SEATTLE – Throughout an often frustrating season at the plate, Nationals coaches have needed to remind Keibert Ruiz that his process has been good, even if the results didn’t suggest it. He was hitting the ball well, just not getting hits.

At some point, though, talk is cheap. Doesn’t a hitter need to actually see positive results to justify the process?

“Yes,” Ruiz said with a wide smile when asked that question Wednesday afternoon. “I need to see a lot of results. Everybody wants to get results.”

Then the Nationals catcher got serious again and finished his answer with the standard company line.

“But I’ve got to control what I can control: Having good at-bats, and that’s it,” he said.

SEATTLE – Luis García’s RBI single in the top of the 11th was a key moment in the Nationals’ wild, 7-4 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday night. His play at second base throughout the game might have been just as significant, and certainly eye-opening to the team at large.

In what was arguably his best defensive game of the season, García turned two key late double plays. And he nearly turned a third one with an incredibly high degree of difficulty.

With runners on the corners and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh of what was a tie game at the time, Seattle’s Kolten Wong hit a chopper to short. Ildemaro Vargas fielded it and threw the ball to García at second base for the first half of what looked like a routine 6-4-3 double play that would concede the go-ahead run.

But instead of throwing to first, García turned against his body and fired to the plate, where Keibert Ruiz caught the throw and tagged a sliding Jarred Kelenic. Plate umpire Brennan Miller called Kelenic out, and the Nats thought they had just pulled off a rare 6-4-2 double play.

The Mariners, though, challenged the call. And upon replay review, it was determined Kelenic barely slid into the plate before Ruiz could apply the tag.

SEATTLE – The weirdest game of the Nationals’ 2023 season included four pitch clock violations, plus one that was overturned after the umpires huddled up. It included players and coaches from both benches coming onto the field to break up an argument over an accusation Jeimer Candelario was signaling pitch locations while leading off second base.

It included CJ Abrams departing with an injury after getting hit by a pitch on the right elbow. It included several jaw-dropping plays by Luis García, including one that nearly saved the day in the seventh … until umpires overturned their original call upon review and awarded the Mariners the go-ahead run.

It included Keibert Ruiz blasting a game-tying homer in the eighth, the young catcher finally rewarded for the loud contact he’s been making for several weeks. It included a no-doubles defense by the Nats that actually played a ball into a double.

And it ultimately included two desperately needed clutch hits from Lane Thomas and García to propel the Nationals to an exhausting 7-4 11-inning victory.

"They fought," manager Davey Martinez said. "This team is relentless. They don't give up. They stay focused. They stay in the game. And we come out victorious in the end, which was awesome."

SEATTLE – Davey Martinez’s tirade against Doug Eddings last week after the longtime umpire ejected the Nationals manager for arguing balls and strikes generated plenty of video clicks and chuckles from all who watched the replay. Martinez understood that would happen when he got down on his hands and feet and mockingly “caught” a pitch two inches off the ground to show Eddings just how low his strike zone was.

Martinez’s real concern in that moment, and in the days since, though, was how CJ Abrams would respond to it. It was a low strike three call to Abrams that initiated the firestorm in the first place, and Martinez worried his young shortstop would change his approach because of it.

After weeks of work to lay off pitches below his knees, Abrams was starting to show a better eye at the plate. Would that no longer be the case if he was taking those pitches and still striking out due to overeager umpires?

“He’s young, and whenever he gets a call that’s controversial, you see that he tends to expand a little bit more,” Martinez said. “We have to always tell him: ‘Do not let the umpires dictate what you’re trying to do up there. Understand who you are, and understand the pitch you’re looking for. And stay in the zone.’”

The evidence since last week’s incident has actually been encouraging. Abrams has continued to produce good at-bats during this West Coast trip, and he enters tonight’s game against the Mariners batting .393 (11-for-28) with three doubles and a homer over his last eight games.

SEATTLE – Monday night’s series opener was a disappointing one for the Nationals, who squandered an early 3-1 lead against Mariners ace Luis Castillo and wound up losing 8-4, with Jeimer Candelario standing at the plate watching a pitch well out of the zone called strike three with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth. They can only hope for better results tonight.

The pitching staff should be in better shape tonight, with everyone outside of Cory Abbott available out of the bullpen. That could take some pressure off starter Jake Irvin, though the rookie right-hander will be motivated to follow up his back-to-back strong outings with another one. He allowed just one run a piece to the Marlins and Diamondbacks, completing six innings against Arizona.

