings and did not allow a run over 13 innings at Double-A.

MacKenzie Gore will oppose the rookie for the Nats. Looking to follow up Jake Irvin’s career night, Gore is 3-4 with a 3.04 ERA and 1.294 WHIP in 10 starts. He completed seven innings in his last start for the first time this year, allowing just one run and striking out eight in a win against the Mariners. He went 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA and 1.161 WHIP in two starts against the Braves in 2023.

X-rays on Jordan Westburg’s right hand and wrist came back negative after he was hit last night by a pitch. However, he’s out of tonight’s lineup against the Red Sox.

Westburg leads the club with 12 multi-RBI games.

James McCann is catching and batting ninth. Adley Rutschman is on the bench.

Ramón Urías gets the start at third base. Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter. Colton Cowser is in left field again and batting cleanup.

O’Hearn is hitting .325 against fastballs in Baltimore this season compared to just .167 on the road.

Dylan Floro didn’t want to talk about it. He reluctantly agreed to be interviewed after Saturday’s game only when told the questions would be generic and not specifically about the streak.

“I’m getting ahead. I’m getting strike one. Not walking guys,” he said when asked what he liked about the way he was pitching. “Getting quick outs for the most part. And the defense is making unbelievable plays.”

Davey Martinez cringed when Floro’s name came up during his postgame press conference that evening, as well.

“I’m not talking about it! I’m not going to be the guy!” the Nationals manager said with a smile. “He’s really good right now.”

In case you didn’t know, baseball players are just a bit superstitious. So as much as they enjoyed watching Floro toss 21 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing a run, the Nats didn’t want to have to actually address the streak in any kind of formal way.

CHICAGO – Get the rain delay out of the way first, this one lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes. Send Kyle Bradish to the mound. Try to complete the first four-game sweep against the White Sox since 1995.

Try to do it before the weather takes another nasty turn.

Who knew that Bradish would be nastier?

Bradish didn’t allow a hit for seven innings, but the combined attempt at history failed when Danny Mendick came off the bench in the eighth and belted a leadoff home run against Danny Coulombe.

The Orioles didn’t get their seventh no-hitter. No matter. They left town with a 4-1 victory over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 14,992 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

A game that looked like it might hinge on a controversial fan interference call then looked like it might hinge on a long-awaited clutch homer from the Nationals’ best all-around player. Until it ultimately hinged on the first runs scored off one of the most effective (but also most-used) relievers in the majors in a long time.

Today’s 9-5 loss to the Mariners included some wild swings of emotion over the course of the final hour of play. The Nationals looked lifeless most of the afternoon at the plate, then were brought back to life by CJ Abrams, whose three-run homer in the seventh put them in position to complete a weekend sweep of Seattle.

But Dylan Floro’s shaky top of the eighth – a rarity if ever there was one – flipped the script again and left the Nats to accept a tough loss, though still a series win before they hit the road for Atlanta.

"We put some good at-bats together late in the game," manager Davey Martinez said. "We just couldn't finish today."

Because he had enjoyed such a dominant opening month to the season, it was only natural not to make too big a deal out of Abrams’ miserable follow-up month. Make no mistake, though, Abrams was bothered by his complete drop-off in production from April (when he slashed .295/.373/.619) to May (in which he had slashed .209/.225/.481 entering today’s game.

After the Orioles had been swept three straight and lost their sweepless streak in St. Louis, they were hoping things would turn for the better in Chicago. They have but the Orioles have had to work hard to get three wins, each by two runs, against a team with a poor record. 

But by posting wins by 8-6, 6-4 and then 5-3 yesterday, the Orioles (32-18) can complete a four-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox (15-38) today at Guaranteed Rate Field.

After scoring just eight runs in the losses at St. Louis, the Orioles have scored 19 runs on 29 hits and hit six homers against the White Sox.

The O's were behind 3-0 going to the top of the eighth Saturday when they hit three homers in a span of five batters. The homer explosion put them in front and they won the game. 

Ryan O'Hearn's two-run shot was his seventh and allowed the O's to avoid the shutout. But the next two home run balls allowed them to avoid a loss. Anthony Santander's two-run shot gave them a 4-3 lead and Jordan Westburg's eighth homer, a solo blast, gave them an insurance run.

CHICAGO - Dillon Tate sat at his locker this morning wearing a black hoodie, his head covered, his body turned away from the clubhouse. He was relaxed and not looking for any attention. Probably wishing that he could avoid it altogether, given his low-key personality and preference that others bask in the spotlight.

Here’s the conflict: You retire all seven batters you face in your longest relief outing in three years, setting up the rally in the eighth inning that produced a 5-3 win, and you’re going to be praised and asked about it.

Tate earned the win with 2 1/3 spotless frames and four strikeouts. The Orioles hit three homers and scored five runs in the eighth.

“It was good to be back out there, sharing the field with my guys,” said Tate, who was optioned April 29 and recalled on Friday. “Happy to get that win. We needed that.”

