SAN DIEGO – When the Nationals enjoyed their record-setting, 10-run first inning four weeks ago in Arizona, they simultaneously wrapped up a 15-12 record for May, the team’s first winning month since August 2023 and only its second winning month at all since the rebuild began in earnest in July 2021.

It was cause for mild celebration, but it wasn’t the end-all, be-all. It was only the start of something bigger, the Nats believed at the time.

“I would encourage this group to get used to winning,” first baseman Nathaniel Lowe said that night in Phoenix, “because that’s what we strive to do every day. But we’ll take this month and obviously keep going into June and look for another winning month.”

The Nationals won’t finish June with a winning month. They won’t even come close. Even if they sweep the Angels this weekend in Anaheim, they’ll merely improve to 8-18 for the month. That would still be tied for the eighth-worst month in club history. If, god forbid, they get swept, they’ll finish 5-21. That would represent the single worst month in club history.

Suffice it to say, things have taken a decided turn for the worse around here over the last four weeks.

The Orioles continue their homestand tonight against the Rays, and this time, the teams get to play in a major league ballpark.

They split the four-game series at George M. Steinbrenner Field, losing an 8-0 lead on June 18 in one of the season’s low points. The Rays are in second place in the division, a half-game behind the Yankees. They hold the top Wild Card.

Some of the Orioles talked again about getting a reset yesterday. Maybe this one will stick. The others haven’t led to the kind of streak that thrusts a team into a thick of a pennant race. Seven teams remain ahead of the Orioles for the final spot. Five weeks remain until the trade deadline.

Think this is a big series? Every single one feels like baseball life or death.  Just wait until Texas and Atlanta on the next road trip, and a homestand that begins with three games against the Mets.

The offense needs to break out, which is one of the more obvious statements ever made about any team. The Orioles have been shut out in three of the last five games and one-hit in two. Opposing starters have carried a no-hitter through the seventh inning twice and the sixth once. The team ranked 24^th in runs scored yesterday with 315, 23^rd with a .236 average, .302 on-base percentage and .691 OPS. They’re hitting .224/.291/.391 with runners in scoring position and .218/.291/.302 against left-handers.

The Orioles probably won’t match last year’s total of five All-Stars, but they have a chance to send two starters to Truist Field in Atlanta.

Ryan O’Hearn and the Yankees’ Ben Rice are the finalists at designated hitter in the American League. O’Hearn received 1,762,125 votes and Rice garnered 674,120.

Jackson Holliday, in his first full major league season, and the Tigers’ Gleyber Torres are finalists at second base. Torres received 1,981,665 votes and Holliday 1,302,186.

Phase 2 of voting begins Monday at noon and concludes Wednesday at noon. The winners will be announced that night at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Fans are allowed to vote once per day on MLB platforms, and totals will reset. Phase 1 balloting doesn’t carry over to Phase 2.

As the trade deadline gets closer, the industry is broken down again among teams that identify as buyers and sellers, and the group that balances on the bubble.

The Orioles knew who they were the last two summers. They acquired starter Jack Flaherty from the Cardinals on Aug. 1, 2023 for minor league second baseman César Prieto, left-hander Drew Rom and right-hander Zack Showalter. They acquired relievers Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto last July in separate trades with the Phillies, starters Zach Eflin from the Rays and Trevor Rogers from the Marlins, and designated hitter Eloy Jiménez from the White Sox. The biggest names surrendered were outfielder Austin Hays and prospects Connor Norby, Kyle Stowers and Seth Johnson.

That bubble was underneath them in 2022, and they played the odds more than other math by dealing first baseman Trey Mancini and closer Jorge López. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias flew into Texas on the last day of the trip to meet with some veterans and offer assurances that there was “a plan in place.”

“It's going exceptionally well,” Elias said that day. “We’ve got a very bright future ahead of us. I don’t want us utilizing the opportunity of the trade deadline the way we did the last couple of days to speak to the fact that this is a team that’s going to have to be reckoned with from now and this point forward in our division. We’re going to have to scout and develop and manage the roster a certain way to maintain it that way. We’ve seen our competitors do that, and we’re there. We’re at that point.

