As the bottom of the fifth came to a close at windy, gray Nationals Park late this afternoon, the home team finally had reason to feel encouraged for the first time in this four-games-in-48-hours series against the Braves. Brad Lord had tossed five scoreless innings to continue his September resurgence. The lineup had figured out Atlanta starter Hurston Waldrep at last, scoring three runs in rapid fire to take the lead and snap a 15-inning scoreless streak.

And then Miguel Cairo sent Lord back to the mound for the top of the sixth, a curious decision in the moment that only looked worse when the rookie right-hander gave up hits to two of the three batters he faced before getting pulled.

Not that the bullpen performed any better. Clayton Beeter really turned the top of the sixth into a mess, the Braves ultimately scoring four runs before tacking on two more against newly promoted reliever Sauryn Lao and three more off Shinnosuke Ogasawara to hand the Nats a thoroughly frustrating 9-4 loss that completed a miserable three days at the park.

When this series opened Monday evening, the Nationals trailed the Braves by four games at the bottom of the National League East standings, still with a shot at catching them for fourth place before season’s end. Four straight losses to Atlanta, however, dashed any hope of that and left the Nats at 62-91, matching their loss total from each of the previous two years with nine games still to be played.

"It's never easy to lose," rookie right fielder Dylan Crews said. "We want to win every single day, trust me. We want to go out there and win every single time we walk out onto that field. But we've got to fix some things. We've got to command the strike zone a lot better, from both sides. We do that, a lot of good things happen."

And we’re back! The Nationals will try to put this afternoon’s 6-3 loss to the Braves behind them and earn a split in this doubleheader with a victory tonight.

To do that, though, they’ll have to fare much better against another left-handed Atlanta starting pitcher. José Suarez held the Nats to two runs on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts over seven innings earlier today. The task only gets harder against Chris Sale in the nightcap.

Sale has followed up his 2024 National League Cy Young Award with another stellar campaign, posting a 5-5 record, 2.52 ERA, 1.121 WHIP and 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings over 18 starts in his ninth All-Star season. He missed time between mid-June and late August with a fractured rib cage, but he has a 2.55 ERA over his three starts since returning from the injured list.

The Nats will counter with their own All-Star southpaw starter: MacKenzie Gore. In his return from the IL with left shoulder inflammation, Gore held the Marlins to two runs over five solid innings in a tough-luck loss last week. This will be his first start of the season against the Braves.

You’ll notice Miguel Cairo’s lineup for the second game looks very different from the usual. CJ Abrams and James Wood (who struck out four times in the first game to have 209 on the season) are on the bench, while Nasim Nuñez plays shortstop and hits leadoff (yes, leadoff!) and Dylan Crews gets bumped up to the No. 2 spot.

After the surprising brilliance of Andrew Alvarez and the clutch performances of Dylan Crews and Robert Hassell III, the Nationals found themselves in position this evening to win a game in which they didn’t put a single man on base until the sixth inning.

It would’ve made for quite the uplifting outcome at the end of what was shaping up to be a disastrous day at the plate against Pirates rookie flamethrower Bubba Chandler.

Instead, the disaster came not at the plate but on the mound in the top of the eighth when three Nats relievers combined to allow four decisive runs via a flurry of walks and well-placed singles, the difference in a 5-1 loss on South Capitol Street.

What began as a scoreless pitchers’ duel between rookie starters Alvarez and Chandler, the latter of which was perfect through five innings, turned into a late bullpen meltdown, something the Nationals’ relief corps hadn’t experienced in a while.

"You're not going to be perfect all the time," interim manager Miguel Cairo said of a bullpen that has been among the majors' best units over an extended stretch. "The bullpen has been outstanding the last 3-4 weeks. Sometimes, you're just not going to have it. And you've got to move on, come back tomorrow and be good."

The Nationals knew all along James Wood was going to strike out a lot. And truth be told, when you glance at baseball’s strikeout leaderboard, you see a bunch of names with serious star power: Kyle Schwarber, Rafael Devers, Cal Raleigh and Shohei Ohtani all rank in the top 10 this season. Most high-strikeout guys are also high-production guys.

At the top of the list, though, stands Wood, who tonight tied and then broke the Nats’ club record with his 199th and 200th strikeouts of the season.

Ah, but there's more to Wood’s game than whiffs and called third strikes. He may not be producing in the second half of the season the way he did in the first, but he still has the ability to impact ballgames by impacting the baseball with extreme force. And, as it turns out, by firing baseballs to the plate from his position in left field.