Team first, as usual with Tate.

CHICAGO – The Orioles are trying today to complete their first four-game sweep on the White Sox’s home field since 1995.

The forecast might not allow the teams to play. Rain is supposed to pelt the area through the afternoon, leaving to the question of how long they’ll wait with the Orioles traveling home for Monday’s day game.

Jordan Westburg is leading off today, with Gunnar Henderson in the cleanup spot in the Orioles’ mostly right-handed lineup.

Austin Hays is in left field and Colton Cowser stays in center. Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

Ryan O’Hearn is on the bench against left-hander Garrett Crochet. He homered yesterday and is batting .294/.364/.521 with four doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 18 RBIs against right-handers this season.

Jesse Winker is out of the Nationals lineup today. Lane Thomas could be back in the Nationals lineup Monday.

Winker is sitting for the team’s series finale against the Mariners with a cramp in his left quad, an injury that forced his departure in the seventh inning of Saturday’s 3-1 victory.

“It basically was a cramp, but he’s still a little sore,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I talked to him this morning. He’s going to be available to pinch-hit today. I’d rather do that than have him go out there and something else happens. Let him get through the day, and then he can come off the bench and help us.”

Winker had an active day at the ballpark. He beat out a well-placed drag bunt for a single in the second inning. He singled to center and stole second in the seventh, then advanced to third on Keibert Ruiz’s bloop single to center.

Those final 90 feet, though, may have been too much for Winker, who didn’t look comfortable once he got to third base. The Nationals sent Victor Robles in to pinch-run for him in what at the time was still a 1-1 game. Robles would score the go-ahead run on Ildemaro Vargas’ grounder to short.

The Nationals haven’t been in this position for a while, having already won the first two games of a series and now having a chance at a sweep with another win in the finale. They’ve positioned themselves like this by beating the Mariners twice in a row behind stellar pitching. MacKenzie Gore and Trevor Williams each gave up one run, each via a solo homer, and nothing else. And the bullpen has put up nothing but zeroes so far in the series.

Can Patrick Corbin be counted upon to do the same today? That’s a big ask for the left-hander, who was roughed up by the Twins in his last start. The good news: Corbin did shut out the Mariners last season in Seattle, tossing seven scoreless innings while striking out nine in one of his best outings ever.

Right-hander Bryan Woo is on the mound for the Mariners, and he faced the Nats during that same series last summer and allowed only one earned run over five innings. The 24-year-old opened this season on the injured list with an elbow ailment, but he’s been outstanding since returning, allowing just one run and eight baserunners in 15 2/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SEATTLE MARINERS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 4 mph right field to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Eddie Rosario
DH Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
LF Ildemaro Vargas
3B Nick Senzel
1B Joey Gallo
C Riley Adams
CF Victor Robles

CHICAGO – In some ways, Orioles outfielder Kyle Stowers will always be linked with catcher Adley Rutschman and shortstop Gunnar Henderson.

That is because while Rutschman was taken with the first overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft and Henderson was the O’s next pick, at No. 42 overall. The third selection that year was Stowers, taken No. 71 overall out of Stanford.

The three are close friends and they were the first three draft selections by Mike Elias as Orioles executive vice president and general manager.

“It’s really cool. Definitely was a special draft and just really cool to come up through the system with them,” Stowers said Saturday morning in the Baltimore clubhouse. “Those guys have already made their mark on the league and hopefully I am heading that way as well.”

Rutschman, Henderson and Stowers have pushed each other to be better both on the farm and in the big leagues.

CHICAGO - The lineup card posted on May 12 in Memphis was top-heavy in Orioles prospects. Triple-A Norfolk manager Buck Britton had Jackson Holliday leading off, followed by Coby Mayo and Kyle Stowers. Connor Norby would have joined them except that he exited the game two nights earlier with a left wrist injury and didn’t play for a week. Heston Kjerstad was optioned on the 13^th, with Stowers taking his place on the major league bench. Otherwise, he, too, would have been an imposing part of the order.

Batting sixth and serving as the designated hitter was Terrin Vavra. Back from a brief injury rehab assignment. Back from the shoulder surgery that brought down a season that began with such promise.

Trading in a cloak of invisibility for a Tides uniform that he hadn’t worn in 11 months.

“It’s not the level necessarily that I have aspirations to play at,” he said earlier this week, “but it’s also where I was and where I wanted to get back to.”

The journey was painful and tested him physically and mentally.

Too often this month the Nationals have put themselves in a position to score the late run they need to overcome an opponent, only to squander the prime opportunity with low-quality at-bats.

This time, they delivered when it mattered. And they did so in part by outsmarting the opposition.

During a critical sequence in the bottom of the seventh, Davey Martinez pressed all the right buttons that allowed the Nats to turn a tie game into a 3-1 victory over the Mariners, ensuring a series victory and a potential sweep Sunday afternoon.

"It kind of reminds me of the days we had the pitcher hitting," Martinez said. "A little National League game. It's fun when everyone's engaged and guys are playing well. Today, these guys were playing well."

