ST. LOUIS – The Nationals will open the second half of the season with a change to their pitching staff, but only a temporary one.

Patrick Corbin was placed on the paternity list prior to tonight’s series opener against the Cardinals, with Paolo Espino recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his roster spot for the weekend.

Corbin’s wife, Jen, gave birth to the couple’s second son, Miles, during the All-Star break. Because the Nats had the luxury of rearranging their rotation coming out of the break, they decided to let the veteran left-hander skip this entire weekend in St. Louis. Corbin is slated to rejoin the team in Chicago and start Tuesday’s game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

It’s the second time Corbin has gone on leave in recent weeks. He went on the bereavement list on June 30 following his grandmother’s death, but he didn’t miss a start because that time off came between a pair of outings.

Espino won’t be starting in Corbin’s place. The 36-year-old right-hander will be available out of the bullpen as a long man, the same role he held when he was briefly called up from Rochester at the end of June.

ST. LOUIS – And away we go with the second half of the season. The Nationals come out of the All-Star break at 36-54, a 65-win pace. And believe it or not, they’re only two games behind the Cardinals, one of baseball’s biggest underachievers to date this year.

We know the Nats have been a much better road team in 2023, so let’s see if they can get the second half off to a positive start tonight. They’ll have Trevor Williams on the mound for the series opener, with Jake Irvin on Saturday and Josiah Gray on Sunday. Why not Patrick Corbin? He was placed on the paternity list today, so we won’t see him until next week in Chicago. Paolo Espino was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his place and provide some length out of the bullpen.

Davey Martinez is going with what now represents his regular lineup against a right-hander (in this case, the Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas). CJ Abrams has taken over leadoff duties until further notice, with Lane Thomas batting second ahead of Jeimer Candelario and the suddenly red-hot Joey Meneses, who hit four homers in his final three games before the break.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Busch Stadium
Gametime: 8:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 86 degrees, wind 6 mph right field to left field

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

As they prepare to open the second half of the 2023 season, the Nationals already know who they’re going to play and when in 2024.

Major League Baseball unveiled next year’s schedule this afternoon, an earlier-than-usual announcement that coincides with the final day of the All-Star break.

The Nats are scheduled to begin next season on the road March 28 against the Reds. It’s only the third time they’re ever opened on the road against a non-division foe, but the second time they’ve done so in Cincinnati, having also been there on Opening Day 2018 in Davey Martinez’s managerial debut.

Following that three-game road series, the Nationals will come right back to D.C. for an April 1 home opener against the Pirates. It’s the first time they’ve faced Pittsburgh in an opener and will be a welcome break from the usual tradition of opening against a fellow National League East opponent like the Mets or Braves.

Click here for the 2024 schedule.

There was no baseball Wednesday. It’s the first time that was the case since mid-February, before pitchers and catchers reported to Florida and Arizona. It’s nice to have a little break from the action, I suppose, but it’s not something you want to experience for too long.

Fortunately, the season starts up again Friday. The Nationals will open the second half in St. Louis, then head to Chicago after that before returning home. They’ve already played 90 games, more than 55 percent of the season. But there is still much to come before everyone packs up for good after the Oct. 1 finale in Atlanta.

Let’s run through the biggest storylines of the second half for the Nats. Some of these take place on the field. Some of them take place off the field. All of them are significant in one way or another …

PROGRESS FROM THE YOUNG GUYS?
From the outset, this season always was about the development and progression of any young core players who figure into the team’s long-term plan. That means MacKenzie Gore, Josiah Gray, CJ Abrams, Keibert Ruiz and Luis García, among others. What can we expect to see from those guys the rest of the way? Can Gore get more consistent and get to, say, 26-28 starts and 130-140 innings before the Nats decide he’s had enough? Can Gray continue what he did in the first half and finish with 32-34 starts and 170-plus innings for the first time? Can Abrams stick in the leadoff position (he looked good in his first three games there)? Can Ruiz start getting some of those hard-hit balls to fall, and show real progress behind the plate? Can García get more selective at the plate and more consistent at second base? There’s very little else that can happen on the field the rest of the season that matters more than all that.

