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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dean Kremer did more than dodge the injured list, which alone was an impressive accomplishment.

He’s starting Friday night in the series opener against the Rays at Camden Yards.

The 103.1 mph line drive from Colorado’s Jordan Beck that slammed off Kremer’s right forearm in the fourth inning Saturday night at Coors Field raised a huge welt above his wrist and major concerns about the Orioles’ rotation. As if it could afford another loss.

Kremer played catch in the outfield in recent days, had a bullpen session yesterday at Camden Yards and convinced the Orioles that he could take his next turn.

Asked about Kremer after Sunday’s game, manager Brandon Hyde said, "I would be really surprised if he’s pitching in four or five days.” The Orioles are off tonight. Kremer is on the mound Friday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIAMI – The Nationals have had their issues with the Marlins over the past two seasons. Entering this season, they were 6-26 against Miami between 2022 and 2023, including going an abysmal 2-11 last year.

But that script has completely flipped this year, with the Nats posting a perfect 8-0 record against their lowly National League East rivals and outscoring them 54-20 coming into tonight’s two-game series finale.

Looking to extend that eight-game winning streak against the Marlins, the Nationals fell just short despite a late rally that gave them the lead in the eighth inning. In the end, Derek Law surrendered the walk-off hit in the 10th inning as the Nats dropped their first game of the season to the Marlins 4-3.

After the Nats went quietly in the top of the 10th, Law entered from the bullpen to face the Marlins’ Nos. 9-1-2 hitters. A groundout to second moved the automatic runner to third and set up Xavier Edwards’ walk-off single to send the announced crowd of 6,156 home happy.

The outcome was almost different though. Facing a 2-0 deficit in the eighth inning and with only five baserunners up until that point, the Nats put together another late rally against the Marlins bullpen.

Albert Suárez watched his second pitch tonight, a fastball to White Sox leadoff hitter Nicky Lopez, sail into the right field seats.

Gunnar Henderson took it as a challenge, hitting his 10^th leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning and his 35^th overall to set the club record for a shortstop.

The back-and-forth would stop, with Suárez producing a rare clunker. He wouldn’t get the last word or last through fifth. And the Orioles wouldn't score again.

Andrew Vaughn led off the fourth with a homer and Dominic Fletcher hit a two-run shot later in the inning, his first of the season, to guide the White Sox toward an 8-1 victory before an announced crowd of 17,843 at Camden Yards.

Chicago had lost 12 in a row and an astounding 42 of 46. They were outscored 22-3 in the first two games of the series.

With 22 runs scored in back-to-back wins over the White Sox, the Orioles look for a three-game series sweep tonight. That would also give them a seven-game sweep of the season series.

In late May, the Orioles won four straight at Chicago, but they were all close wins by 8-6, 6-4, 5-3 and 4-1. In this series, the O’s have won 13-3 and last night by 9-0.

They’ve scored 22 runs on 27 hits the last two games, with three doubles, a triple and two homers and they are 11-for-36 batting with runners in scoring position.

In going 6-0 on the year versus the Sox, the O’s have outscored them 45-17. On offense, they have hit .287 with an .887 OPS and 10 home runs. The Baltimore pitchers have a 2.67 ERA and have allowed a .528 OPS to White Sox hitters this year.

Right-hander Albert Suárez (7-4, 3.14) has been on a five-start pitching role and will make his 20^th start tonight. He is 2-0 with a 1.19 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in those five games, allowing four earned runs over 30 1/3 innings with five walks to 24 strikeouts.

MIAMI – While watching a Nationals game, whether in person or on TV, odds are you will see their top prospect sitting on a perch along the railing of the dugout during the game.

You’ll have to wait an inning, however, because Dylan Crews doesn’t have much time to watch the game from there while batting leadoff for manager Davey Martinez’s club.

Crews has only played in seven major league games entering tonight’s finale against the Marlins. But Wednesday's game will be the sixth time in eight appearances the rookie outfielder will hit in the leadoff spot.

