Two games into this four-game series, the Nationals and Phillies have each won once. Each was a competitive game decided late by the bullpens. It’s kind of been fun to watch, hasn’t it? So, what’s in store for game three of the weekend set later this afternoon?

The headline attraction from the Nats’ standpoint is Cade Cavalli, who makes his third start of the season (fourth of his career). The first one (against the Athletics) was outstanding. The second one (against the Royals) was decent. This one comes against a far more imposing lineup, so we’re going to find out a lot about the 27-year-old rookie when he goes up against Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Co. (Oh, and by the way, Cavalli is scheduled to face them again next week in Philadelphia.)

Taijuan Walker takes the mound for the Phillies, and the Nationals have already faced him this season, scoring four runs in 5 2/3 innings back on May 1. He was shifted to a bullpen a month later, but he’s back in the rotation now and has a 2.93 ERA over his last six starts.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 88 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

PHILLIES
SS Trea Turner
DH Kyle Schwarber
1B Bryce Harper
C J.T. Realmuto
LF Brandon Marsh
CF Harrison Bader
RF Max Kepler
3B Edmundo Sosa
2B Bryson Stott

One wait is over.

The Orioles are selecting outfielder Dylan Beavers’ contract from Triple-A Norfolk, one day after the date to retain his rookie eligibility for 2026.

Outfielder Greg Allen was designated for assignment to create room. Beavers will wear No. 12 and he could be in tonight’s lineup against Astros right-hander Jason Alexander.

Beavers could have bloodied his knuckles from the hard knocks on the major league door.

The 33^rd-overall draft pick in 2022 is batting .304/.420/.515 with 14 doubles, two triples, 18 home runs, 51 RBIs, 68 walks, 74 strikeouts and 23 stolen bases in 94 games in his fourth professional season. He was the designated hitter last night in Jacksonville.

No pitcher in the history of the Baltimore Orioles has thrown a perfect game.

No one could have anticipated that a rookie carrying a 6.70 ERA in his first 10 major league starts would get within four outs.

Brandon Young is a big fan of classic rock. His outing last was an instant classic, and boy, did he rock. He retired 23 batters in a row before former Oriole Ramón Urías reached on an infield single in the eighth inning in the Orioles’ 7-0 victory over the Astros at Daikin Park.

Urías sent a chopper to the left side and Young made a barehand grab. He threw off his back foot and the ball sailed past first baseman Coby Mayo for a hit and error.

Young probably had time to plant and throw but understandably was in a rush.  

HOUSTON – When a pitcher is in a groove, you can look up at the box score in the middle innings and think to yourself, “Oh wow, he’s through four without allowing a hit.” Usually, it doesn't amount to much. 

Tonight, many in Daikin Park may have shared that thought about Brandon Young. 

The rookie looked sharp through three. Then, he was through four perfect innings. And then five. 

Through six, things start to feel real. Through seven, folks at home change their evening plans to find a television. 

Young recorded the first two outs of the eighth inning, but surrendered his first hit and baserunner of the game on a 56 mph single off the bat of, you guessed it, former Oriole Ramón Urías. It was a tough play for Young, who fielded the dribbler and delivered a throw wide of first. 

That the Nationals found themselves in a position to win tonight’s game against the Phillies was a testament to MacKenzie Gore’s intestinal fortitude over six gutsy innings and the lineup’s ability to actually make Zack Wheeler work enough to knock him out after only five.

These two division rivals, residing at opposite ends of the NL East, were tied heading into the seventh before a boisterous, Friday night crowd of 35,143. It was about as much as the Nats could have asked for under the circumstances.

The problem: A Nationals bullpen that causes heartburn even when at full strength was without its two most reliable arms. So what happened next couldn’t have shocked anyone in the building, especially when considering the opponent.

Back-to-back home runs by Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper off Konnor Pilkington flipped the game in the top of the seventh, the Phillies’ big boys taking down a rookie member of the Nats’ relief corps en route to a 6-2 victory on a steamy August evening in Navy Yard.

"Look, you know you've got to play well against that team. Because if you don't, they can beat you up," Gore said. "I think just understanding that going in ... a tough loss tonight, but I think we all did a good job of that."

HOUSTON – On Friday, Aug. 1, the Orioles roster looked drastically different for an afternoon contest at Wrigley Field. 

Gone were four members of the lineup, a starting pitcher and four key pieces of the bullpen, including a new resident of Chicago, Andrew Kittredge. 

Orioles hitters saw their former teammate right away, as Kittredge entered that game in the top of the seventh inning, blanking the O’s en route to a Cubs victory. 

Kittredge, while impressive in an Orioles uniform, didn’t have much time to leave a lasting impression. After missing a large chunk of the season, the right-hander appeared in just 31 games for Baltimore, pitching to a 3.45 ERA. 