“I think that it's liftoff from here for this team.”

There’s never a good time for one of your star players to go down with injury. But for the Orioles and Adley Rutschman, the timing of the star catcher’s left oblique strain couldn’t have been much worse. 

Since Rutschman’s promotion to the big leagues a few seasons ago, Baltimore has gone as their face of the franchise has gone. When Rutschman plays well, generally, the Orioles play well. That’s exactly what we saw in June. 

In the month, Rutschman’s 2025 was turning around. The catcher hit .309 with a .381 on-base percentage, posting an OPS close to .900 with just eight strikeouts and seven walks. It’s no surprise, then, that the O’s were 11-6 in the 17 games that Rutschman was healthy in the month. 

Now, the Orioles must navigate life without him until at least the All-Star break, according to interim skipper Tony Mansolino. 

Rutschman’s injury, and its ramifications, was the topic of discussion on this week’s edition of “The Bird’s Nest,” which you can watch here: https://masn.me/qp9slhbj. 

SAN DIEGO – The Nationals left town following Wednesday afternoon's agonizing 1-0 loss to the Padres and are spending their off-day up the road in Orange County before opening a weekend series Friday against the Angels. Your trusty beat writer chose to remain in San Diego for this off-day, because ... well, do I really have to explain this to you? It's San Diego, for crying out loud!

There will be time to relax later. Before then, it's time to answer your questions about the Nats. It's been quite the eventful few weeks for the team, from the 11-game losing streak to Brady House's debut to the start of a West Coast trip that has included some legitimately big moments but unfortunately has also included four more losses in six games, three of them by one run.

I'll do my best to tackle whatever subjects you propose today (with reason and good taste, of course). And keep in mind the 3-hour time difference, so I may get started a bit later than usual. If you've got something you'd like to ask, just submit it in the comments section below, then check back for my replies ...

The Orioles need wins in order to avoid selling at the trade deadline.

Their frustrations this season have spilled into the no-hit zone.

Jacob deGrom was the latest starter to flummox them, retiring the first 18 batters tonight before Jackson Holliday’s leadoff walk in the seventh. Colton Cowser let the dugout exhale with a ground ball single leading off the eighth, and deGrom came out of the game.

The Rangers gave him a seven-run lead, which is like gift vouchers for a billionaire. Don’t need ‘em.

The Orioles managed only one hit and were shut out for the eighth time in a 7-0 loss before an announced Pride Night crowd of 22,828 at Camden Yards.

SAN DIEGO – MacKenzie Gore has pitched like an ace this season. He leads the National League in strikeouts. His ERA resides in the low-3.00s. Only five major leaguers have totaled more than his 11 quality starts.

So how come Gore now sports a 3-8 record? Because no matter how well he’s pitched, his teammates can’t seem to consistently provide him the kind of support the left-hander needs to emerge victorious.

That troubling trend reached a new low this afternoon at Petco Park, where Gore was good once again and once again got no help from the rest of the Nationals during a disheartening 1-0 loss to the Padres.

"That's on us. That's on the lineup," center fielder Jacob Young said. "He keeps us in almost every game, and we just haven't been able to score the runs, especially in games like this where it's one or two. We haven't been able to scrap them together and get him some more wins. But he's had our back on the mound. Hopefully in the second half of the year, we can have his."

Gore allowed only one run over six innings, rarely surrendering loud contact. But San Diego’s Nick Pivetta allowed zero runs over seven innings, and that was the difference in the game.

The Orioles made the anticipated roster move earlier today, recalling Brandon Young and optioning reliever Yaramil Hiraldo.

Young is making his third major league start after allowing six runs and 11 hits in 8 2/3 innings. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the organization’s No. 19 prospect.

Jordan Westburg returns to the lineup, playing third base and batting second.

Gary Sánchez is the designated hitter and Chadwick Tromp is catching. Colton Cowser is in left field and Dylan Carlson is in right. Ramón Laureano is on the bench.

