He entered the season as the Nationals’ most promising, highest ceiling, young starter. And two months in, MacKenzie Gore was building himself a case for an All-Star selection and the designation of staff ace.

Two-plus months later, the Nats are left wondering what in the world happened to make Gore’s season devolve this much. And what they’re supposed to do about it now.

With another laborious, abbreviated start featuring a lack of command, an inability to put away hitters and one back-breaking hit, Gore was roughed up yet again and left the Nationals in a hole they tried to climb out of but ultimately could not in a 6-4 loss to the Angels.

The left-hander lasted only four innings, giving up five runs (albeit five unearned runs) while letting 11 batters reach base, six via walk. His bullpen only poured more fuel on the fire, the team ultimately issuing 13 total walks during the affair, establishing a club record for a game of any length.

"If one guy walks, or you get a guy in scoring position, you're trying not to give up that hit or that run. You put a lot of pressure on yourself," manager Davey Martinez said. "That's the only thing I can think of. You're forcing yourself to get the ball over the plate. And that's when all the balls start happening. We've got to focus on just getting to the next pitch, and focus on that one batter, not try to get ahead of ourselves." 

ST. LOUIS – They overcame another subpar start from MacKenzie Gore, clawing their way from back from a three-run deficit to pull even with the Cardinals in the seventh.

And thanks to four scoreless innings from their bullpen, the Nationals gave themselves a chance to finally take the lead in the 10th. At which point Jacob Young came through with the biggest hit of his young career.

Young laced a three-run triple to right with two outs in the top of the 10th, the big blow the Nats desperately needed to complete their 28th come-from-behind win of the year, this one by the final score of 10-8 at a stunned Busch Stadium.

One night after getting no-hit for the second time in a calendar year and getting shut out for the 12th time this season, the Nationals cracked double-digits for only the seventh time in 2024.

"It's in the past. Turn the page," said Juan Yepez, who came through with three hits and two RBIs against his former team. "Just be aggressive and trust our talent. Swing hard, put the ball in play and play for the team. I think that's what we did, and that's how we got the win."

That the Nationals had to ask for at least seven innings from their bullpen for the second time in four games was aggravating. That they somehow were still in position to win another one of these games was absolutely remarkable.

And yet here the Nats were once again, forced to turn to the bullpen early after an extra-abbreviated outing from their starter. And here they were once again finding a way to emerge victorious at the end of the night, storming back from an early deficit created by MacKenzie Gore to beat the Reds, 5-4.

"Well, that was a grind," manager Davey Martinez sighed. "The boys played hard. They played with their heart."

They pulled it off by chipping away at Cincinnati’s early lead, scoring two runs in the first, one in the fourth, one in the seventh and one more in the eighth on Jacob Young’s clutch two-out RBI single.

And they pulled it off thanks to another brilliant performance by a relief corps asked to work overtime after Gore lasted only two laborious innings.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Help is on the way for the Nationals’ power-starved lineup. But it’s not scheduled to arrive until Monday, leaving the current group to have to try to get the job done this weekend against the Rays.

And if tonight’s series opener was any indication, it’s going to continue to be tough sledding until James Wood joins the bunch. Especially if Jesse Winker has now been lost to injury.

Hours after news broke they intend to promote one of baseball’s top prospects Monday for the start of an eight-game homestand, the Nats slogged their way through a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay that was made worse by Winker’s right knee injury in the bottom of the first.

Already reeling from a three-game sweep in San Diego, the Nationals were held to one run on five hits by the Rays’ pitching staff, leaving them with a 38-43 record at the official halfway point of the season.

"We were one game under .500 before we got to San Diego," center fielder Jacob Young said. "So I think we're right there. We've played a lot of teams tough. We've had a pretty tough schedule. I think we've played well. We just need to keep going one game at a time and try to get some victories and get off this little four-game slide we're on."

DENVER – The 2024 Nationals established their offensive identity way back in April. Knowing they couldn’t match most other clubs in the power department, they decided to take advantage of their above-average speed and try to become the majors’ best baserunning team.

And for eight good weeks, they delivered in that department. The Nats racked up an astounding 77 stolen bases through their first 47 games, getting caught only 14 times for an impressive 84.6 percent success rate.

Since then, the numbers have plummeted and left the Nationals as the majors’ least effective baserunners. Over their last 29 games, they’ve stolen 27 bases but have been thrown out 24 times, a hard-to-believe 52.9 percent success rate that ranks far and away at the bottom of the league during the last month.

And it perhaps reached a low point Saturday night during an agonizing 8-7 loss to the Rockies that garnered attention for Kyle Finnegan’s walk-off pitch-clock violation in the bottom of the ninth but featured plenty more miscues along the way.

The Nats attempted four stolen bases in the game and were thrown out three times, including CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas in back-to-back plate appearances in the top of the seventh, just as the team was taking a 7-5 lead.