Seattle has a rookie right-hander of its own on the mound tonight in Bryan Woo. The 23-year-old, a sixth-round pick in the 2021 Draft, makes his fifth career start. His debut was ragged (six runs in two innings against the Rangers) but he’s been good since (2.30 ERA, 21-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio against the Angels, White Sox and Yankees).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SEATTLE MARINERS
Where: T-Mobile Park
Gametime: 9:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 73 degrees, wind 5 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
3B Jeimer Candelario
DH Joey Meneses
LF Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
SS CJ Abrams
CF Derek Hill

As he played his first Major League game last night, making his long-awaited big league debut, Jordan Westburg entered an Orioles' clubhouse where he already has a strong comfort level.

He spent so much time with the Orioles in spring training and of course, has been teammates with many current Orioles during his 317 career games on the O’s farm since they selected him No. 30 overall out of Mississippi State in the 2020 MLB Draft.

Westburg began the 2021 season with Low Single-A Delmarva and ended it with Double-A Bowie. He began the 2022 season with Bowie and ended it with Triple-A Norfolk. And this year his start at Norfolk has finally taken him to Baltimore.

And he checked a lot of boxes in his first game - first hit, first run, first RBI and first win with the Orioles, who beat Cincinnati 10-3 in a game delayed twice by rain for nearly two hours. It was a long night but a special one for Westburg, who went 1-for-4 with a single, walk, run and RBI. 

Before his debut game, he said knowing so many players so well should be a big help to him as he tries to establish something at the big league level.

SEATTLE – Lane Thomas made plans a while back to spend his All-Star break at the beach with his wife. He might need to find out if those reservations are refundable, because with each passing day it looks more and more like he’s going to be spending his All-Star break right here in Seattle with the rest of baseball’s best players.

Thomas continues to make a compelling case for himself to represent the Nationals in the All-Star Game, set to be played two weeks from today at T-Mobile Park. What initially looked like a red-hot month at the plate has since turned into a prolonged stretch of success as good as anyone in the sport has produced this season.

With another homer and another RBI double during Monday night’s 8-4 loss to the Mariners, Thomas raised the bar even further. He now has 14 home runs, all of them coming since May 1. He’s now batting .297 with an .860 OPS, and though those numbers may not rank among the league leaders, they’re depressed a bit only because of his slow start to the season.

When Thomas hit his first homer May 1 against the Cubs, he was batting .260 and slugging a paltry .302. He has been nothing short of MVP-like ever since.

In 51 games played since that notable date, Thomas is batting .314 and slugging .614. Extrapolate all of his stats during that stretch over a 162-game season, and his totals would be mind-blowing: 127 runs, 206 hits, 51 doubles, 44 homers, 98 RBIs, 16 steals and a .967 OPS.

The same whistle played and the same video appeared with the flashing ballpark lights. The crowd roared as usual, quick to forgive the previous day’s blown save.

Félix Bautista wanted the ball again Sunday afternoon. He understands the life of a reliever, and how failings are magnified in the ninth.

The memory of the two-out, game-tying home run that he surrendered to Mike Ford disappeared like his first-pitch four-seamer. Bautista recorded back-to-back strikeouts, allowed a single and blew away another hitter to preserve a 3-2 lead.

The tying run stood on second base after a steal. Bautista’s first pitch to Teoscar Hernández was clocked at 103.4 mph, the fastest by an Oriole in the Statcast era that began in 2015.

How did we live without it?

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde didn’t set up a meeting today with Jordan Westburg after the young infielder arrived at Camden Yards, his major league debut against the Reds still hours away. The choices were simple. Give him advice or give him space.

Hyde chose space.

“I try to be as relaxed as I possibly can with him,” Hyde said this afternoon. “I don’t think that anything I say is going to help him or hurt him. Maybe hurt him. But no, this is something they’ve dreamed about their whole lives, and this is something that’s been a goal since they were 8 years old.

“First day’s always a whirlwind, and a lot of stuff thrown at them, and you just kind of want the game to start for them and let them play.”

Westburg couldn’t play for an extra 15 minutes because of the precipitation that pushed back the start. His first at-bat came with two outs in the second inning, at the exact same time that more rain began to fall, increasing in intensity with each pitch following a standing ovation from fans who didn’t rush for cover.

After winning the last two games against Seattle by 6-4 and 3-2 scores to take another series, the Orioles welcome the Cincinnati Reds to Camden Yards tonight as this homestand continues. The clubs open a three-game series tonight.

The game will mark the big league debut of O's prospect Jordan Westburg, who will bat seventh and play second base in the series opener. 

The Orioles (47-29) are the current No. 1 wild card team in the American League. But they are second in the AL East and 4.5 games behind Tampa Bay.

The Orioles are 2-1 on this homestand, have won four of their past six and 10 of the last 15 games. They are now 16-7-2 in series play for the year, 8-3-1 in home series and 24-14 at Oriole Park in 2023. Sunday’s win improved them to 8-4 in rubber match games.

