Victor Robles wandered through the Nationals clubhouse Wednesday afternoon, a familiar face but in many ways a forgotten one.

It’s been nearly two months since Robles last played, and he has appeared in only five games since early May, a persistent back injury having sidelined him for the better part of the season now. And given the lack of progress he’s made to date, time may be running out for him to make it back in 2023.

“I worry that we’re definitely getting closer to … I mean, he’s still got to go out and rehab,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s got to play. He’s missed a lot. But hopefully we can get him playing again before this year’s up. That will be the goal.”

Robles initially hurt himself sliding into second base on May 6 in Arizona and spent the next six weeks on the injured list. His return to the active roster was short-lived, with only five games played in mid-June before it became clear he wasn’t fully healthy yet and needed to go back on the IL.

The 26-year-old has split his time between D.C. and West Palm Beach, Fla., getting treatment and doing what he can to try to get better. But it’s still an extremely limited rehab program.

The Nationals have already gone 4-1 on this homestand. They’ve got a chance to add to that today and reach a significant milepost for the season. Their next win will be No. 55, which would match their 2022 total. Yeah, there are still 40 games to go after today. That would be quite the accomplishment by mid-August.

It’s a couple of veteran left-handers who have seen better days on the mound against each other. Patrick Corbin enters with a 4.85 ERA and league-high 162 hits allowed, but he comes off a really weird start in Philadelphia in which he walked a career-high seven batters but allowed only one (unearned) run on one hit over five innings. He’ll need to be more around the strike zone today to have a chance against Boston.

Chris Sale, meanwhile, enters with a 4.52 ERA and only returned last week from a two-month stint on the injured list. The 34-year-old was good in his return, though, holding the Tigers to two runs on one hit while striking out seven in 4 2/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. BOSTON RED SOX
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 88 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
1B Joey Meneses
DH Keibert Ruiz
LF Stone Garrett
C Riley Adams
2B Michael Chavis
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Alex Call
SS Jeter Downs

CJ Abrams has been better lately. Lane Thomas has been better over the course of the entire season. Joey Meneses has been better with runners in scoring position. But there may be nobody the Nationals would rather see at the plate in a big spot late in a close game right now than Keibert Ruiz.

The proof is there for everyone to see, and it was again Wednesday night, when Ruiz launched a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to give the Nats the lead for good en route to a 6-2 win over the Red Sox.

This only four days after Ruiz hit the first walk-off homer of his career, beating the Athletics on Saturday night. Which only continued a longstanding trend for the young catcher of delivering big home runs in big spots.

Ruiz has now hit 15 homers for the season. Ten of those have come in the seventh inning or later. And four of those have either given the Nationals the lead or tied the game.

“I honestly think he’s more engaged, as far as getting the ball in the zone. And attacking the baseball,” manager Davey Martinez said of Ruiz’s approach in those late innings. “He’s been awesome. He’s knocked in some big runs for us.”

There have been some notable bumps along the way, some duds every once in a while when he takes the mound. But there have been more than a few really good nights for MacKenzie Gore in his first full season with the Nationals.

And none as good as the one the crowd at Nationals Park witnessed tonight. Even if it did end abruptly and earlier than anyone would’ve preferred. Though the final outcome more than pleased the home team and its fans.

With a devastating combination of precision, power and efficiency, Gore put together his best start as a big leaguer, overwhelming the Red Sox for 6 1/3 scoreless innings before departing with a blister on his left middle finger, an early departure that prefaced a wild finish that saw Boston rally to tie the game but the Nats respond with back-to-back homers by Keibert Ruiz and Stone Garrett for a 6-2 victory.

"That was frustrating," Gore said of the blister forcing him from the game. "But it's something I deal with. There's no panic button or anything. There was a lot of good tonight. We got ahead of guys. Keibert was awesome. We turned a lot of double plays. And we hit some big homers."

Jordan Weems, who replaced Gore on the mound, gave up a game-tying homer to Pablo Reyes in the eighth. No problem, because his teammates were ready to pick him up. Ruiz launched a three-run homer to right-center off reliever Garrett Whitlock, the young catcher’s latest clutch blast in a season full of them.

Two more injured Nationals relievers are ready to begin pitching in competitive games.

Tanner Rainey and Mason Thompson will both begin minor league rehab assignments Friday, manager Davey Martinez announced prior to tonight’s game against the Red Sox. Rainey will pitch for Single-A Fredericksburg, with Thompson joining Double-A Harrisburg, which is playing at Richmond this week.

For Rainey, this marks the most significant step in his long recovery from Tommy John surgery. The 30-year-old right-hander is more than a year removed from his procedure to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, and though he has faced live hitters in West Palm Beach, Fla., and here at Nationals Park in recent days, he’s now ready to compete in an actual game.