In this season of progress, the Nationals are beginning to establish which quality opponents they can hang with. They’re also establishing which opponent they can dominate: the Marlins.

There should be no question at this point how these two division rivals stack up in 2024. With a 3-1 Father’s Day victory on South Capitol Street, the Nats improved to 7-0 against Miami. They’ve already clinched the season series, with six games still to play in September.

The Nationals have outscored the Marlins 48-18 for the season. They outscored them 15-2 this weekend, and the only two runs they surrendered came on infield singles.

"You've got to beat teams in your division in order to know where you're at," said manager Davey Martinez, whose team was a miserable 6-26 vs. Miami the last two seasons. "We've done that with them. ... It's the only way you're going to win your division, right? You've got to beat the teams in your division."

Suffice it to say, the pitching was exquisite, and today was no exception, with Mitchell Parker once again delivering a winning performance before the bullpen took over late.

DJ Herz’s major league debut wasn’t the fairytale Mitchell Parker experienced two months ago at Dodger Stadium. Neither was it the nightmare suffered by countless other Nationals rookies over the last decade.

Herz wasn’t great in his first career start. Neither was he bad. The rookie left-hander pitched with some confidence, escaped a couple of early jams, then began to succumb as his evening progressed.

In the end, Herz allowed two runs while he was in the game, plus another two that were charged to him after he departed in the top of the fifth. And because his teammates did very little at the plate themselves, he wound up charged with the loss as the Nationals fell 6-3 to the Mets.

"He was a little nervous," manager Davey Martinez said. "He was sweating like crazy out there. But you know what, in big moments he kind of settled down and threw strikes and looked really good."

The Nats hoped for something more akin to Parker’s sparkling April debut in Los Angeles, when the unheralded rookie left-hander struck out Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani, went five strong innings and became the franchise’s first starting pitcher to win his major league debut since Stephen Strasburg.

CJ Abrams and Jacob Young are once again out of the Nationals lineup, leaving the team shorthanded once again with two regulars dealing with injuries.

Abrams, who jammed his left shoulder making a diving play at shortstop Friday night, is sitting for the third straight day. Young, who took a pitch off his right hand Saturday afternoon, is sitting for the second straight day.

Davey Martinez said Abrams has reported improvement in his shoulder each day, but it does continue to bother him when he swings.

“CJ said he felt better today than he did yesterday, so it is getting better,” the manager said. “I figured just give him another day, and hopefully if we need him (off the bench), he’s available.”

Young tried to hit in the cage today and reported his hand remains sore, so the Nationals decided not to push it and gave him his second straight day off.

CLEVELAND – The Nationals swapped out backup catchers this morning, optioning Riley Adams to Triple-A and recalling Drew Millas from Rochester, hoping the latter can provide a more potent bat in the big leagues while the former tries to rediscover his swing (while also getting playing time at another position) in the minors.

Adams got off to a hot start to the season and filled in admirably when starting catcher Keibert Ruiz dealt with a bad case of the flu, batting .293 with six extra-base hits and an .863 OPS through his first 12 games.

But he’s been in a prolonged slump since then, batting just .132 with one double and 16 strikeouts over his last 13 games. He hit a low point Saturday afternoon, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and letting a bounced pitch from Mitchell Parker get past him and roll all the way to the first base dugout as the Guardians’ José Ramírez scored all the way from second for what proved to be the decisive run in a 3-2 loss.

The Nationals hope more consistent playing time at Triple-A will give Adams a better chance of rediscovering his swing.

“It was a timing thing. He’s just got to get himself ready earlier,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It’s hard to do when you’re not playing every day. So getting him at-bats every day, and getting him locked in again, definitely will help him.”

CLEVELAND – Over the course of this afternoon’s game at Progressive Field, the Nationals allowed two runs to score on a popup, allowed another to score all the way from second base on a wild pitch, had one of their own runners tagged out after rounding third base too far, had another picked off first base even when he wasn’t being held on, saw their manager get ejected, saw their shortstop get scratched shortly before first pitch due to injury and saw their center fielder depart later due to injury.

It was, by any measure, an ugly performance from the visitors, the kind of performance they couldn’t afford against one of the majors’ hottest teams.

And yet, somehow the Nats still found themselves with a chance to beat the Guardians, if only they could come through with one modest rally before game’s end. Alas, they could not. And so this went down as a 3-2 loss, and certainly one of the weirder and more frustrating losses of the season.

"You feel like we lost that game more than they won it," catcher Riley Adams said.

Already playing without shortstop CJ Abrams, who was scratched less than an hour before first pitch due to a jammed left shoulder suffered Friday night, the Nationals also lost center fielder Jacob Young to a swollen right hand he first noticed after making a long throw to third base in the seventh inning.

ATLANTA – The Nationals have always focused on starting pitching. They boasted some of the best rotations between 2012-19, en route to winning four division titles, a National League Wild Card berth and a World Series championship.

