DENVER – For two nights, the Nationals shrugged off their hitting woes and took full advantage of Coors Field and everything it has to offer. And then when it came time for today’s series finale in the best hitter’s park in America, they reverted right back to the form they displayed earlier in the week when they swung at almost everything the Diamondbacks threw at them and emerged with very little to show for it.

Until it mattered most at day’s end and the bats finally woke up just enough to do the impossible.

Held to one hit for eight innings, the Nationals strung together three of them in the ninth, getting clutch RBI knocks from Lane Thomas and Joey Meneses to storm back and beat the Rockies, 2-1, with Kyle Finnegan atoning for his disastrous bottom of the ninth Saturday night to notch the save on Sunday afternoon.

"You look at the last few games and know that the last few innings ... you feel like no one's going to win 1-0," Thomas said. "I think at no part in that game did we think we weren't going to score at least one. We were able to get it done." 

Unable to do anything at the plate for nearly the entire day, aside from Jacob Young’s sixth-inning infield single, the Nats finally put it together in the ninth against Colorado left-hander Jalen Beeks. Young got it started with another infield single, and though he was wiped out on CJ Abrams’ chopper to third, Abrams got himself into scoring position on a wild pitch.

DENVER – The 2024 Nationals established their offensive identity way back in April. Knowing they couldn’t match most other clubs in the power department, they decided to take advantage of their above-average speed and try to become the majors’ best baserunning team.

And for eight good weeks, they delivered in that department. The Nats racked up an astounding 77 stolen bases through their first 47 games, getting caught only 14 times for an impressive 84.6 percent success rate.

Since then, the numbers have plummeted and left the Nationals as the majors’ least effective baserunners. Over their last 29 games, they’ve stolen 27 bases but have been thrown out 24 times, a hard-to-believe 52.9 percent success rate that ranks far and away at the bottom of the league during the last month.

And it perhaps reached a low point Saturday night during an agonizing 8-7 loss to the Rockies that garnered attention for Kyle Finnegan’s walk-off pitch-clock violation in the bottom of the ninth but featured plenty more miscues along the way.

The Nats attempted four stolen bases in the game and were thrown out three times, including CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas in back-to-back plate appearances in the top of the seventh, just as the team was taking a 7-5 lead.

DENVER – It’s a new day at Coors Field, and the Nationals are grateful for that, because it means they don’t have to dwell on Saturday night’s disastrous, 8-7 loss to the Rockies, a game that saw them run into four outs on the bases, then give up runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, the last of them scoring on the first walk-off pitch clock violation in major league history. Good times.

The good news: In spite of all that, the Nats still have a chance to win the series this afternoon. Jake Irvin gets the ball, and he’ll take his crack at trying to keep the ball in the yard here on what is going to be a hot, dry afternoon made for offense. Irvin had his first rough outing in a while last time out, allowing four runs in five innings to the Diamondbacks. He makes his first career start in Colorado, having missed this assignment last year right after he was called up for his debut.

At the plate, the Nationals will try to keep the good offensive vibes going against Kyle Freeland, just activated off the 60-day injured list after missing two months with an elbow strain. The veteran left-hander was awful in his first four starts in April, going 0-3 with a 13.21 ERA before landing on the IL. You would think he’ll be limited today.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 3:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 93 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
LF Ildemaro Vargas
1B Joey Meneses
DH Nick Senzel
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Trey Lipscomb
2B Luis García Jr.
CF Jacob Young

DENVER – The Nationals and Rockies engaged in a good, old-fashioned Coors Field Saturday Night Special. The kind of night when anything can and will happen, and whatever happened in the first six innings doesn’t mean diddly squat because there’s still too much time for too much else to happen the rest of the way.

This game had five home runs. It had four runners caught stealing. It had multiple substitutions, either for injury or strategy. It had an ejection over one of countless erratic calls by plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. And it ultimately had the Nats’ top two relievers desperately try to replicate what they’ve done with ease everywhere else in Coors Field, the toughest pitcher’s park in America.

And then it ended in the most unimaginable manner possible: a pitch clock violation by Kyle Finnegan with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, handing the Rockies an 8-7 victory in historic fashion.

It was the first major league game to end on such a violation since baseball adopted the rule last year.

"It sucks," Finnegan said. "We played a great game and deserved to win, and I wasn't able to do my job."

DENVER – Tanner Rainey knew the significance of what he had just done. In closing out the Nationals’ 11-5 win over the Rockies on Friday night, he not only had been given the chance to pitch at the end of a victory instead of a loss for the first time in months. He also was given the chance to pitch multiple innings for the first time in nearly two years, his final appearance before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

“It’s not necessarily a milestone,” the reliever said, “but it’s something cool to have back under my belt.”