So the feeling evoked upon seeing Kittredge trot through the outfield glass in Chicago’s colors was, more than likely, relatively subdued. 

As the latter stages of Thursday night’s game was playing out, Cole Henry started to get the sense he was going to be the man holding the ball for the top of the ninth.

With interim manager Miguel Cairo using new closer Jose A. Ferrer to face the heart of the Phillies lineup with a one-run lead in the eighth, Henry was told by bullpen coach Ricky Bones to prep himself to pitch the ninth for the first time in his career.

“I was just preparing mentally,” the rookie reliever said. “And hopefully whenever they call the phone, it was gonna be me to do it.”

A few tense minutes later, Henry was pounding his glove in celebration, his teammates gathering at the mound as the stadium lights at Nationals Park turned red to commemorate the team’s 3-2 victory, the 26-year-old having notched his first career save in the process.

It wasn’t a perfectly clean inning. Henry surrendered a leadoff single to Max Kepler, then saw him advance to third base on a sacrifice bunt and a ground ball to the right side. That left the tying run 90 feet with Trea Turner at the plate. With the crowd standing, Henry won an eight-pitch battle with the former Nats star shortstop, striking him out on a sinker that ran way in on his hands and left Turner helplessly flailing at it.

The Orioles have been held to four hits or fewer 22 times this season, tied with the Pirates for second most in the majors behind the Rangers’ 25. They’ve scored five runs or fewer in 12 straight games since Aug. 1. But they won the last two against the Mariners, including their first walk-off, to complete the homestand.

They’re back on the road tonight to begin a three-game series in Houston, with no roster moves announced.

Coby Mayo stays at first base. Daniel Johnson is the center fielder and Jeremiah Jackson is in right.

Gunnar Henderson has an extra-base hit in a career-best five consecutive games. He’s batting .310/.384/.500 (70-for-226) with 18 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 36 RBIs and 37 runs scored in 64 games since June 1.

Henderson leads the majors with a .511 average (23-for-45) with runners in scoring position since June 1.

The Nationals sent a message when they designated struggling first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for assignment this afternoon to make room for Dylan Crews’s return: "We want to see the young kids. ... We want to see what they can do,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo ahead of tonight’s four-game series opener against the Phillies.

Sure enough, Cairo started four of his five young outfielders, with James Wood serving as the designated hitter, Daylen Lile playing left field, Jacob Young in center and Crews back in right.

But it was another young player Cairo chose to start tonight that came up clutch for the Nats against this veteran Phillies squad in a 3-2 comeback victory in front of an announced crowd of 21,609 on South Capitol Street.

“I gotta tell you, that's a game that you look at it and it's like a playoff game," Cairo said after the win. "That's the way you play games like this. Good pitching, good defense, opportune hitting. It was nice to see our pitchers, our defense, our hitters really engage in the game and doing the little things. That's what we did today. They picked each other up.”

Of the five young outfielders, three of them are left-handed hitters, so one of them figured to sit to start this one. The odd-man out was Robert Hassell III. And Cairo also figured this was a good time to give shortstop CJ Abrams a breather after he played 24 straight games and with tough left-hander Jesús Luzardo starting for the visitors. So Paul DeJong started at shortstop and José Tena started at second base for just his fifth appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester 2 ½ weeks ago.

Way back on March 27, the 2025 season began with the Nationals hosting the Phillies and an Opening Day pitchers’ duel between MacKenzie Gore and Zack Wheeler. On that 57-degree afternoon, Gore authored the best start of his career, retiring 17 of 18 batters, 13 via strikeout, to outduel Wheeler (who allowed only one run on two hits in six innings himself).

Tonight, we get the rematch on a hot and muggy, August evening, the Nats’ season having long since gone awry while the Phillies have soared into first place in the NL East. Gore went through his own slump recently, but he bounced back in a big way Sunday in San Francisco, shutting out the Giants over six innings with 10 strikeouts. The lefty will try to keep things going tonight against Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Co.

Wheeler, who leads the league in WHIP and strikeouts to go along with a 2.68 ERA, faces a Nationals lined that scratched together three runs to win Thursday night’s series opener but would love to do more than that tonight with James Wood, CJ Abrams and Dylan Crews all in the lineup together for the first time since May 20.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 6 mph in from right field

PHILLIES
SS Trea Turner
DH Kyle Schwarber
1B Bryce Harper
C J.T. Realmuto
RF Nick Castellanos
CF Harrison Bader
2B Edmundo Sosa
3B Otto Kemp
LF Weston Wilson

The first phone call came around 2 p.m. The Tigers informed pitcher Dietrich Enns that he was designated for assignment. The left-hander had lost his major league job.

The second call arrived about 3 ½ hours later with the deadline approaching. The Orioles had traded for Enns, consummating the deal under the wire. He was losing significant ground in the standings, going from first place to last, but he avoided a demotion to the minors.