Laureano is hitting .583 and slugging 1.333 when ahead in the count this season.

SAN DIEGO – As was the case Sunday in Los Angeles, the Nationals have an opportunity today to win a series against a good opponent. They put themselves in that position by thumping the Padres on Monday night before coming up just short Tuesday night. So it will require a victory this afternoon to win the series and improve to 3-3 on the West Coast trip heading into a much-needed day off before the Southern California jaunt concludes this weekend in Anaheim.

The good news: MacKenzie Gore is on the mound, facing the team that drafted and then traded him. Gore has pitched here each of the last two seasons, so this is nothing special for him. The lefty just wants to go out there and do what he’s doing through the majority of the season’s first half: provide length with minimal damage and a lot of strikeouts. The Padres' lineup is no joke, but he’s plenty motivated to deliver for his team today.

At the plate, the Nationals will try to get to Nick Pivetta the way they did to Ryan Hergert on Tuesday night, while perhaps converting a few more times in clutch situations. (They scored three early runs but went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, missing some golden opportunities to extend their lead.) Pivetta, of course, is the long-ago Nats prospect who was traded to the Phillies for Jonathan Papelbon nearly a decade ago. He’s fashioned a solid career since and has been more than solid so far in his first year with the Padres, entering today 7-2 with a 3.64 ERA and 1.083 WHIP in 15 starts.

One important note to consider as the game plays out: Robert Suarez dropped his appeal of the three-game suspension MLB handed down to him last week for intentionally throwing at the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, once the league reduced the sentence to two games. So the Padres will be without their closer this afternoon, should this game be close come the ninth inning.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN DIEGO PADRES
Where: Petco Park
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 71 degrees, wind 10 mph left field to right field

SAN DIEGO – When he was called up to the big leagues the last two seasons, Drew Millas found himself walking through the Nationals' clubhouse introducing himself to a good number of unfamiliar faces. When he arrived at Petco Park on Tuesday afternoon, the 27-year-old catcher assumed it would be more of the same, until he looked around the room and realized he already knew almost every single player on the current roster.

“I came in and expected to do the usual, like: ‘Hey, I’m Drew. I’m Drew. I’m Drew. I'm Drew,’” he said. “I was just like: ‘Hey, what’s up? Good to see you!’ It’s a good thing to have familiar faces here, and it makes me really comfortable.”

With so many young players who have come through Triple-A Rochester in recent years on the Nationals’ major league roster now, Millas is plenty comfortable in these surroundings. It’s now up to him to take advantage of whatever playing opportunities he gets to convince the organization he should stick around for more than a week or two.

Summoned from Rochester when Keibert Ruiz was placed on the 10-day injured list with a head contusion after getting struck by a foul ball in the dugout Monday night, Millas is now the clear backup to Riley Adams, who takes over as the team’s No. 1 catcher. Manager Davey Martinez said he expects Adams to start the bulk of the games behind the plate, and sure enough he’s back in there for this afternoon’s series finale against the Padres only hours after catching Tuesday’s game.

Millas will probably get one start this weekend in Anaheim, at which point he’ll hope to show the strides he’s made both at the plate and behind it. He opened his season at Triple-A with a disappointing .229/.287/.344 slash line in his first 35 games. In 17 games since, he’s put together a much better .288/.348/.441 slash line, getting back to what he believes he does best.

It’s beginning to happen right before our eyes. The first-overall draft pick in 2022, formerly the top prospect in baseball, is drifting to star status and rising above the hype that could have buried him.

Jackson Holliday was gaining as much notice for his struggles in the majors as the tools that got him there. He experienced frustration and the disappointment of getting sent down as a rookie last season, batting .189 with a .565 OPS in 60 games while exposed for the first time to failure. He struck out 69 times, a total he matched in 86 more plate appearances going into last night.

Holliday was hitting .265/.313/.422 with 12 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 32 RBIs. He tied his career high with four RBIs in the series opener against the Rangers and came within a triple of the cycle. And he did it again from the leadoff spot, where he’s become tethered.