It’s been a painful season to date for Rainey, and not because his surgically repaired elbow has hurt at all. In his long-awaited return from that 2022 procedure, the 31-year-old former closer had seen himself plummet to the bottom of the Nats’ bullpen depth chart.

Rainey hadn’t pitched in a game the Nationals won since April 27 in Miami. And though this wasn’t exactly the definition of a high-leverage situation, a six-run lead in Colorado is probably more akin to a three- or four-run lead elsewhere.

Rainey took the mound for the bottom of the eighth and promptly retired the side, striking out a pair and needing only 13 total pitches to do it. So when he returned to the dugout, manager Davey Martinez asked how he felt about going back out for the ninth as well.

DENVER – The Nationals exploded for 11 runs on a season-high 19 hits Friday night against the Rockies. Can they carry any of that success over into tonight’s game and keep the positive offensive vibes going?

Davey Martinez’s bunch seemed to find the right balance between aggressively hitting fastballs in the zone and working the count when there wasn’t the perfect pitch waiting for them. They went 7-for-8 with 15 total bases when they put the first pitch of an at-bat in play, but they also drew five walks, showing the kind of patience they didn’t have the previous series against the Diamondbacks.

The Nats are facing statistically the Rockies’ best starter tonight in Cal Quantrill. The right-hander boasts a 3.43 ERA in 15 starts, which is no small feat pitching in this ballpark. He doesn’t strike a lot of guys out (6.3 per nine innings) but he doesn’t give up homers either (only eight in 84 innings). His two primary pitches are a sinker and a splitter, so the Nationals have to make sure they’re not chasing him down in the zone and pounding the ball into the ground.

Mitchell Parker makes his 13th major league start tonight, hoping to keep his streak alive by limiting Colorado to three or fewer earned runs. The lefty was really good against the Marlins last time out, allowing one run over six innings without walking anybody. Parker’s challenge tonight: Don’t leave the curveball or splitter up in the zone in the thin air.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 9:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 9 mph in from left field

DENVER – DJ Herz’s start Friday night bore no resemblance to his previous outing, when he took Nationals Park by storm and struck out 13 Marlins batters over six innings of one-hit, shutout ball.

In this game at Coors Field, the rookie left-hander lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits, all while throwing 76 pitches before getting the hook from manager Davey Martinez.

There was one similarity, though, and it was an important one that could bode well for future starts. As he did against Miami, Herz did not issue a walk against Colorado. He forced the Rockies to beat him, not giving them any help along the way.

“I thought it was good for the most part,” he said after the Nats’ 11-5 victory. “I’m happy about the amount of strikes, and the no walks again. Every time they scored, we answered, so it was good to see the run support and everybody hitting the ball tonight. It was really fun.”

Herz was hit hard, serving up three homers during a seven-batter span between the third and fourth innings. But two of those were solo shots, and the other was a two-run homer only because of third baseman Nick Senzel’s throwing error moments earlier. Herz didn’t create jams by losing control.

HOUSTON – Some nights you win by 12 runs and some nights you lose big. It doesn’t happen on back-to-back nights very often.

It actually was about to happen to the Orioles, who were down by 11 runs after Houston scored nine in the sixth inning. But it did not, as the Orioles' relentless offense produced three homers in the eighth inning when they scored seven runs.

In the end, the crazy final was Houston 14, Orioles 11 in the series opener.

The roof fell in on Baltimore's pitching not long after they had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth.

The Orioles, who began this night leading the American League in team ERA and tied for first in MLB, allowed three runs in the Houston fifth and nine in the sixth.

DENVER – Nobody in the clubhouse wanted to admit it this afternoon, but surely everyone was thinking it. If ever there was a place built to snap a moribund lineup out of its funk, it had to be Coors Field, right?

The Nationals arrived in the Mile High City reeling from a three-game series against the Diamondbacks in which they scored a total of five runs and saw a grand total of 287 pitches. (Somehow, they still won one of those three games.) But spirits remained high, because a weekend set with the Rockies felt like just what the doctor ordered.

And indeed it was, because in the series opener in the best hitter’s park in America, the Nats put forth one of their best offensive performances of the year, cruising to an 11-5 victory behind a season-high 19 hits.

"They responded really well," manager Davey Martinez said. "We talked a lot about know yourself. Know who you are. Know what pitches you want to attack. Stay on the fastball. We did well today."

Everybody in the lineup reached base once, and all but Nick Senzel reached multiple times. But Lane Thomas led the way with an RBI single, a two-run double and an RBI triple, the red-hot right fielder coming up just short of his first career cycle when he grounded out and then struck out in his final two at-bats.

HOUSTON – After a stunning 17-5 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday, which gave the O’s two wins in three games that series, their road show has arrived in Houston for a weekend series against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Orioles (49-25) are on a 107-win pace after winning back-to-back series from Philadelphia and New York.