The club wants Rainey to take things slow, recognizing he’s allotted up to 30 days on his rehab assignment before he must be added to the active roster. If things go, he’ll likely join the Nationals in mid-September and make a handful of appearances before season’s end.

“Just continue to remember where he’s at,” Martinez said. “And we’re still building up.”

So for the first time in a while, the Nationals did not mount a late rally Tuesday night. As such, they dropped their series opener to the Red Sox, 5-4, that score holding up from the fourth inning all the way through the ninth. They’ll look to bounce back tonight, whether taking and holding an early lead or rallying again, in the middle game of the interleague series.

After watching Josiah Gray record only nine outs Tuesday, Davey Martinez needed to use five relievers for six innings to finish out the game. So some length from MacKenzie Gore tonight would be very welcome if the left-hander can provide it. Like Gray, Gore has dealt with some high pitch counts and early exits. He’s also surrendered home runs, three of them in his last start against the Phillies.

The Red Sox also send a lefty to the mound in James Paxton, the veteran who hasn’t pitched much since 2019 due to injuries. Paxton has been good since returning healthy this season, though, with a 3.36 ERA in 15 starts. He just tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings against the Royals last week.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. BOSTON RED SOX
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 4 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Stone Garrett
1B Dominic Smith
3B Ildemaro Vargas
2B Michael Chavis
CF Alex Call

Ask Davey Martinez to evaluate Josiah Gray’s recent struggles, and the Nationals manager doesn’t have to think for long before answering.

“The command of the fastball just hasn’t been there,” Martinez said following Tuesday night’s 5-4 loss to the Red Sox. “And he’s trying to rely on too many secondary pitches.”

If you want to boil Gray’s troubles down to a single diagnosis, that might well be it. He knows his fastball has been his least effective pitch since he reached the big leagues two years ago. But his occasional abandonment of it altogether only seems to lead to more trouble.

“We’ve got to get him to understand that the use of his fastball has got to be better,” Martinez said. “He’s really good when he throws his fastball down for strikes; it’s got some run to it. And then he can go to his secondary pitches. But his pitch count is getting way up there.”

Gray’s pitch count was astronomical Tuesday night. He needed 31 just to face five batters in the top of the first. He finished with a whopping 83 across only three-plus innings, averaging more than five thrown per batter faced.

The way things have been going around here lately, it was perfectly fair for anyone inside the Nationals dugout – or anywhere inside Nationals Park, for that matter – to reach the bottom of the ninth tonight and just assume the home team was going to rally once again and pull off another walk-off win.

So when it didn’t happen and the Red Sox were the ones congratulating each other following a 5-4 victory, nobody quite knew how to react.

Despite trailing by that same score since the fourth inning, the Nationals never could mount one final rally to get over the hump. They had walked off the Athletics both Saturday and Sunday. They could not walk off the Red Sox tonight.

"They were making good pitches," catcher Keibert Ruiz said. "Sometimes it's hard."

In the end, the Nationals were left to contemplate the latest abbreviated start by Josiah Gray, who labored more than he has in any previous outing and wound up surrendering all five runs Boston would score, all of them coming in the game’s first four innings.

Hunter Harvey believes he could’ve returned from his elbow strain at least a week ago, maybe sooner than that. Given the right-hander’s lengthy injury history, the Nationals weren’t about to rush him back from the 15-day injured list.

But once they saw him throwing 97-99 mph against live hitters over the weekend, there wasn’t much reason to wait any longer. So today the Nats activated Harvey off the IL and are eager to add him to a bullpen that still managed to dominate as a group in his absence the last three weeks.

“They’ve been great,” Harvey said. “I’ve heard (manager Davey Martinez) say guys needed to step up, and I think a lot of guys had a good opportunity and ran with it. … Everybody’s been pulling their weight, and it’s been good.”

Harvey first felt something wrong in his arm during the Nationals’ mid-July series in St. Louis and immediately spoke up, recognizing he hasn’t always been great at reporting physical ailments during his career. The team sent him home to get an MRI but was relieved to learn the injury wasn’t anything more serious.

Harvey was back throwing again within a week and was able to return without going on a minor league rehab assignment. His IL stint might’ve been even shorter, he believes, if his wife hadn’t given birth to their first son earlier than expected, drawing his undivided attention away from baseball.

The Nationals, you may have heard, are playing winning baseball right now.

After a weekend sweep of the Athletics, they improved to 15-8 since July 21. They’re 19-12 since July 8, which is the best record in the National League East during that time, third-best in the NL.

Something clearly has to be going right for this team that wasn’t going right earlier in the season. Or last season. Or the season before that. But what exactly is going so right for them to cause such a dramatic turnaround?

You can find improvement in just about every aspect of play, from a lineup that is scoring more runs to a defense that is committing fewer errors to a bullpen that has dramatically become one of the most effective in the league in recent weeks. And all of that is true.