WHO GETS TRADED AT THE DEADLINE?
We are less than three weeks away from the Aug. 1 trade deadline, and though the Nationals aren’t going to be headliners like they were the last two years, they could still be quite active. Jeimer Candelario seems the likeliest candidate to be dealt, but can Corey Dickerson do enough to make himself worthwhile to a contender as well? Is Mike Rizzo willing to part with any or all of his controllable, late-inning relievers (Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey, Carl Edwards Jr.)? Is Lane Thomas part of the plan moving forward or a prime “sell high” candidate? And would there actually be a taker out there for Patrick Corbin? Rizzo may not be able to reshape his entire farm system like he did last summer, but he can make moves that will benefit the club in the long run if he plays his cards right.

The Nationals entered the 2022 season with modest expectations. Such is life when you lost 107 games the previous year and spent a grand total of $17 million on free agents over the winter.

When they reached the All-Star break this week, the Nats found themselves with a 36-54 record, which equates to a 65-97 record over a full season. So while that doesn’t seem like anything to get excited about, it would still represent a 10-game improvement from 2022, and that’s not nothing.

Which isn’t to say a whole lot of things went well in the first half. There were a few positive developments, including some very significant ones. But there were some legitimate negatives as well, some which could threaten the viability of this franchise returning to contention within the next two years.

Let’s take stock of both the good and the bad to date. Here’s what went right for the Nationals in the first half, and what went wrong …

RIGHT: YOUNG STARTING PITCHERS
If you could’ve picked only one positive development for this team back on Opening Day, wouldn’t you have picked MacKenzie Gore and Josiah Gray? So much of this season was about their progression (plus Cade Cavalli, who unfortunately won’t be able to progress until 2024 due to Tommy John surgery in March). And while it hasn’t been a straight, upward line for both young starters, the arrow has ultimately pointed up more than down. Gray has been one of the most improved pitchers in the league, lowering his ERA from 5.02 to 3.41 even though his WHIP has gone up and his strikeout rate has gone down a bit. He’s been successful because he’s kept the ball in the park and because he’s been able to pitch out of jams. An All-Star berth (and a 1-2-3 inning of relief in Tuesday night’s game) is merely the cherry on top. Gore, meanwhile, is still a work-in-progress with a 4.42 ERA and 1.461 WHIP. But when he’s good, he’s as good as anybody, with four starts so far that featured one or two runs allowed and at least nine strikeouts recorded. And don’t overlook Jake Irvin, a pleasant surprise who wasn’t on anybody’s radar but now looks like a potential back-of-the-rotation starter for the future.

The Orioles apparently had a need for speed in the first round of the draft.

They used the No. 17 overall selection on Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., 21, a left-handed hitter who Baseball America grades an 80 runner and fielder.

Bradfield stole 130 bases at a 90.9 percent success rate in 191 games. He batted .311/.426/.447 with 31 doubles, 11 triples, 15 home runs and 108 RBIs.

Also appealing to the Orioles is the 14.7 percent walk rate, compared to a 13.5 percent strikeout rate. He made contact at an 87 percent rate this season.

The power is lacking, with Bradfield given a 30 grade as more of a line drive hitter.

The Washington Nationals selected 10 players on the third day of Major League Baseball’s 2023 First-Year Player Draft. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Scouting Operations Kris Kline and Director of Scouting Operations Eddie Longosz made the joint announcement.

The Nationals kicked off Tuesday’s action by selecting right-handed pitcher Gavin Adams from Indian River State College (FL) in the 11th round. In his second year in junior college, Adams went 2-1 with a 3.76 ERA and one save. He struck out 44 in 26.1 innings

In the 12th round, Washington selected right-handed pitcher Travis Sthele from the University of Texas. He went 3-5 with a 5.75 ERA and one save in 15 games (10 starts) for the Longhorns in 2023. He struck out 66 in 61.0 innings. 