Overall they have won four of their past five, 10 of 13, 15 of 21 and 20 of their last 27 games. They are now 24-11 on the road and score 5.6 runs per game in road contests this season.

The Orioles have gone 5-2 this season against New York and are 19-7 for the year in division games.

Their 17 runs topped their previous season high of 13 runs on March 30 versus the Los Angeles Angels. Their 19 hits topped the previous season's high of 15. The 12-run win was the largest victory margin of the year topping their 11-1 win on May 5 at Cincinnati.

DENVER – CJ Abrams is back in the Nationals’ lineup tonight, his left wrist taped up as he tries to protect a ganglion cyst that developed earlier in the week and kept him from playing the last two days.

“I’m not really sure what that is,” he said. “But it can’t get worse, so I’m good for tonight.”

The cyst is on the palm side of Abrams’ wrist, under the skin but pushing up slightly to create a small bump. He first noticed it prior to Wednesday’s game, at which point the Nats scratched him from the lineup. He also sat out Thursday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks but was showing signs of improvement that led him to believe he’d be OK for tonight’s game against the Rockies.

Because the cyst is on his left wrist, Abrams has no issues throwing. He simply has to deal with a little bit of discomfort when he bats.

“I still don’t know,” he said when asked how it occurred. “Just swinging, I guess. That’s when it hurts the most.”

HOUSTON – It’s a bit of a family affair in the dugouts in Houston this weekend as the Astros host the Orioles for a three-game series. Two good friends, who are now also brothers-in-law, will manage against each other in the O’s Brandon Hyde and Houston’s Joe Espada.

Their friendship goes back many years and they married sisters.

Espada was Houston’s bench coach since 2018 and took over as skipper last November after Dusty Baker’s retirement.

“It’s going to be definitely a great experience and a great thing for our family,” said Hyde this afternoon at Minute Maid Park to a crowd of reporters that cover each team. “Me and Joe go way, way back. He was my hitting coach (with Greensboro in the South Atlantic League) when I was managing in 2006. We’ve known each other a long time and I’m really proud of him and happy he got this opportunity. Going to be cool to see him in the dugout in a little bit different seat this year. Going to be a lot of fun.”

Hyde and Espada were candidates for the same big league managing job several times as they both worked their way toward getting the jobs they have today.

DENVER – The Nationals couldn’t hit a lick in three games at home against the Diamondbacks. Maybe a three-game series at Coors Field against the Rockies will do the trick.

If ever there was a ballpark – and an opposing pitching staff – that could snap a team out of its offensive funk, this is that combination. There’s no better place to hit in baseball, and the Rockies give up a major-league-worst 5.87 runs per game (leaps and bounds more than the next-worst pitching staff: the White Sox, at 5.17).

As of this writing, we’re still waiting to see tonight’s lineup, so we don’t know if CJ Abrams is ready to return or if he still needs another day off due to the cyst on his left wrist. Obviously, the Nats would love to have their leadoff man and shortstop playing for them. Whether Abrams plays or not, they’ll still need much more production from others in the lineup, including Lane Thomas, Jesse Winker and Keibert Ruiz.

DJ Herz takes the mound for the Nationals, and it will be fascinating to see how he does tonight on the heels of his brilliant, 13-strikeout gem against the Marlins. It really does seem to boil down to Herz’s ability to keep the ball in the strike zone. And that’s all the more important here, where you simply can’t afford to give away free passes and allow small rallies to turn into big rallies.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 8:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Slight chance of rain, 80 degrees, wind 7 mph in from left field

The Orioles begin their three-game series in Houston with Colton Cowser out of the lineup for the second consecutive day.

Ryan O’Hearn is making his second start in left field, with Cedric Mullins in center and Anthony Santander in right.

Jordan Westburg is the third baseman. Adley Rutschman is serving as designated hitter.  

Texas native Grayson Rodriguez is making his first career start in Houston. He faced the Astros last season at Camden Yards and allowed two runs in six innings.

Rodriguez has made three starts this month and allowed five earned runs in 19 1/3 innings. He’s walked two batters and struck out 16.

NEW YORK – Ryan Mountcastle pulled into second base, turned to the visiting dugout and pumped his fist with such force that he could have flattened a bull.

A punch was finally thrown in the series. It landed flush.

The Orioles held their composure for three games. They got hit and took their base. Couldn’t be lured into a fight or a war of words but wouldn’t back down from the first-place team in their division in a hostile environment.

They sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored six runs to build on their early lead. The pummeling was done to Luis Gil, who began the day with the lowest ERA in the American League. No one is immune.

A 17-5 victory allowed the Orioles to move within a half-game of the Yankees. They set a major league record by going 22 division series in a row with a win or split.

The Orioles (48-25) and the New York Yankees (51-25) are now separated by just 1.5 games in the standings with New York in first place heading into today's third and deciding game of the current series.