Trevor Williams did his part to give his team a chance to win yet again with five strong innings of one-run ball. The bullpen did its part not to ruin Williams’ start. And the guys who stepped to the plate with the game on the line made sure none of it went to waste.

CHICAGO – With two relief appearances in the past four days, Albert Suárez was put on a starter’s leash this afternoon that didn’t measure an exact length. Manager Brandon Hyde planned on checking with him after each inning. Maybe he’d go three, maybe four.

Suárez fielded a grounder and started a double play to end the third and leave him at 60 pitches. And he wasn’t done. Hyde sent him back out for the fourth and was rewarded with another scoreless inning.

Hyde wasn’t pushing Suárez beyond the 80 pitches thrown, and a scoreless game was passed to reliever Keegan Akin, who surrendered a two-out, bases-loaded triple to Gavin Sheets in the fifth. A death blow for some teams. A wake-up call for the Orioles, who hit three homers in the eighth in a 5-3 victory over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 22,283 at sunny Guaranteed Rate Field.

They can strike quickly, and less-than-ideal circumstances heading into a game don't faze them. An emergency starter, a sputtering offense, a short bullpen, whatever.

"That was a fun inning," Hyde said. "That game offensively for us sucked for seven. We didn't do anything offensively."

The bullpen is about to undergo another change.

This one comes from outside the organization.

The Orioles traded Triple-A Norfolk pitcher Garrett Stallings to the Brewers this afternoon for right-handers Thyago Vieira and Aneuris Rodriguez. Vieria hasn’t reported, and the 40-man roster will be full upon his arrival. Rodriguez will head down to the Florida Complex League.

Vieira, 31, had a 5.64 ERA, 1.701 WHIP and one save in 16 appearances with the Brewers. He owns a career 6.18 ERA and 1.667 WHIP in 41 games with the Mariners, White Sox and Brewers, making his major league debut in 2017. He pitched in Japan from 2020-22.

The fastball averaged 98 mph this season and his sinker has plus velocity at 96.9, but he’s averaging 4.9 walks per nine innings in the majors to go with nine strikeouts. He’s averaged 4.5 walks in 10 minor league seasons.

It wasn’t much, only 23 pitches to a pair of hitters standing in front of a screen as several coaches and trainers watched from behind. For Josiah Gray, though, this was a significant step: His first time facing live batters since going on the injured list more than six weeks ago.

“Definitely put a smile on my face,” the Nationals right-hander said, “being able to get some pep back in my step and know that I’m able to go out there and face hitters. That’s what I love to do. That’s what I like: To just go out there and compete. So just a really, really important day, and I’m definitely going to enjoy this one.”

On the 15-day IL since mid-April with a flexor strain in his right elbow, Gray was cleared to start throwing again in short order. And he has been throwing off a bullpen mound for several weeks now.

But the Nationals wanted to hold off before taking this next step, wanting to make sure the 26-year-old was both in good physical shape and with clean pitching mechanics first.

“The thing is, we really want to try to keep this as more of a prevention thing,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We don’t want him to get hurt again. So we wanted to make sure we took time, that he was in his legs, that everything was sound. And then we can build up from there.”

CHICAGO – With Dean Kremer going on the injured list Friday with a right triceps strain, the Orioles, at least for today, are moving right-hander Albert Suarez back into their rotation.

In 10 games, three starts this year, he is 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA. Over 25 1/3 innings he has allowed 18 hits and just one home run with six walks and 21 strikeouts. He has given up a .198 batting average and .560 OPS.

The team is 2-1 in his three starts. In his first two against the Twins and Angels, he pitched a combined 11 1/3 scoreless on seven hits with two walks and nine strikeouts.

In his last five appearances, all out of the bullpen, he has thrown 5 2/3 scoreless giving up three hits.

Right-handed pitcher Erick Fedde (4-1, 3.10 ERA) will make his 11^th start and get the ball today for the home team.

Just about everything that could go right for the Nationals on Friday night did go right. MacKenzie Gore tossed seven innings of one-run ball. Luis García Jr., Keibert Ruiz and Eddie Rosario all hit homers. Hunter Harvey and Dylan Floro each tossed a scoreless inning of relief. And the Nats cruised to an easy 6-1 victory over the Mariners.

Now, can they do it again and actually build some positive momentum for the first time in a couple weeks?

Davey Martinez would love to keep the offense going like this against Logan Gilbert. The right-hander faced the Nationals last summer in Seattle and gave up four runs in six innings. García, Ruiz, Ildemaro Vargas and Riley Adams were all in the lineup that afternoon.

Trevor Williams also pitched in that series, also struggling. The right-hander allowed three runs on eight hits in only four innings, throwing a whopping 83 pitches in the process. Williams, of course, has been a very different pitcher this season, so he will hope to look more like that version of himself this afternoon.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SEATTLE MARINERS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 86 degrees, wind 9 mph out to left field