With their 13th-round pick, the Nationals selected left-handed pitcher Liam Sullivan from the University of Georgia. Sullivan led the Bulldogs with a 5-2 record and 5.77 ERA in 14 starts. He worked 64.0 innings and struck out 75. His 2023 resume includes wins over national champion LSU (May 10: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 5 SO) and No. 10 Kentucky (April 9: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 8 SO). He also threw 7.0 hitless innings with 11 strikeouts against Princeton.

Washington selected outfielder Elijah Nunez from Texas Christian University in the 14th round. Nunez hit .289 with 17 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 36 RBI, 36 walks, 20 stolen bases and 59 runs scored while patrolling center field as a junior in 2023. He had two three-hit games in the conference tournament, earning All-Big 12 Tournament honors.

There was a natural reaction for some to Sunday’s news the Nationals drafted Dylan Crews of disappointment. Not because the Nats made a mistake taking the LSU center fielder with the No. 2 overall pick, but because the Pirates prevented them from taking Paul Skenes by making the LSU ace the No. 1 pick in the country.

For months, we kept hearing about the perfect couple the Nationals and Skenes would make. Fans and club officials alike were formulating 2024 rotations in their minds. Players openly talked about welcoming him into their clubhouse next spring and then showing the 21-year-old he wasn’t quite ready for the big leagues yet.

Of course Skenes was going to wind up a National. How could he not?

So when the announcement came shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday that the Pirates had selected him, the subsequent selection of Crews felt like some kind of letdown.

News flash: It shouldn’t feel that way. The Nationals just got themselves a bona fide No. 1 pick with the No. 2 pick, one of the most accomplished college players ever, as much of a slam-dunk prospect as you’re ever going to find.

The Nationals made eight picks between the third and 10th rounds of the MLB Draft yesterday. They’ll conclude this year’s draft with 10 picks this afternoon, spearheaded by vice president of scouting Kris Kline and assistant director of amateur scouting Mark Baca.

Of their first 10 selections, the Nationals have selected two outfielders, four infielders, one catcher, two right-handers and one left-hander. Righty Travis Sykora, the third-rounder, was the only pick out of high school, with the other nine coming out of college.

“I think we did a super job,” Kline said on a Zoom call with reporters after the 10th round last night. “Everybody in there making our pool money work to the best of our ability and that kind of translated into three first-round picks at the top of our draft. So it was a good day. Good first two days for us. So pretty good.”

Because of the high number of college players and even with the lone high schooler, the Nationals feel confident they will sign all 10 of their picks from the first two days: “Yeah, we feel confident we'll have that all taken care of,” Kline said.

A lot has already been written about the No. 2 overall selection and No. 40 pick Yohandy Morales, both of whom are two of the next top Nats prospects.

The Washington Nationals selected eight players on the second day of Major League Baseball’s 2023 First-Year Player Draft. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Scouting Operations Kris Kline and Director of Scouting Operations Eddie Longosz made the joint announcement.

The Nationals kicked off Monday’s action by selecting right-handed pitcher Travis Sykora from Round Rock High School (TX) in the third round. As a senior, Sykora struck out 108 batters in 58.0 innings, allowed just seven earned runs on 22 hits (1.09 ERA) and issued only 15 walks. He was ranked the No. 36 draft prospect by Baseball America and the No. 40 draft prospect by MLBPipeline.com. He was ranked the No. 29 overall prospect by Perfect Game and the No. 5 right-handed pitching prospect. Perfect Game also ranked him the No. 2 prospect from the state of Texas and top right-handed pitching prospect in the state.

Sykora was a 2023 First-Team High School All-American by Baseball America and was selected to participate in the 2022 Perfect Game All-American Classic.

In the fourth round, Washington selected outfielder Andrew Pinckney from the University of Alabama. Pinckney hit .339 with 12 doubles, three triples, 18 home runs, 58 RBI, 40 walks and 55 runs scored for the Crimson Tide in 2023. Following his junior season, he was named First-Team American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Southeast Region and Second-Team All-Southeastern Conference.

With their fifth-round pick, the Nationals selected shortstop Marcus Brown from Oklahoma State University. Brown hit .273 with 10 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 36 RBI, 14 walks and three stolen bases during his junior season.