Last night marked the 37^th time this season that Holliday batted first, the 32^nd since Tony Mansolino became interim manager. The lineup combinations spin like reels on a slot machine, but Holliday apparently won’t move unless he’s on the bench.

Mansolino said it casually Monday night, but he made one of the boldest statements of the season.

SAN DIEGO – Even as they put together a bunch of quality at-bats and jumped out to an early three-run lead tonight at Petco Park, the Nationals knew deep down they had squandered some opportunities to put the game away and had let the Padres keep it close enough to set up a potential comeback.

Sure enough, that early three-run lead evaporated over the course of the middle innings. And when they couldn’t mount any kind of late rally against one of the league’s best bullpens, the Nats found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-3 loss to San Diego.

The Padres scored all four runs from the fourth through the sixth innings, all of the runs charged to Trevor Williams even though the last of them crossed the plate after he departed. The Nationals, who totaled six hits through their first four innings at the plate, managed only one more the rest of the way.

With one last shot at rallying in the ninth, they went down quietly against All-Star closer Robert Suarez, who reportedly dropped his appeal of a three-game suspension - which Major League Baseball imposed on Friday after Suarez intentionally threw at the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani on Thursday - after it was reduced to two games. Suarez won’t be available for Wednesday afternoon’s series finale, but he was still allowed to take the mound tonight in a one-run game.

"They've got a really good bullpen," manager Davey Martinez said. "We knew that coming in. The objective for us is to try to score first and get on the board, beat the starters up a bit earlier. Once they get into that bullpen, it's tough."

The Orioles looked like a team that finally had reached its limit, that was done being pushed around. They were no-hit for seven innings Saturday in New York and for six tonight on their home turf. And then they exploded, launching three consecutive home runs to take the lead.

But these aren’t the comeback Orioles of previous seasons, when they’d routinely close the deal. That’s why a club in a state of desperation to build a winning streak that might get it into the Wild Card chase can’t stop spinning its wheels.

Félix Bautista put a runner on second base with no outs in the top of the ninth and escaped the jam, but Evan Carter scored on Sam Haggerty’s fielder’s choice grounder against Seranthony Domínguez in the 10^th, and the Orioles lost to the Rangers 6-5 before an announced crowd of 16,909 at Camden Yards.

Cedric Mullins laid down a sacrifice bunt against Robert Garcia that moved automatic runner Luis Vázquez to third base. Dylan Carlson struck out and Jackson Holliday flied out. 

The outcome moved the Orioles 11 games below .500 again at 34-45. They can claim the series on Wednesday but they’re 3-9 in rubber games.

SAN DIEGO – The Nationals placed Keibert Ruiz on the 10-day injured list this evening with a head contusion, the result of an errant foul ball that struck the catcher on the right side of his head as he watched Friday night’s game from the dugout.

Drew Millas was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take Ruiz’s roster spot and will back up Riley Adams, who takes over the team’s No. 1 catcher for now.

Ruiz was standing next to Adams during the top of the fourth Friday night at Petco Park when teammate Josh Bell scorched a foul ball toward them from close range. The ball whizzed past everyone but ricocheted off the back wall of the dugout and struck Ruiz on the head. He immediately retreated to the clubhouse alongside director of athletic training Paul Lessard and was taken to an area hospital for a CT scan.

That scan showed no evidence of a concussion or any fractures, but Ruiz has a lump on the side of his head and has complained of headaches and dizziness since the incident, prompting the team to place him on the 10-day IL rather than the 7-day concussion IL (which requires an official concussion diagnosis).

“I don’t feel 100 percent, and I don’t feel good enough to catch today,” Ruiz said. “If I get another foul ball in my head, I don’t think that would be good. I have two kids that need me. I’ve got to take care of my health.”

SAN DIEGO – The Nationals showed up Monday night at Petco Park, blasting a couple of home runs and delivering a flurry of clutch hits en route to a 10-6 win over the Padres. They’re 2-2 so far on this West Coast trip, and they’ve had a real chance to win every game, which isn’t too shabby, all things considered. The key now is sustaining that, and they’ll attempt to do it tonight in the second game of their series.

