Rarely do the Nationals make you wait to find out if it’s going to be a good night at the plate or a bad night at the plate. You usually know right away in the first or second inning if they’ve got an opposing starter figured out. If they do, great. If they don’t, it’s probably going to be a long night.

So consider what the Nats did tonight against Chase Burns an important step in the right direction. The Reds’ rookie phenom made them look silly for four innings with an upper-90s fastball and a low-90s slider that produced 10 strikeouts. And then they began to make some adjustments along the way and took him down in the fifth and sixth.

That later-than-usual offensive surge, combined with an impressive, all-hands-on-deck pitching performance from Brad Lord and a makeshift bullpen put the Nationals in position to celebrate a well-earned 6-1 victory over Cincinnati.

It’s only the Nats’ third series win in their last 14 attempts. And they’ll have a chance Wednesday afternoon to do something they haven’t done since mid-May in Baltimore: sweep a three-game series.

"It's always fun to win a series before the series is over, that's for sure," center fielder Jacob Young said. "The chance to sweep is awesome. But it feels great to win a series early like that and have a chance to sweep tomorrow and kind of get the second half going."

Tonight’s win wasn’t obviously in the cards from the get-go, as so many of this team’s wins this frustrating year have been. The Nationals couldn’t touch Burns early on, the No. 2 pick of the 2024 draft overwhelming them in his fifth-career start. Through the game’s first four innings, they went a combined 2-for-14 with zero walks and nine strikeouts, getting a solo homer from Josh Bell (his second in as many nights) but nothing else of consequence.

Then, at long last, they decided to take a different tact with Burns. Rather than working the count and risking more strikeouts, they turned aggressive, looking for solid contact early in at-bats. And it worked.

"One, it's the first time anyone has seen him, especially at the big league level," Young said. "I think it takes some time sometimes with a guy like that. But I think the second time, we just got him up a few more times. Obviously, JB got us going. And then we kind of got those two-out hits that we were missing earlier in the year, throughout the year."

The Nationals did score a pair of runs in the fifth on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Young and CJ Abrams. Then they put themselves in prime position in the sixth, loading the bases and getting a two-out single to right by Riley Adams. Nathaniel Lowe and Luis García Jr. both scored via the hit, then Brady House scored as well when Jake Fraley’s throw to the plate got away from Tyler Stephenson and rolled toward the backstop.

Thus did the lineup wind up going 5-for-10 with two walks and one strikeout in the fifth and sixth innings against Burns, knocking the rookie from the game after he was charged with six runs.

"Being able to adjust AB to AB as a team, it's a good sign," Abrams said. "We put up runs today and got the win."

It’s been an eventful rookie season for Lord. He came to spring training as one of the organization’s top starting prospects. He made the Opening Day roster as a reliever. He was quickly moved into the rotation when Michael Soroka was injured in his first start. Then he was moved back to the bullpen when Soroka returned and turned himself into perhaps the team’s most trusted setup man.

Now the 25-year-old is back in the rotation, apparently for good. The only downside: He has to build his arm back up after being limited to one or two innings over the last 2 1/2 months.

So the Nationals understood they weren’t going to get more than three, maybe four, innings out of Lord tonight. He made the most of that limited workload, though, getting things started on the right foot with a seven-pitch top of the first. Aided by some nice defense behind him, Lord tossed a scoreless second and third, giving himself a chance to retake the mound for the fourth.

And though he surrendered a run via Elly De La Cruz’s leadoff double and Gavin Lux’s RBI single, Lord finished the inning with a modest pitch count of 50. He departed ineligible for the win, but having reestablished his starting credentials, with the promise of more to come as he builds up his stamina.

"There was no holding back on anything," he said. "It was the same mentality of three pitches or less. Here it is. Hit it."

The Nationals still needed someone to bridge the gap from starter to back of the bullpen, and that someone was Konnor Pilkington. Summoned from Triple-A Rochester earlier in the day precisely for this reason, the 27-year-old lefty knew the assignment and delivered by retiring all six batters he faced, striking out the side in the sixth. And thanks to his new teammates’ offensive surge, he found himself in line to earn his first major league win since June 1, 2022, with the Guardians.

"It was a lot of nerves," he admitted. "I wouldn't say so much nervousness, but there was a lot of excitement. It's a special time to go out there and be able to compete. I'm glad the Nationals gave me a chance to get back in the big leagues."

Once Pilkington was finished, the Nats still needed three more innings from their taxed bullpen to close this one out. They got them from the unlikely trio of Luis García, Andrew Chafin and Andry Lara, who was given the ninth with a five-run lead and Kyle Finnegan needing a breather.

"Everyone's got to contribute," interim manager Miguel Cairo said. "We cannot be using the same guy all the time, because I don't want to break their arms. Everyone is doing the little things. And when you're given the chance to be put in the best situation to succeed, that's what happens."