The 2023 MLB Draft continues with Rounds 3-10 this afternoon and the Nationals are set to kick everything off with the first pick of the third round, 71st overall.

The Nationals, of course, lost to the Pirates for the No. 1 overall pick in the inaugural MLB Draft Lottery despite having the worst record in the majors last year by five games. But the draft’s subsequent 19 rounds revert back to the traditional order of worst-to-first, meaning they will have the first pick in each remaining round.

With the No. 2 overall pick last night, the Nationals selected Louisiana State University outfielder Dylan Crews, widely considered to be one of best prospects – if not the best prospect - in this year’s draft as the Golden Spikes Award winner.

“He's got a great skill set,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “I think he's a guy that's going to fit right in here and be one of the leaders of the core group of guys that's going to be part of the next group of championships that we have here."

To start the second round, the Nats selected University of Miami (Fla.) third baseman Yohandy Morales with the 40th overall selection. The Nationals were surprised the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder was available to them that late, as he was ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 20th best draft prospect.

Kris Kline saw every top hitter in the country this season. He drafted the best of them in Dylan Crews, the Golden Spikes Award winner selected by the Nationals with the No. 2 overall pick Sunday evening.

And it’s quite possible the Nats’ longtime vice president of scouting was even more impressed in some ways with the hitter he selected in the second round of the draft several hours later.

"One of the loudest bats I heard this year," Kline said of University of Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales. "We were pretty happy with that one, to get him at 40."

As much attention was given to the Nationals’ first-round pick - and rightfully so given the talent available and the significance of that selection - internally, club officials believed their second-round pick was going to be just as important to the franchise. Though they lost the No. 1 overall pick to the Pirates via the new draft lottery, they still maintain the first choice for every other round based on their worst-in-baseball record in 2022.

"When you're picking that high (in the first round), it takes care of itself," Kline said. "A lot of the work, most of the work actually, went into pick 40."

The Baltimore Orioles tonight selected center fielder ENRIQUE BRADFIELD JR. from Vanderbilt University (TN) with their first selection as the 17^th overall pick of the 2023 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. The Orioles also selected outfielder MAC HORVATH at No. 53 overall from the University of North Carolina and right-handed pitcher JACKSON BAUMEISTER at No. 63 overall out of Florida State University.

Bradfield Jr., 21, slashed .279/.410/.429 (65-for-233) with 13 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 69 runs scored, 34 RBI, 45 walks, and 37 stolen bases in 62 games during his junior season. He was named a unanimous preseason All-American, earning first team honors from Baseball America and second-team honors from D1Baseball.com, Perfect Game, and Collegiate Baseball. He was also selected to the Preseason All-SEC First Team and the Preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List. His 130 career stolen bases are the most in program history. Bradfield Jr. attended American Heritage High School in Hialeah, Fla., and helped lead the school to back-to-back 6A District Championships in 2018 and 2019. He was ranked as the fifth-best outfield prospect and the No. 21 overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Horvath, 21, slashed .305/.418/.711 (73-for-239) with 21 doubles, two triples, 24 home runs, 73 runs scored, 66 RBI, 43 walks, and 25 stolen bases in 60 games during his junior season. He became the first player in school history and first ACC player since 1999 to hit 20 home runs, 20 doubles, and steal 20 bases in a season. Horvath paced the Tar Heels in slugging percentage, runs, RBI, triples, home runs, total bases (170), and stolen bases, earning Second Team All-ACC honors as a result. He attended IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he pitched and played shortstop. Horvath was ranked as the No. 82 overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline. 

Baumeister, 21, pitched to a 5-5 record with a 5.09 ERA (39 ER/69.0 IP) with 95 strikeouts in 15 appearances (14 starts) for the Seminoles during his sophomore season, earning a spot on the All-ACC Third Team for his efforts. He was also named National Pitcher of the Week by Perfect Game and NCBWA and ACC Pitcher of the Week after striking out 14 against Clemson on April 6, the most by an ACC pitcher and eighth-most by a Division I pitcher last season. Baumeister attended The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was named an All-American by Baseball America and Florida Times-Union First Coast Player of the Year in his senior year. He was ranked as the No. 167 overall draft prospect by MLB Pipeline.