With win No. 47, the Orioles matched the season-long win total of the 2018 Orioles, a club that went 47-115.

Gunnar Henderson sat slumped in a chair in front of his locker today, staring at his phone with a slight grin on his face. In his own little world, while media surrounded Jordan Westburg on the other side of the clubhouse.

Henderson had his scrum on Aug. 31 in Cleveland. Westburg received the home treatment this afternoon before making his major league debut.

“It feels like forever ago, but also it doesn’t feel like I remember too much leading up until the game,” said Henderson, who was baseball’s No. 1 prospect.

“I remember the night before I got like 45 minutes of sleep. It was a little bit different, but I’m sure he got a good night’s sleep. But it doesn’t seem like too long ago.”

Westburg is starting at second base against Reds left-hander Brandon Williamson. Henderson is on the bench, though left-handed hitters are 9-for-28 (.321) against Williamson.

Now ranked as the No. 34 prospect in baseball by MLBPipeline.com and No. 41 by Baseball America, Jordan Westburg is getting a lot of firsts out of the way today. Like his first interview as part of the Orioles before he takes the field with the Orioles tonight for the first time, batting seventh at second base.

“Feeling a lot right now,” Westburg said, surrounded by a large group of reporters this afternoon in the Baltimore clubhouse. “Don’t really know what emotions I’m feeling. Lot of excitement but yeah, it’s been a whirlwind of a day. I’m excited to be here and get it going.”

Did he seek any advice from others who have recently been through this day?

“Nothing major. Just kind of asking where to go and what time everything is right now. Make sure I’m not late.

“Just kind of soak it all in, enjoy the moment, don’t be too nervous. Just kind of the cliché things,” he said.

Jordan Westburg is playing second base and batting seventh tonight in his major league debut at Camden Yards.

Gunnar Henderson is out of the lineup. Jorge Mateo is the shortstop, and Ramón Urías is at third base.

Austin Hays is leading off as the designated hitter, with Ryan McKenna in left field. Cedric Mullins is sixth in the order.

Anthony Santander is starting at first base, with Aaron Hicks in right field and batting fourth.

Santander has homered in five of the last six games. He’s the first Orioles player with homers in three straight games against the same opponent since Pat Valaika on Aug. 20-22, 2020.

Jordan Westburg is making his major league debut tonight, position and spot in batting order to be announced later.

The Orioles selected Westburg’s contract and optioned infielder Joey Ortiz to Triple-A Norfolk. Catcher José Godoy cleared outright waivers yesterday and accepted an assignment to Norfolk, which opened a spot on the 40-man roster.

Every move was anticipated and made official.

Ortiz appeared in only four games this month and needs regular at-bats, which he can find at Triple-A. Godoy didn’t make it into a game after the Orioles selected his contract June 18.

Westburg wasn’t summoned to sit. He’ll be in tonight’s lineup, especially against Reds left-hander Brandon Williamson.

SAN DIEGO – Jeimer Candelario ranks among the league leaders in doubles, on pace now for 50 of them by season’s end. Ask the Nationals’ No. 3 hitter about his offensive approach, though, and his answer has less to do with how he gets to second base and more to do with what happens once he’s there.

“Getting in scoring position, for me, is really, really important,” he said. “Because I’ve got a chance to score. That’s how you win ballgames. We’ve got Meneses hitting fourth, and he’s a guy that can put the barrel on the ball. I want to be able to score for him and for the team.”

Candelario knows of what he speaks. Everybody loves to see him hit doubles, but nobody loves it more than the guy who bats behind him and has gone above and beyond to drive him in as well as anyone in the majors.

Joey Meneses’ season totals may not turn heads. He’s batting a healthy .293, but slugging a mere .381. One of baseball’s best (and most surprising) power hitters after he debuted at age 30 last August, he has managed only two home runs through the Nats’ first 77 games this season.

Meneses, though, is doing one thing exceptionally well this year: He’s driving in runs at a remarkable rate when given the opportunity.

SAN DIEGO – As he stalked off the mound, MacKenzie Gore looked directly at Juan Soto, who was looking directly back at the Nationals left-hander. Words were spoken. Heads were nodded. Competitive juices flowed.

There was no disrespect from either party, just an acknowledgment that one had bested the other on this afternoon and that there surely will be future meetings between these two ballplayers forever connected via trade.

"I like him," Gore insisted. "He talks some junk, and he's competitive. I've never played against him much, but I like him."

If future encounters between the two produce the same results as today, the Nats will happily take it.