That spot has typically been where CJ Abrams hits, including Crews’ major league debut when the young outfielder hit second. But the Nats’ young shortstop has been bumped down the order to try to take some pressure off him as he looks for more success at the plate.

In the meantime, Martinez thinks Crews’ approach suits him well as a leadoff hitter.

More positive injury news came out of Camden Yards this afternoon. Momentum for the Orioles isn’t restricted to winning the next series.

Grayson Rodriguez completed his first bullpen session this afternoon and remains confident in his return later this month from a lat/teres injury.

Rodriguez threw about 20 pitches, mixing off-speed stuff with his fastball.

“Arm’s feeling good and I think right now that’s the most important thing is just being able to get back on the mound, let it eat a couple times,” he said.

“Everything felt good. The ball was spinning well.”

The first-place Orioles wrap up their series against the White Sox tonight with Coby Mayo at third base and batting seventh.

Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter.

Gunnar Henderson stays atop the order. He has a hit in four straight games for the first time since July 25-Aug. 1.

Albert Suárez is making his 20^th start and 28^th appearance with his ERA down to 3.14. In his five starts last month after replacing injured right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, Suárez allowed only four earned runs with 24 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings. He posted a 1.97 ERA in six August games.

Suárez pitched in relief against the White Sox on May 25 and shut them out over four innings.

MIAMI – After a nice, clean game last night, the Nationals now have a chance to sweep the Marlins in this quick two-game series before heading up to Pittsburgh. A win would also keep their winning streak against Miami alive.

Like Patrick Corbin on Tuesday, MacKenzie Gore is looking to build off two strong starts. He completed six innings of one-run ball against the Braves in Atlanta and then he held the Yankees to two runs over six innings last week. Gore was excellent against the Marlins in his one other start against them this year, holding them to one run with 10 strikeouts over seven frames.

The Marlins are sending out another rookie right-hander in Valente Bellozo. The 24-year-old is 2-2 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.344 WHIP in eight major league starts since debuting in June. Although he has shown flashes of promise (holding the Royals, Reds and Phillies scoreless over a combined 17 ⅔ innings), he also has struggled at times in giving up five or more earned runs in three of his starts, including in each of his last two.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

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

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

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

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

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

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

As he stood before a locker with his nameplate, a Nationals jersey with his name on it, inside a big league clubhouse for the first time, Zach Brzykcy was asked what he would’ve thought if someone predicted this outcome for him four years ago when he was a junior at Virginia Tech.

“I would’ve laughed at them,” he said. “Like, no way is this going to happen.”

That Brzykcy did find himself at Nationals Park on Sunday was a remarkable story. Undrafted out of college. Owner of a 5.20 ERA in his first professional season. Sidelined for his entire third pro season following Tommy John surgery. And now a big league reliever, officially promoted from Triple-A Rochester as one of the Nats’ two September call-ups.

“Speechless,” the 25-year-old right-hander said of his reaction to learning the news Saturday from Rochester manager Matt LeCroy. “I’m kind of a quiet guy, so I didn’t even know what to think. I internalized it, and I was just mind blown. I’ve been working for this since I was 4 to be here, and I’m here. It’s just surreal. There’s no words to describe the feeling.”

Brzykcy (pronounced “BRICK-see”) might seem an unlikely addition to the Nationals bullpen, but he earned his way here. He was a casualty of the COVID pandemic, both because his junior season at Virginia Tech ended in mid-March with only nine appearances and because Major League Baseball reduced the 2020 Draft to a mere five rounds.

DENVER – The Orioles recorded a hit with a runner in scoring position to take a quick lead, and Zach Eflin retired the side in order on 10 pitches in his return from the injured list. Maybe, just maybe, the Orioles would make it through the afternoon in good health and with a series win. Leaving the drama at the entrance to Coors Field. Starting a new month with a new attitude and better vibes.

They couldn’t possibly know what else Eflin would deliver.