Sure enough, what did Wood do tonight after striking out in his first two at-bats? He doubled twice, each of them coming in key moments that helped the Nationals rally from three runs down to take a three-run lead against the Pirates. And then, just when it looked like Jose A. Ferrer was about to blow his first save opportunity since becoming the closer more than a month ago, Wood fired a perfect strike to the plate to nail the potential tying run in the top of the ninth, helping secure the Nationals' 6-5 victory.

"He does insane things I've never seen players do before," third baseman Brady House said of his fellow 22-year-old. "It's almost like, it's awesome that he got the out, but I wasn't surprised at all. It's James. He does things that you can't imagine sometimes." 

MIAMI – This has not been, by any measure, the rookie season Dylan Crews or the Nationals expected. There was a sluggish start at the plate. Then a lengthy stint on the injured list. And though there have been encouraging moments here and then since his return last month, there still hasn’t been enough consistent production to get anyone excited about a guy who was supposed to be one of the most exciting young players in baseball.

There are nights, though, like this one when Crews does remind everyone just how much difference he can make. And that’s what the Nats must cling to as they look ahead to a 2026 lineup they hope is much more consistently productive than the 2025 version was, with Crews certain to be a key figure.

The version of the 23-year-old outfielder who showed up tonight during a 15-7 thumping of the Marlins was exactly the kind of player the Nationals thought they were getting with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. He went 3-for-5, ripping a clutch single up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run back when the game was close, hustling his way to swipe an extra base thanks to a nifty slide around the tag and then capping it all off with a no-doubt, three-run homer to turn this game into a rout.

"We've been working hard every day," he said. "It's just good to get some results, get a few knocks today."

Crews’ efforts – combined with plenty of others including a two-homer, six-RBI night from Josh Bell – helped lead the Nationals to their sixth win in seven games to begin the month of September. It’s a dramatic turnaround after three straight months in which they couldn’t even win 10 games, and it has probably saved them from the ignominy of a 100-loss season. Now 59-84, they need to go only 4-15 the rest of the way to avoid the century mark.

NEW YORK – Daylen Lile continues to be away from the Nationals while dealing with an illness. The young outfielder will miss his third straight game and stay at the team hotel in New York after “throwing up a little bit and not feeling good” over the past couple of days, according to interim manager Miguel Cairo yesterday.

Cairo provided a non-update update on Lile before tonight’s second game at Yankee Stadium, saying the Nats want the rookie to feel 100 percent better before he returns to the field … and to the clubhouse as to not get anyone else on the team sick.

“He was feeling a little better. Still a little under the weather,” Cairo said during his pregame media session. “We just want to give him one more day. Until he feels that he can do something, we're (not) going to bring him over here. We didn't want to get the rest of the team sick. But hopefully he's better and he'll come back tomorrow.”

That leaves the Nationals short-handed once again in The Bronx with the other four young outfielders available and in the starting lineup tonight against reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil.

James Wood remains in left field, Jacob Young is in center and Robert Hassell III is in right, while Dylan Crews serves as the designated hitter for just the second time in his young career.

PHILADELPHIA – The lights went down at Citizens Bank Park, the cell phones turned on and a sellout crowd of 44,757 roared as Jhoan Duran entered from the bullpen for the top of the ninth. There may be no more imposing scene in baseball right now, and here were the young Nationals forced to confront it head-on.

And confront it they did, with their most impressive rally of the season and arguably their best win in a very long time.

Behind clutch hits and aggressive baserunning from rookies Dylan Crews and Daylen Lile, the Nationals took down Duran, scoring the tying and winning runs en route to a 5-4 victory that left this ballpark stunned and left the visitors’ dugout in jubilation.

"This is what playoff baseball is all about," said Crews, who has seen the Nats go 27-26 in the games he's played this season, compared to 26-49 when he sat or was on the 60-day injured list. "If we want to get to where we want to get to, we have to play in environments like this. ... This is playoff baseball."

Trailing by a run when they came up to bat in the ninth, having already squandered opportunities with runners in scoring position each of the previous three innings, the Nats finally converted against one of the best closers in the sport. And they did it behind the efforts of two rookie outfielders.

The Nationals were down 6-0 in the top of the third Sunday afternoon. It was hot. It was muggy. They’d already clinched at least a four-game weekend split with the Phillies. And it would’ve been easy at that moment to be content with that.