The Draft continues with Day Two on July 10, with rounds 3-10, and Day Three on Tuesday, July 11, with rounds 11-20, with each day beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on MLB.com.

In the end, the Nationals didn’t get to make the choice for themselves. The Pirates did it for them.

When Pittsburgh went with right-hander Paul Skenes as the No. 1 pick in this tonight’s Major League Baseball Draft, the Nats made the easy decision to follow with his LSU teammate, award-winning center fielder Dylan Crews, as the No. 2 selection. In the process, the organization used its first draft slot on a position player for only the seventh time in 11 years, though for the third consecutive year.

The Nationals later selected another position player, University of Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales, with the first pick of the second round.

General manager Mike Rizzo, vice president of scouting Kris Kline and their team thought they might wind up having to choose between Skenes or Crews if the Pirates went for a potential cost-saving move and took Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford or Indiana high school outfielder Max Clark with the top pick.

That scenario, which was speculated all week, never came to fruition. Pittsburgh wasn’t scared off by the injury risk of a power pitcher like Skenes and went ahead and drafted the flame-throwing ace anyway.

The Washington Nationals selected collegiate third baseman Yohandy Morales out of the University of Miami with the No. 40 pick in the 2023 First-Year Player Draft on Sunday. President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Scouting Operations Kris Kline and Director of Scouting Operations Eddie Longosz made the joint announcement.

Morales, 21, garnered Third-Team All-America honors from The American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings and First-Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition following the 2023 season.

The No. 20 draft prospect according to MLBPipeline.com and No. 26 draft prospect according to Baseball America, Morales hit .408 with 13 doubles, 20 home runs, 70 RBI, 30 walks, 55 strikeouts, seven stolen bases and 58 runs scored in 61 games. He posted a .475 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage. Morales ranked in the ACC in batting average (1^st, .408), slugging (3^rd, .713), OPS (3^rd, 1.187), RBI (4^th, 70) and home runs (6^th, 20).

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound junior reached base in 55 of his 61 games in 2023, hitting safely in 50 of those contests. Morales also posted four multi-home run games and 19 multi-RBI games, including three five-RBI performances.

As a sophomore in 2022, Morales was named Second-Team All-Region by ABCA/Rawlings and Second-Team All-ACC after he hit .329 with 17 doubles, three triples, 18 home runs, 59 RBI, 34 walks, six stolen base and 65 runs scored.

The Washington Nationals selected collegiate outfielder Dylan Crews out of Louisiana State University with the No. 2 pick in the 2023 First-Year Player Draft on Sunday. President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Scouting Operations Kris Kline and Director of Scouting Operations Eddie Longosz made the joint announcement.

Crews, 21, was the winner of the 2023 Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the top amateur player in the country. In addition, he garnered consensus First-Team All-American honors and won a Rawlings/ABCA Gold Glove following the 2023 season. Crews was named the 2023 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Year for the second consecutive season – becoming the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons, and was a member of the SEC All-Defensive Team two years in a row (2022-23). He was a finalist for the Dick Howser Award (top collegiate player).

The No. 1 draft prospect according to Baseball America, Crews hit .426 with 16 doubles, two triples, 18 home runs, 70 RBI, 71 walks, 46 strikeouts, six stolen bases and 100 runs scored in 71 games as he helped lead LSU to its seventh national championship in the 2023 College World Series. He posted a .567 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage. Crews led the SEC and ranked among NCAA Division I hitters in runs scored (1^st, 100), walks (1^st, 71), hits (2^nd, 110), on-base percentage (2^nd, .567) and batting average (3^rd, .426).

The six-foot, 205-pound junior reached base safely in all 71 games in 2023, a streak that extends to 75 games dating to the end of the 2022 season. Crews hit safely in 26 straight games from Feb. 19 to April 1 of this season. He hit .495 (49-for-99) with an .879 slugging percentage, 11 doubles, nine homers, 35 RBI, 27 walks, three stolen bases and 46 runs scored during the streak.