But if you really want to boil it all down to one key factor, here it is: The Nationals are winning the late innings.

When Jeter Downs stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the ninth this afternoon, he had no realistic reason to believe he was about to jumpstart a game-winning rally.

The Nationals trailed the Athletics by five runs, having slogged their way through a mostly lifeless series finale that saw Trevor Williams get roughed up again while their lineup failed to deliver with runners in scoring position again. They would just have to accept a Sunday loss to Oakland but a weekend series victory.

But in the dugout, Dominic Smith was trying to keep his teammates engaged, no matter the score. “We’ve got three outs,” the first baseman told them. “Don’t give any at-bats away. They all matter.”

So by the time Downs somehow found himself stepping back to the plate some 25 minutes later, now with a chance to drive in the winning run, the young infielder had every reason in the world to believe he and his team were actually going to pull this thing off.

And when he delivered the final hit to cap a stunning, six-run rally, Downs could only soak in the moment as teammates mobbed him in the middle of the diamond following the most inexplicable, 8-7 victory most of them had ever experienced.

Though the depleted group has performed remarkably well in his absence, the Nationals bullpen is about to get one of its key members back.

Hunter Harvey, out the last four weeks with an elbow strain, is on track to come off the injured list early this week, according to manager Davey Martinez.

Harvey faced live hitters before Friday’s game at Nationals Park, then threw off the bullpen mound prior to today’s series finale against the Athletics. Barring any complications, the right-hander should be ready to come off the 15-day IL, foregoing a minor league rehab assignment.

“I think Hunter should be ready here in the next couple days,” Martinez said.

Ready for what?

Hello from Nationals Park. Yes, I’m back to work. In person. Many thanks to Bobby Blanco for jumping in to cover in my absence during what proved to be a very eventful week. And many thanks to all of you who offered well wishes while I was recovering from COVID.

The Nationals, as you know, are playing their best baseball of the year. Really, their best baseball in more than two years. They’ve gone 14-8 over the last 3 1/2 weeks, and today they have a chance at their third series sweep in that time, having already disposed of the Giants and Reds.

To do the same to the Athletics, they’ll need a bounce-back start from Trevor Williams, who was roughed up in Philadelphia on Tuesday to the tune of six runs and eight hits in only 4 2/3 innings. The home run has become Williams’ biggest problem; he enters today’s start having surrendered 25 of them this season, second-most in the National League.

The Nats lineup came through with two big hits during Saturday night’s win – Lane Thomas’ game-tying RBI single in the eighth, Keibert Ruiz’s walk-off homer in the ninth – but overall that group went 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position. That’s not usually a recipe for success. They’ll hope to convert in the clutch more this afternoon against A’s left-hander Ken Waldichuk, who enters with a 6.30 ERA and a whopping 5.2 walks issued per nine innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 88 degrees, wind 11 mph left field to right field

SEATTLE – The Orioles will go sweepless in Seattle. They got hammered on Friday night but, even when shutout over nine innings Saturday night, they pulled out a 1-0 win in 10 innings.

The Orioles ended Seattle’s eight-game win streak, maintained a two-game lead atop the AL East and stretched their series run without being swept to 77.

Seattle right-hander George Kirby held Baltimore to three hits over a career-high nine innings on a season-high 103 pitches. The O’s have scored three runs in two days, yet they can win this series this afternoon.

“That was the best-pitched game against us all season. That was four pitches, elite command. They’ve got a really good rotation,” O’s manager Brandon Hyde said of Kirby and the M’s staff.

The last time a Mariners pitcher threw nine or more innings in a team loss was Félix Hernández on July 26, 2013 against Minnesota in a 3-2 loss in 13 innings. And it was Hernández’s Mariners Hall of Fame Induction Night Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Park.

So far, it’s been a weekend of firsts for members of this Nationals squad.

Jake Alu recorded his first major league home run on Friday. And on Saturday, after seven minor league seasons and a week in the majors, Blake Rutherford recorded his elusive first hit.

“I don't even know if it's really sunk in. It was a surreal moment,” Rutherford said of his first hit after the Nationals’ 3-2 walk-off win over the Athletics. “I can't really thank all these players, all the coaches for having my back and for telling me to keep going, to keep pushing. Every single one of them is picking me up every single day and I couldn't be more thankful for that. To have my brother fly in and my girlfriend here to be able to see it, not as many people as the debut, but to still have people here who are part of the journey is special and I'm extremely grateful for them and for all my family back home watching. It's just a special moment for all of us, not just me.”

The 26-year-old wasted no time in last night’s game. In his first at-bat in a 1-2 count, the left-handed hitter slapped a 100-mph outside sinker from righty Luis Medina the other way for a single to load the bases.