“I probably took just a couple hours to process all of that stuff, I’m guessing,” he said yesterday morning. “I wasn’t sure if I was gonna stick around with Detroit or not, but it was a blessing to be able to get traded over here and have an opportunity here.”

That was merely the first part. Enns had to take advantage of it.

The first outing was rough, with Enns allowing a run and five hits in 1 2/3 innings against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He was scoreless in his next three appearances covering 3 2/3 innings, with two hits, no walks and nine strikeouts.

The Nationals had a decision to make this afternoon as they prepared to reinstate Dylan Crews from the 60-day injured list. Do they send one of their four young outfielders – James Wood, Jacob Young, Robert Hassell III or Daylen Lile – down to Triple-A Rochester to get regular playing time? Or do they hold onto five outfielders and send down infielder José Tena, who has only played in four games since he was recalled 2 ½ weeks ago?

In the end, the Nats surprisingly went an entirely different route by designating struggling first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for assignment to make room for Crews, who returns after almost three months while dealing with a left oblique strain.

“We feel like we want to see the young kids,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said of the decision before tonight’s series opener against the Phillies. “We want to keep Hassell in the outfield, Lile, we have Wood. We have young players and I think we want to see them play. We want to see what they can do in the last month, month and a half.”

Lowe was acquired by former general manager Mike Rizzo in a December trade with the Rangers in exchange for left-handed reliever Robert Garcia. With two more years of arbitration eligibility, Lowe lost his salary arbitration case against the team and received a $10.3 million salary (the Nats’ highest-paid player this season) rather than the $11.1 million he requested.

The 30-year-old’s first half of the season was somewhat of a mixed bag. While he was on pace to be one of the team leaders in home runs and RBIs, his batting average, OPS and defensive metrics were well below his career averages.

The Nationals have returned from a 3-3 road trip for a tough homestand. In fact, they have a tough stretch to finish August, with each of their next 13 games coming against a team currently in a playoff position.

This homestand against two divisional rivals starts with a four-game set against the Phillies, who own a five-game lead over the Mets in the National League East. Luckily, the Nats will be getting some reinforcements by activating Dylan Crews off the 60-day injured list as he returns from his oblique injury. In a corresponding move, the Nats surprisingly designated first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for assignment. So we’ll have to wait and see how interim manager Miguel Cairo constructs his lineups with five young outfielders moving forward.

Brad Lord certainly has been one of the bright spots for this team in the second half. Since rejoining the rotation full-time, the right-hander is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA over four starts, with the Nats winning three of those games. He did make a start against the Phillies when he was briefly a part of the rotation back in May, tossing five innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts and one walk. He earned the win in that game, too.

Former Nats draft pick Jesús Luzardo starts for the Phils. The lefty is 11-5 with a 4.20 ERA and 1.346 WHIP in 24 starts. He started the second game of the season here at Nats Park and struck out 11 over five frames of two-run ball in a Philly rout.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of scattered thunderstorms, 80 degrees, wind 5 mph from right to left field

The Orioles will dip into their past for a celebration next month at Camden Yards.

They have to go back 30 years.

Another anniversary is almost upon us of the night that Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games streak. He reached 2,131 in a row on Sept. 6, 1995, and the Orioles are marking the occasion with a full slate of events before hosting the Dodgers at 7:05 p.m.

Ripken will be in attendance, but not in his usual seat in the first row behind home plate.

The club announced a list of confirmed attendees that includes Hall of Famers Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Harold Baines and Mike Mussina, Orioles Hall of Famers Brady Anderson, Al Bumbry and B.J. Surhoff, and former teammates Ben McDonald, Rafael Palmeiro and Larry Sheets.

Dylan Crews’ return tonight from the 60-day injured list is a major development for the Nationals, and his performance over the next six weeks is one of the team’s most important storylines down the stretch of what has been an incredibly depressing season.

But in some ways, there’s just as much intrigue today to the flip side of Crews’ return. Somebody has to be dropped from the Nats’ active roster, and that transaction may say a lot about the performance and future expectations for a bunch of players who will be impacted by the decision.

We’ve known for several years now the Nationals eventually were going to confront a dilemma in their outfield, with more promising young prospects than available positions. They managed to hold off making any major decisions there due to Crews’ oblique injury, which wound up sidelining him nearly three months.

But the time has come to decide which three young outfielders are going to get the bulk of the playing time the rest of the season. Or, perhaps, which four young outfielders are going to split time among three positions. Or, perhaps, if the Nats are going to try to find a way to keep all five in the majors at the same time.

This much we know: James Wood is going to keep playing every day. Aside from an occasional rest day, the 22-year-old slugger is going to be in the lineup as much as possible, whether in left field or maybe as designated hitter sometimes.

The Orioles complete their latest homestand this afternoon against the Mariners and fly to Houston for a three-game series, followed by two in Boston.