Crews was a consensus First-Team All-American and the SEC co-Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2022. He hit .349 with 11 doubles, four triples, 22 home runs, 72 RBI, 42 walks, five stolen bases and 73 runs scored in 62 games. He was Louisiana State’s first SEC Player of the Year since 2012, and his 22 home runs were the most by an LSU player since 2009.

MINNEAPOLIS – He is less than a year removed from being selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Orioles in the 2022 Major League Draft. And today, as a new draft arrives tonight, shortstop Jackson Holliday is headed to Double-A.

MASNSports.com has learned via a team source that Holliday, who played in the All-Star Futures Game Saturday, going 0-for-1, will play his next game for the Double-A Bowie Baysox moving up from High-A Aberdeen.

Holliday, 19, is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the sport by MLBPipeline.com and No. 2 via Baseball America. He had set a goal to get to Bowie this season and now he has achieved that. 

This move comes with other promotion news as infielder Coby Mayo will move up from Double-A to Triple-A Norfolk and right-hander pitcher Chayce McDermott is also moving from Bowie to Norfolk.

Holliday began this year with Low Single-A Delmarva, but after 14 games there moved to High-A Aberdeen. In 71 games between those clubs, he batted .331/.466/.523/.989 with 17 doubles, six triples, seven homers and 51 RBIs. He controlled the strike zone very well with 64 walks to 67 strikeouts and scored 67 runs with 20 stolen bases.

MINNEAPOLIS – A day that started out with the Orioles striking out often, ended with them pounding the Minnesota Twins 15-2 today behind a barrage of six homers, a few blasted well over 400 feet.

It was a nice way to say goodbye to the first half by saying goodbye to a few baseballs against the pitching staff that began today with the second-best ERA in the majors at 3.56 to Atlanta at 3.55.

The Orioles hit the break at 54-35 with a five-game win streak and they tie a season-high at moving to 19 games above the .500 mark.

The Orioles' .607 win percentage at the break is the eighth-best in team history at this point of the year.

The Orioles scored seven runs in the fifth inning to lead 8-1 and six in the sixth to make it a 14-1 blowout. The six homers are a season-high, doubling up any game this year save for one when they hit a previous season-high four on June 13 versus Toronto.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Orioles have won their past four games by a combined 29-7 score. And, after a 3-1 win in 10 innings Friday and a 6-2 win on Saturday afternoon, the Orioles can complete a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins this afternoon at Target Field.

The Orioles won the last two games of their series at New York by a 20-4 score and carried that momentum into Minnesota. They are 53-35 for the season and have the American League’s best road record at 27-17. A win today would give them a 5-2 road trip and 54 wins heading into the All-Star break.

The Orioles have three sweeps of three games this season:

* At Detroit April 21-23
* At Toronto May 19-21
* Versus Kansas City June 9-11

Saturday’s win for Baltimore was marked by a six-run top of the second inning. It was a strange game in that the Orioles scored six runs on six hits in that inning, but had no runs and no hits in any other inning yesterday. They went 0-for-24 at-bat outside of the second inning versus Twins pitching.

As the baseball world turns to tonight’s Major League Baseball Draft and the upcoming All-Star Game festivities, there were still games to be played today before the close of the season’s unofficial first half.

For the Nationals, that meant going for a series win against the first-place Rangers before they make the second overall pick later tonight.

It’s been a tough week – and to a greater extent month – for the Nats on South Capitol Street. Entering today’s finale, they had lost 15 of their last 17 home games, last night’s 8-4 win being one of the two exceptions.

But after losing six straight at home after Friday, the Nationals now enter the All-Star break as the winners of two straight with this afternoon’s 7-2 victory over the Rangers in front of 17,547 fans in attendance.

“Well, it's a good way to finish off. Boys played well," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "It was good. You're playing a team that's got some horses over there. To come out the way we did the last two games was awesome. These guys, I'm proud of the way they're playing and the way they played."