The Yankees won 4-2 on Tuesday night and the Orioles won 7-6 in 10 innings last night. The Orioles are 4-2 versus the Yankees this year and five of those six games were decided by two runs or fewer with Baltimore going 3-2 in those games.

A win today would give the Orioles back-to-back series wins over the Phillies and Yankees after losing the first game of each series.

The Orioles have had just one day off since May 31 but have gone 13-6 in this span against the Rays, Jays, Braves, Phillies and Yankees.

The Orioles are 18-7 (.720) in games this year versus American League East teams while the Yankees are 10-11 (.476).

NEW YORK - Jordan Westburg was on the field early today to perform agility drills and test his bruised left hip. He did fine and is starting at second base this afternoon in the series finale against the Yankees.

Left-hander Cole Irvin is 6-3 with a 3.03 ERA and 1.229 WHIP in 13 games (11 starts). He’s made three career appearances against New York, including two starts, and gone 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA and 1.615 WHIP in only 13 innings. He’s allowed 12 runs and 15 hits and walked six batters.

Irvin has allowed a .329 average against this month after he held opponents to a .212 average in May. Opponents are hitting .314 on his fastball this month compared to .200 in May.

DJ LeMahieu is 4-for-7 with a double. Giancarlo Stanton is 3-for-6 with a home run. Aaron Judge, who sat out last night’s game with a sore left hand, is 2-for-4 with a homer.

The Orioles haven’t lost a division series in the last 21, tying the major league record. They need a win today to maintain the streak.

For 14 innings across nearly 23 hours, they swung and swung and kept swinging and kept making outs. And then with one mighty swing, Jesse Winker changed the agonizing narrative that had defined the first half of the Nationals’ series against the Diamondbacks and got his team back on track.

Winker’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth snapped the Nats out of their scoreless funk. And thanks to a tack-on run provided by Ildemaro Vargas, another effective start by Patrick Corbin and another strong showing by the back end of the bullpen, they emerged with a cathartic 3-1 victory.

"Good teams, that's what they do," manager Davey Martinez said. "They're not going to hit every day. I talk about it all the time: Hitting is hard. And you're going to go through those lapses where it's like that, where you score two or three runs but you've got a chance to win. That's what I love about this team: They don't give up."

It wasn't a perfect day at the yard for the Nationals, who had to scratch shortstop CJ Abrams from the lineup shortly before first pitch with a left wrist issue. Martinez said Abrams, who isn't sure how he hurt himself, is getting an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

Shut out on four hits and no walks Tuesday night even with a healthy leadoff man, the Nationals totaled just two hits and one walk through five innings this afternoon against Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt, whose pitch count remained ridiculously low thanks to another string of first-pitch outs made by an overly aggressive lineup.

NEW YORK – The list of injured Orioles pitchers keeps growing, along with the worries over how the team will move forward and stay upright.

Kyle Bradish underwent Tommy John surgery this morning in Arlington, Texas, with an internal brace part of the reconstructive procedure. And high-leverage reliever Danny Coulombe had bone chips removed from his left elbow yesterday in Los Angeles, with an optimistic return date of September.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias met with media at Yankee Stadium earlier today to provide the updates.

Dr. Keith Meister handled Bradish’s procedure, which is a little more complex than his work with John Means and Tyler Wells. It’s reconstructive rather than a repair, which likely leads to the usual 12-to-18 month recovery, but the brace brings additional support and makes in a hybrid.

Bradish was diagnosed in January with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and received a platelet-rich plasma injection. He made eight starts after his reinstatement from the injured list and posted a 2.75 ERA and 1.068 WHIP with 53 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings.

Tuesday’s series opener against the Diamondbacks has to be considered one of the Nationals’ worst games of the year. They weren’t blown out, but they put forth almost zero offensive punch, totaling three singles, one double and zero walks against Slade Cecconi and two relievers, seeing a grand total of 96 pitches during a 5-0 loss. It wasn’t much fun to watch.

So the Nats can only hope it gets better today, especially on the offensive side of things. They face D-backs right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who doesn’t walk many batters (1.9 per nine innings) and strikes out a lot (9.0 per nine innings). Pfaadt, though, enters with a 4.38 ERA in 14 starts, having allowed four or more runs in three of his last four outings.

The Nationals might need to score some runs today with Patrick Corbin taking the mound for them in what could be a critical start for him. The lefty was good last time out against the Tigers, but he’s still 1-7 with a 5.84 ERA overall. And with Josiah Gray making another rehab start tonight for Double-A Harrisburg, the identity of the Nats’ starter when this spot in the rotation comes up next time is very much in question.

Update: CJ Abrams was a late scratch for today's game. Nasim Nuñez will now make just his third major league start, playing shortstop and batting ninth.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
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, 90 degrees, wind 9 mph out to left field