At the plate, the Nats will be facing an unknown opponent in Ryan Bergert. The rookie right-hander, drafted in the sixth round in 2021 out of West Virginia, makes his ninth career appearance, his fifth career start. He’s been pretty good to date in this role, delivering a 2.25 ERA through those four previous starts. He’s reached the sixth inning three times, though he has yet to complete that frame. He features a mid-90s fastball and two breaking balls in the mid-to-high 80s, plus an occasional changeup to left-handed batters.

Trevor Williams returns to his hometown of San Diego, hoping to turn in his third consecutive solid start. The veteran right-hander held both the Marlins and Rockies to two runs over 5 1/3 innings, but he’s facing a much more imposing Padres lineup tonight.

The Nationals have put Keibert Ruiz on the 10-day injured list after he was struck by a foul ball into the dugout last night. The team has recalled Drew Millas from Triple-A Rochester to fill the roster spot.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN DIEGO PADRES
Where: Petco Park
Gametime: 9:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 66 degrees, wind 8 mph left field to right field

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• Agreed to terms on a 2025 minor league contract with C Jacob Stallings.

Pitcher Brandon Young and infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra are on the taxi squad from Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles haven’t listed a starter for Wednesday and Young could fill the role or be used in bulk relief. Either way, interim manager Tony Mansolino indicated that Young will pitch.

Young allowed six runs and 11 hits with eight walks and nine strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings in two starts with the Orioles this season, but he’s registered a 3.29 ERA and 0.841 WHIP in five outings with Norfolk. He pitched in Memphis on Friday and allowed one run and two hits in five innings in his return from right shoulder soreness.

Tomoyuki Sugano will be pushed back from his scheduled turn Wednesday. Mansolino said Sugano isn't a candidate for the injured list.

Vavra is on the medical taxi squad as insurance in case infielder Jordan Westburg goes on the IL with a sprained left index finger that’s kept him out of the lineup since Saturday in New York. However, Mansolino said "all indications" are that we'll see Westburg in the lineup Wednesday or Friday. 

SAN DIEGO – Keibert Ruiz never had time to react, nor could he have anticipated what happened in the top of the fourth Monday night at Petco Park.

The Nationals’ 10-6 victory over the Padres was marred somewhat by the freak incident that forced Ruiz to an area hospital for a CT scan after he was struck by Josh Bell’s errant foul ball on the left side of his head.

Ruiz was watching the game from the top railing of the dugout when Bell fouled off Stephen Kolek’s pitch and sent the ball on a direct line toward the third base dugout. Nationals players and coaches barely saw it whiz past their heads, and nobody saw it carom off the dugout’s back wall and strike Ruiz on the side of his head.

The 26-year-old wasn’t wearing his catcher’s gear, because his spot in the lineup was approaching. He immediately grabbed his head and headed down the dugout steps and toward the visitors’ clubhouse as director of athletic training Paul Lessard followed close behind.

“When he went down, we kind of got scared a little bit,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He had a nice lump on his head.”

The Orioles are in a rare catching bind with Adley Rutschman making his first career stop on the injured list and Maverick Handley placed on the seven-day concussion injured list yesterday. Apparently, it isn’t safe to swing in the cage or try to make a tag at home plate.

Gary Sánchez is less than two weeks removed from his own IL stay and could get worn to a nub if he’s forced to handle a heavy workload, especially in this heat. Interim manager Tony Mansolino gave him a slight break last night by using him as the designated hitter against Rangers left-hander Patrick Corbin.

Chadwick Tromp is back in the majors. He caught last night. David Bañuelos is making is living on the taxi squad. The Orioles like keeping him close.

Veteran James McCann was released Sunday by the Braves so that he could sign a major league deal with the Diamondbacks. The Orioles never came into play. The sides had some early talks but nothing recent.

The organization’s No. 1 prospect just happens to be a catcher, but 20-year-old Samuel Basallo remains at Triple-A Norfolk.