But when Trea Turner lined a two-out single to right field, Dylan Crews charged the ball and did what his baseball instincts told him to do, no matter the score. He fired the ball toward the plate, hoping to get it there in time to nab Harrison Bader, who was trying to score from second.

The throw was on time. It was on target. And it one-hopped perfectly into the mitt of Drew Millas, who applied a swipe tag just as Bader was trying to slide into the plate. Umpire Jacob Metz ruled him out, and the Nats ran off the field with a much-needed emotional boost.

“I think any moment, you’re just trying to find a spark to get everybody going,” Crews said. “Luckily, I was in a position to get a spark going and was able to get the guy out at home to flip over the inning. It could be anybody that could be that spark, and luckily I was there to help us with the momentum.”

The throw, clocked at 95.4 mph, was impossible to ignore.

Consider this morning’s series finale on South Capitol Street a play in four acts, the second portion a hope-filled drama, the opening and third ones a full-blown Shakespearean tragedy before the final one left the crowd yearning for more but ultimately unsatisfied.

The encouraging portions came entirely during the third and ninth innings, when the Nationals erased a sizeable deficit and turned what looked like it would be another unsightly blowout in a day game into a suddenly competitive affair.

Alas, that alone wasn’t going to be enough to top the Phillies. An ugly opening to this 11:35 a.m. matinee from Mitchell Parker and the Nats defense, then a slog of a final six innings by the bullpen ultimately equaled an 11-9 loss to the Phillies.

Despite a spirited rally from down 6-0 to tied 6-6 in the third, then Paul DeJong's three-run homer in the ninth to turn 11-6 into 11-9, the Nationals couldn't finish the job. Daylen Lile doubled to bring the tying run to the plate and force Philadelphia closer Jhoan Duran into the game. But Duran won an eight-pitch battle with Dylan Crews, then struck out pinch-hitter James Wood on three pitches to end the game.

"I think it just shows the heart we've got," Crews said. "It takes a lot to come out here and play a really good team like that. We do an excellent job of not giving up, especially in the late innings."

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.

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

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.

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.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Though he has played the full nine innings on back-to-back days for Triple-A Rochester, Dylan Crews will remain on his minor league rehab assignment for now.

Crews is staying with the Red Wings, who are off today, the Nationals announced. He’s then scheduled to play the outfield again Tuesday and Wednesday in Rochester against Syracuse.

Those will be Crews’ 12th and 13th games played on this rehab assignment, a longer stint than most injured major league position players typically serve. The Nats, though, want to see the 23-year-old not only prove he’s healthy but that he’s consistently productive at the plate again before they intend to activate him off the 60-day injured list.

Out since he strained his left oblique muscle on a May 20 check-swing, Crews began his rehab assignment with Rochester on July 29. The plan was to slowly build up his workload until he was able to play nine innings in the field on back-to-back days. He did that for the first time this weekend, playing all nine innings in right field both Saturday and Sunday at Norfolk.

Crews’ offensive production has been decent – he’s 10-for-36 with a double, two homers, seven RBIs, one walk and six strikeouts in 11 games – but the Nats appear to want to see more still before they deem him big league-ready again.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Hello from Kauffman Stadium, which still looks great 52 years after it first opened. The Nationals are here for the first time since 2023, looking to pick up where they left off Sunday in San Francisco, having won two in a row from the Giants.

First things first: Dylan Crews is not here. He has not been activated off the 60-day injured list yet, even though he played nine innings each of the last two days with Triple-A Rochester. It sure seems like the Nats will wait until they return home Thursday to bring him back, but hopefully we’ll get more information here shortly.

As for who is here tonight, Cade Cavalli is on the mound, making his second big league start of the season, the third of his career. Cavalli’s return last week could not have gone much better: 4 1/3 scoreless innings on 88 pitches. He’ll try to be a little more efficient tonight, but more important is the quality of his stuff and the health of his arm.

Luis García Jr. returns to the Nats lineup after missing the entire weekend series with tightness in his back. He’s batting all the way down in the No. 8 spot against Royals left-hander Bailey Falter, which means Paul DeJong is again batting third, this time playing third base in place of Brady House. DeJong has been hot. Miguel Cairo will try to keep getting him at-bats.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Gametime: 7:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Thunderstorms, 77 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

There have always been three major items Dylan Crews needs to cross off before rejoining the Nationals’ roster. First, he needs to prove his oblique strain is fully healed. Then, he needs to prove his body is back in full baseball shape, capable of handling the rigors of the daily grind. Finally, he needs to prove he’s performing well again in minor league games, having success both at the plate and in the field.