He had a huge smile on his face as he stood on the bag with his teammates giving him a standing ovation from the dugout and first base coach Eric Young Jr. giving him a big hug.

Recaps of the 2023 season should include mention of two Orioles who fell off the major league landscape.

Outfielder Kyle Stowers and infielder Terrin Vavra broke camp with the team. Made the Opening Day roster. Figured to be key contributors as extras coming off the bench.

Stowers was assumed to be lined up for extensive at-bats based on his prospect status and a designated hitter spot that unclogged. Put him in the outfield, use him at DH to keep his bat in the lineup.

Well, Stowers had two stints with the club, went 2-for-30 with 12 strikeouts and hasn’t played for them since May 14. He was batting .243/.370/.493 in 46 games with Triple-A Norfolk before last night, with six doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, 33 RBIs, 29 walks and 46 strikeouts in 189 plate appearances.

Right shoulder inflammation forced Stowers on the injured list May 23 and he didn’t begin an injury rehab assignment until June 29 in the Florida Complex League. He played four games with High-A Aberdeen and returned to Norfolk July 14.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Recalled RHP Joey Krehbiel from Triple-A Norfolk.
• Placed LHP Danny Coulombe on the 15-day Injured List with left biceps tendonitis, retroactive to August 9.

PHILADELPHIA – Hello from Citizens Bank Park for the start of what has turned into a highly anticipated four-game series between the Nationals and Phillies.

The Nats are coming off an impressive three-game sweep in Cincinnati and are now owners of an 11-5 record since July 21. The Phillies just won two of three against the last-place Royals and have won five of their last seven games while tied with the Giants for the first National League wild card spot.

Tonight’s pitching matchup is a rematch of the July 2 game here when the Nationals sealed a series win in Philly: Trevor Willams vs. Ranger Suárez.

Williams, who was officially activated off the bereavement list yesterday, has had a bit of an odd schedule so far this second half. He’s only pitched 17 ⅔ innings over his four starts since the break, limited to just 2 ⅔ in St. Louis because of rain and only lasting four in his last start on June 30 in New York before going on bereavement leave. He did complete five innings while giving up three runs and earning the win here last month.

On the other side, Suárez has been able to eat up a little more innings for the Phillies, going at least five in each of his second-half starts. He only gave up one run over 6 ⅓ innings in his previous start against the Marlins, but the left-hander gave up five in 5 ⅓ when he faced the Nats in July.

When the Nationals left Wrigley Field on July 19, they did so with a bullpen in shambles.

Hunter Harvey had just joined an injured list that already included Carl Edwards Jr. The rest of the group featured one established late-inning arm in Kyle Finnegan, a once-promising setup man now in the midst of massive slump in Mason Thompson and a bunch of other inexperienced and ineffective pitchers who had just endured through a nightmare of a series.

Over the course of their last two games against the Cubs, Nationals relievers had collectively surrendered 20 earned runs on 18 hits and seven walks in only 5 2/3 innings of work. They twice turned competitive, low-scoring games into lopsided blowouts.

At that point, all Davey Martinez could do was acknowledge the situation he was in, and hope things would improve with time and experience.

“They’re going to get another opportunity,” the manager insisted after an embarrassing 17-3 loss. “Many more opportunities. Hopefully they bounce back and learn from today.”

CINCINNATI – Well, well, well. Look at what we’ve got here. The Nationals have won 10 of 15 for the first time since June 2021. They’ve won four of their last five series, three of those coming against playoff contenders San Francisco, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. And they have a chance today to pull off their second three-game sweep in less than a month, if they can beat the Reds one more time.

Jake Irvin gets the start, facing the same Cincinnati club he held to three runs over six innings last month in D.C. The rookie right-hander continues to give his team a chance most times he takes the ball, even if his 4.86 ERA doesn’t exactly scream high-quality. Davey Martinez is probably going to need some length from Irvin today, because the back end of his bullpen may be burned up and unavailable, with Kyle Finnegan, Jordan Weems and Andrés Machado each having pitched each of the last two days.

It would help, then, if the Nationals lineup can score runs in bunches and provide some cushion for the pitching staff. That group will be facing an unfamiliar foe today in Lyon Richardson, a 23-year-old right-hander making his major league debut. A second-round pick in 2018, Richardson missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery. He burst through the Reds organization this year, producing a 1.86 ERA and a whopping 81 strikeouts in only 58 innings across three levels of the minors. But he made only one start at Triple-A before getting this promotion, and he has yet to pitch more than four innings at a time. So look for the Reds to pull him early, regardless of the result, and go to their bullpen.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CINCINNATI REDS
Where: Great American Ball Park
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 83 degrees, wind 14 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
2B Jake Alu
3B Ildemaro Vargas
LF Blake Rutherford
CF Alex Call