Gore’s high-energy strikeout of Soto – his third of the afternoon against the former D.C. star – may have come in the fifth inning of what wound up an 8-3 Nationals victory thanks to a parade of late-game hits by the visitors. But it was still the signature moment of a day that included a number of exciting moments but none as important in the long-term picture for this franchise.

SAN DIEGO – If ever there was a time for Mason Thompson to rediscover his early season form, this was it.

With Carl Edwards Jr. on the injured list with a sore shoulder, the Nationals desperately needed someone else to step up and prove worthy of joining Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey in the back of their bullpen, and manager Davey Martinez specifically mentioned Thompson as the best candidate to do that.

So far, so good.

Thompson has tossed nine innings since June 4, all of them scoreless. He’s allowed only four singles and two walks in that time while striking out 10. And his best performance of this run might well have come Saturday night, when he recorded five outs across 1 2/3 innings in relief of Josiah Gray, bridging the gap to Finnegan and Harvey during a 2-0 victory over the Padres.

“It feels great,” the right-hander said. “For me, I always knew that I was one step away. Physically, I felt pretty good out there. I felt like maybe just one little mechanical tweak might get me back on track. Now I’ve kind of got back in that groove. For me, I just need to keep going out there and keep doing the same thing.”

SAN DIEGO – It’s another beautiful day in beautiful San Diego, and nothing would make this weekend any more beautiful for the Nationals than a surprising series win over the Padres. They put themselves in such a position thanks to Saturday night’s 2-0 victory, in which they got two early solo homers and then rode Josiah Gray and their top three relievers the rest of the way.

A duplicate performance might be too much to ask for, but a quality start out of MacKenzie Gore is not too much to ask for. The young lefty has shown plenty of promise this season, but he hasn’t shown consistency. Gore has allowed two or fewer runs in eight of his 15 starts, but he has allowed five or more in two of his last three outings. Emotions will be high today as he faces his former team (against whom he lasted only 4 2/3 innings last month in D.C.). He’ll have to channel those emotions into a better performance today.

The Nationals will try to score more than two runs off Seth Lugo, who gets the start for the Padres. The 33-year-old right-hander is no stranger to the Nats, having faced them for years as a member of the Mets bullpen. He’s now starting in San Diego, where he’s allowed two or fewer runs in three of his last four outings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN DIEGO PADRES
Where: Petco Park
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 70 degrees, wind 12 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
3B Jeimer Candelario
DH Joey Meneses
LF Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
CF Derek Hill
SS CJ Abrams

SAN DIEGO – How’s this for a formula for success on a lovely Saturday evening at Petco Park: Get two early solo homers from your power-starved lineup, then ask your pitching staff to shut out the Padres’ potent bats the rest of the way?

OK, so that may not have been Davey Martinez’s preferred plan entering the day. Given his team's major league worst minus-44 home run differential entering the day, why would it have been? But as this game proceeded, it became clear this would be the only way the Nationals were going to emerge victorious.

And when they pulled it off, topping the Padres 2-0 behind some of the best pitching they’ve seen all year, it felt as sweet as any of their previous 28 victories this season.

"That," Martinez said, "was a good one."

Jeimer Candelario and Lane Thomas provided the early offense, with Candelario homering in the first and Thomas homering in the third to give their team the lead. Josiah Gray turned in 5 1/3 scoreless, if not exactly efficient, innings to maintain that two-run lead. And then Martinez entrusted the game’s final 11 outs to the three remaining healthy relievers he trusts in high-leverage spots: Mason Thompson, Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey.

SAN DIEGO – The Nationals parted ways with Chad Kuhl today, designating the struggling right-hander for assignment and recalling Paolo Espino from Triple-A Rochester to take his roster spot.

The club had been hoping Kuhl might turn things around as a long man in their bullpen, but the 30-year-old was in a sustained rut, his ERA climbing to 8.45 following a four-run appearance during Friday night’s blowout loss to the Padres.

The move was particularly tough for manager Davey Martinez on a personal level, given how much the Nationals have done to help Kuhl’s wife, Amanda, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. The Kuhls established the “Cancer Isn’t Kuhl” campaign in April in partnership with Washington Nationals Philanthropies and have raised tens of thousands of dollars for breast cancer treatment and research since.

“The toughest part of my job is letting guys go when you start building these relationships with them,” Martinez said. “It’s hard. I know he gave it his all. It just didn’t work out.”

Initially signed to a minor league contract in January, Kuhl came to big league camp this spring and earned a spot in the Opening Day rotation after top prospect Cade Cavalli needed Tommy John surgery. A six-year major league veteran with the Pirates and Rockies, he struggled from the get-go and had a 9.41 ERA in five starts before landing on the 15-day injured list with a foot ailment.