At this point, Crews appears to be fully healthy. And he’s begun to perform on the field the last few days for Triple-A Rochester. What he hasn’t done yet is play a full nine innings, which now appears to be his final hurdle.

Crews is batting second and starting in right field tonight for the Red Wings, who are playing all week in Norfolk. It’s his first appearance in the field since Sunday, when he played six innings and took four plate appearances.

Crews served as Rochester’s designated hitter Tuesday, enjoying his best offensive performance to date: 3-for-4 with an RBI single. That came on the heels of a two-hit showing Sunday that included a double and a homer.

“The last two games, it’s been awesome,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “It’s good to hear he’s getting his timing, getting some hits, a homer. Now it’s just seeing how many at-bats he’s going to get in the rehab, and we’re going to see from there.”

On the (admittedly short) list of things to look forward to over the remainder of the Nationals’ season, the return of Dylan Crews from the injured list and the return of Cade Cavalli to the major leagues have to rank right near the top.

It’s been a frustrating summer for both former first round picks, both of them sidelined longer than initially hoped. And in both cases, the delay in rejoining the Nats’ big league roster has been cause for consternation.

Crews, who suffered a left oblique strain way back on May 20, does appear to be close to coming off the 60-day IL at long last. But he’s not quite there yet.

The 23-year-old outfielder began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester one week ago, and by all accounts things have gone well for him since. He has played in five games (four as the Red Wings’ right fielder, one as their DH) and he’s gone 3-for-13 with a double, a homer, four RBIs, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, three strikeouts and a stolen base. The homer and the double both came in his most recent game Sunday in Charlotte.

The issue: Crews hasn’t played more than six innings in a game yet, so he hasn’t fully built himself back up to full game-shape yet. We should learn more today about his next steps, but it would make sense for him to continue playing for Rochester (which opens a series tonight at Norfolk) for at least a few more days. Then the Nationals would have to decide if he’s ready to join them on their next trip to San Francisco and Kansas City, or if he still needs more time.

MINNEAPOLIS – Dylan Crews is ready to begin his long-awaited rehab assignment.

Crews, who has missed the last two months with a strained left oblique muscle, will join Triple-A Rochester to begin playing games Tuesday, the final step before his eventual return to the Nationals’ active roster. The Red Wings play on the road this week in Charlotte.

The club has taken a cautious approach with the 23-year-old outfielder, bringing him along slowly and making sure he crossed off every item on his checklist before clearing him to play in games. This last week offered him his first chance to face live pitching in the cage to go along with the regular rounds of batting practice, defensive drills and baserunning exercises he had already been participating prior to that.

“I know it took maybe a little bit longer than some people would’ve wanted it to,” he said. “But we’re trying to make sure it’s all right, and that way we don’t have to restart and have to do this whole thing all over again.”

Crews initially hurt himself on a checked swing May 20, landing on the 15-day injured list the following afternoon. He was transferred to the 60-day IL earlier this week, a procedural move needed to open a spot on the 40-man roster for left-hander Konnor Pilkington. The Nats will need to clear another 40-man spot before Crews can be activated.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Nationals signed second-round pick Ethan Petry today and in the process went over their total slot pool for this year’s draft.

Petry, an outfielder from South Carolina who hit 54 homers over the last three seasons, signed for $2.09 million, a source familiar with the deal confirmed. That’s slightly above Major League Baseball’s recommended slot value for the 49th overall pick in the draft ($1,984,200).

Petry was the last of the Nats’ top 10 selections to sign, so they’ve now locked up everyone who was subject to the draft pool. He joins third-round pick Landon Harmon ($2.5 million), fourth-round pick Miguel Sime Jr. ($2 million) and fifth-round pick Coy James ($2.5 million) in receiving above-slot bonuses. Petry is the lone college player from that group.

No. 1 overall pick Eli Willits officially signed last weekend for $8.2 million, a record amount for a high school player but nearly $3 million below slow value for the top choice in the draft this year. The Nationals managed to apply those savings, plus money saved with below-slot bonuses for their sixth through 10th round picks, to lure the three other high school draftees to sign instead of honoring their college commitments.

All told, the Nationals spent $17,365,000 on their top 10 picks, exceeding their MLB-designated draft pool of $16,597,800 by $767,200. That makes them subject to a league-imposed 75 percent tax on their overages, which equates to an extra $575,400 spent this year on draft picks.