Eflin retired the first 15 batters on only 49 pitches to flirt with the first perfect game in franchise history. He’d settle for seven innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 victory over the Rockies before an announced crowd of 32,961 on another gorgeous Denver day.

Eflin was barreling toward the first Orioles complete game since Dean Kremer on Sept. 23, 2022 against the Astros at Camden Yards. Kremer left last night’s start in the fourth after taking a line drive off his right forearm area. An odd connection was brewing.

Chad Kuhl tossed the last complete game at Coors Field on June 27, 2022.

If managers preach to their teams they can’t give the opposition more than 27 outs, what do they say about giving them 32 outs?

Truth be told, it probably never comes up, because how often does a team make five defensive gaffes in one nine-inning game? At the major league level, nonetheless.

What, then, will Davey Martinez have to say to his players after today’s 14-1 dismantling by the Cubs, one that was defined not by the hits the Nationals gave up or failed to produce themselves but by the five misplays they made in the field during their least aesthetically pleasing game of the season?

"We're going to pound the same message: We've got to catch the baseball," the manager said in one of the more animated postgame sessions of his seven-year tenure here. "It was awful today. I can't say nothing about it. Our defense was not there. I thought (Mitchell Parker) threw the ball really well. We've got to play defense behind him. You can't drive in runs and let in three or four more runs. You've got to catch the baseball. Defense is a big part of the game. I say that all the time. We've got to catch the ball."

Martinez has had to confront these questions before, but usually as it pertains to one or maybe two plays during the course of a game. Five? This was unprecedented, leaving him to answer how he planned to deliver the aforementioned message to his players.

After winning the first game of their series at Dodger Stadium, the Orioles lost the next two games, losing the series to the Dodgers. They need a win today to avoid the same fate at Coors Field.

The Orioles beat the Rockies 5-3 in the series-opener on Friday night, but they lost 7-5 last night. So the O’s and Rockies play the rubber match game to end this series and road trip. The Orioles are 8-5 in rubber match games.

At 78-59, the Orioles begin play today 1.5 games behind the New York Yankees. They are 39-29 on the road and 2-3 on this trip.

The Orioles have lost three of four, six of 10 and 11 of their past 19 games. The O’s are 20-21 since the All-Star game after going 58-38 in the second half.

The Orioles have now played 137 games:

DENVER – Coby Mayo was on a flight to Denver last night when third baseman Ramón Urías sprained his right ankle. Mayo was joining the Orioles’ expanded roster, unaware that he’d do more than fill out the bench.

“Obviously, I saw what happened after the fact,” Mayo said.

He also heard plenty about it. His phone was blowing up with text messages about Urías and the opportunity that arrived as he checked into the team hotel.

Urías rolled his ankle while covering third base on Ezequiel Tover’s stolen base in the seventh inning. Urías laid on the ground, writhing in pain, and remains on crutches today.

An offense that’s scuffled for prolonged periods lost a player batting .357 with a 1.178 OPS over his last 14 games before last night. Just another unfortunate injury that tests this team’s depth and resolve.

Darren Baker didn’t need an alarm to wake himself up this morning. He didn’t need a GPS to find his way to Nationals Park. And when he entered the clubhouse, he didn’t need to introduce himself to many people.

If ever a rookie felt at home on his first day in the major leagues, this was it.

“I think it does feel comfortable, especially this one,” he said. “I knew how to get here. I didn’t have to put it into my phone or anything. So I felt comfortable just showing up.”

Baker, who along with reliever Zach Brzykcy was promoted from Triple-A Rochester this morning as the Nationals’ two allotted September call-ups with rosters expanding to 28, has been a familiar face around Nationals Park since 2016. And he’s been a familiar face around big league ballparks and clubhouse since 2002.

Such is life when you’re Dusty Baker’s son. With a famous father who spent most of the last two decades managing in San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington and Houston, Darren Baker has been immersed in the baseball world his whole life. Fans first knew about him in the 2002 World Series, when as a 3-year-old Giants batboy he memorably had to be scooped up J.T. Snow before getting run over on a play at the plate.