The roster will change again before they make it back home. Count on it.

My mailbag also changes with each massive dump. And this is probably a good place to stop, but let’s keep going.

You ask, I try to answer, and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original that currently airs on Netflix. Or is it Amazon Prime? Anyway, it’s out there, just like so many of you.

Questions aren’t edited for clarity, style, length, brevity or bravado. And I wouldn’t tell you anyway, because, again, who cares?

With each passing start, Trevor Rogers offers further confirmation that what he’s doing isn’t a fluke. He isn’t going to fall apart at the baseball seams. This is how he pitches.

He can't control the bullpen, which stumbled again, but he can put his trust in a young hitter to make the mishap irrelevant.  

Rogers completed seven innings again tonight and allowed only one run, and Jackson Holliday doubled with two outs in the ninth to score Dylan Carlson and give the Orioles their first walk-off win, 4-3, over the Mariners before an announced crowd of 17,290 at Camden Yards.  

Carlson, who had two hits after ending an 0-for-35 slump last night, singled off Matt Brash with two outs and raced home on Holliday's first career walk-off. The Orioles were the last team in the majors to get one, and it came from Holliday, who was 5-for-41 this month before pulling a slider down the right field line.

"I knew he had a really good slider," said Holliday, who almost had his jersey torn off by teammates during the celebration. "Honestly, just trying to hit another line drive, hit a barrel. But I was kind of looking for that pitch and just trying to get it in a good spot to do something with and was able to do that.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The five-run top of the first – not to mention the extra runs scored in the third and fourth innings – should have been enough to make Miguel Cairo’s afternoon easy. But as Jake Irvin labored himself to keep that big lead intact, it became apparent the Nationals’ interim manager was going to have to play every pitching card he had available to him in an attempt to win today’s series finale against the Royals.

And then it was still going to require some more late offense to pull this one off.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Nats did find a way to escape Kauffman Stadium with an 8-7 victory, one made possible by Daylen Lile’s game-winning single in the top of the ninth and five relievers combining to allow just one run over five innings.

"They've been ready, they've been settling down. They're doing an excellent job," said Cairo of a relief corps that has been turned over several times this season and currently includes seven rookies alongside 25-year-old closer Jose A. Ferrer. "Today, it was a team effort: Offense, pitching. That's what we're asking."

Lile’s clutch hit came a few minutes after the Royals tied the game against unlikely setup man Clayton Beeter. Luis García Jr. ignited the rally with a one-out double off Kansas City’s Carlos Estévez, then took third on Josh Bell’s flyout to center. Two batters later, Lile got to a 2-1 changeup from Estévez and lined the ball to right field for the go-ahead single.

Zach Eflin will undergo lower back surgery on Monday, which should lead to a four-to-eight month recovery period.

"I think it really all depends on how the post-op stuff goes, how everything responds and how my body's moving post-surgery," he said today. "I don't expect not to be ready for spring training. From what I've heard from the surgeon, after 12 weeks I'm able to have a normal offseason, so I'm pretty optimistic it's not gonna be a long thing."

Eflin said he’s experienced back pain randomly for the past five or six years and is looking forward to the lumbar microdiscectomy, which relieves pressure on a spinal nerve caused by a herniated disc.

“It’s just gotten progressively worse,” he said. “A couple months ago an MRI was a little worse than it was previously and just seems like the disc is in a place where it’s kind of pushing against my nerve and it’s just not going away. Tried an epidural, didn’t really work, so I think the next step is just to get it taken care of, and hopefully be ready for spring training.”

Eflin said “all signs” point to the surgery bringing a permanent resolution.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Nationals are planning to activate Dylan Crews off the 60-day injured list Thursday for the start of their upcoming homestand, a source familiar with the club’s plan confirmed.

Crews, who has been out since May 20 with a strained left oblique muscle, has been on an extended rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester. He’s playing his 13th game today for the Red Wings, batting second and serving as designated hitter. Barring any setbacks, he’ll rejoin the Nats in D.C. and come off the IL for Thursday’s game against the Phillies.

It’s been a long road back for Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, who struggled through the season’s first month-plus, batting .196 with seven homers, 15 RBIs and a .620 OPS in 45 games. He was just starting to get hot at the plate, though, before he hurt himself on a check-swing, homering in each of his last two games.

The Nationals chose to be extremely cautious with Crews’ recovery process, bringing him along slowly after he was cleared to resume baseball activities last month. He began his rehab assignment with Rochester on July 29, and over the course of more than two weeks he built up to playing nine innings in right field on back-to-back days.

Entering this afternoon’s game against Syracuse, Crews was 10-for-39 with one double, two homers and seven RBIs in 12 games. Physically, he has passed every test; the Nats simply wanted to give him time to get at-bats and get comfortable playing again, treating the rehab assignment like it was spring training.