Now after a few lean years, they’re starting to see a new generation emerge as one of the best rotations in baseball. And over the last week, manager Davey Martinez, pitching coach Jim Hickey and pitching strategist Sean Doolittle have their young rotation on an impressive stretch.

Following last night’s 7-2 win over the Braves, Nationals starters have pitched to a 2.36 ERA (11 earned runs in 42 innings) with 52 strikeouts and just five walks over the last seven games.

During that stretch, Jake Irvin has allowed two runs and two walks with 16 strikeouts in 12 ⅓ innings over his last two starts. MacKenzie Gore has allowed three runs (two earned) and one walk with 18 strikeouts in 12 ⅓ innings over his last two starts. Mitchell Parker gave up three runs and no walks with six strikeouts over six innings on Monday. Trevor Williams gave up one run and no walks with eight strikeouts in five innings on Saturday. And even Patrick Corbin turned in a quality start Sunday, giving up four runs (three earned) and two walks with four strikeouts in six innings.

“They're pitching really well,” Martinez said. “They’ve got the fastball. We always talk about how McKenzie's stuff is really good. They're utilizing his fastball, but they're also mixing in the breaking balls when they need to, and they've been effective. And they're getting better at being efficient. That's what I love about him. Hickey talks about that every day with these guys, understanding what you can do in certain situations. They're buying in and doing well.”

ATLANTA – Davey Martinez cautioned his team about the challenges facing a new pitcher ahead of tonight’s game against the Braves.

Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach made his major league debut for the home team three years after being drafted, having Tommy John surgery and making only 24 minor league starts between last year and the start of this season, topping out at Double-A two weeks ago.

Was the plan to be more patient or aggressive against the rookie?

“You could look at it both ways,” Martinez said before the game. “Like I said, you want to get strikes. We got a young team that is very aggressive and they love to swing. But you gotta get him in the zone. … The key is to work some at-bats, see some pitches, see what he's got and then go from there.”

For the first half of the game, the Nats couldn’t decide if they wanted to be patient or aggressive against Schwellenbach. Some guys battled long at-bats, while others took hacks early. Either way, it led to poor results, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving four runners on base into the fifth inning.

They waited around all afternoon in the summerlike heat and humidity, waiting for the home team to give itself a legitimate chance to score and get itself back into a very winnable game.

And when the situation finally presented itself in the bottom of the seventh, and then again in the bottom of the ninth, the crowd of 21,837 tried to muster up the energy to encourage the Nationals to come through at last in a big spot.

In each case, the air was sucked back out of the ballpark. And by day's end, the Nats had suffered another demoralizing loss, this one by the count of 3-2 in the rubber game of their series against the Twins.

Tuesday night’s 10-0 blowout was no fun at all. But this wasn’t any more enjoyable, not with the Nationals lineup yet again unable to mount any semblance of sustained offense. As has been the case too often the last two weeks, the opportunity to win a low-scoring game was right before their eyes, thanks to another effective pitching performance from Jake Irvin and the bullpen.

But as has too often been the case as well, the Nats simply couldn’t take advantage of it. They’ve now lost nine of their last 11, and in seven of those games they’ve scored two or fewer runs.

BOSTON – After running out the same lineup for the first two games against the Red Sox, Davey Martinez mixed it up for Sunday’s finale at Fenway Park.

Jacob Young and Trey Lipscomb are getting rare days off today. Victor Robles returns to center field with Jesse Winker in left and Eddie Rosario in right, while Ildemaro Vargas takes over at third base and Nick Senzel serves as the designated hitter. And Riley Adams is giving Keibert Ruiz some rest for just the fourth game since returning from the injured list with a case of influenza.

“Jacob has been playing. He's just been beat up a little bit, so I want to give him a day,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “Give Lipscomb a day and get Vargas in there. For me, it's about keeping all these guys engaged and keeping them fresh. Riley's in there today, Senzel's back in the day. But these young guys are playing really well. I gotta make sure I take care of them and that they're fresh. Here we go today. Try to go 1-0 today.”

Neither Young nor Lipscomb made the Opening Day roster out of spring training. But both were early call-ups and have been getting the majority of the playing time in their respective positions. Young has played in 30 of the Nats’ first 38 games, starting 27 of them. Lipscomb has played in 29 games, starting all but one of them.

Young is fourth in the National League with 12 stolen bases and started his career a perfect 25-for-25 in stolen base attempts, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak to start a major league career. He is also one of three current major league players to have at least a .275 average, 20 runs and 10 stolen bases (Trea Turner and Bobby Witt Jr.).

Victor Robles is back on the Nationals roster, but not back in their lineup yet.

The Nats activated Robles off the 10-day injured list this afternoon, the outfielder having proven he has fully recovered from the left hamstring strain he suffered during the season’s first week. The club optioned Alex Call to Triple-A Rochester to clear a roster spot.

Robles played in only four games before suffering his injury running the bases. He was off to a solid start, reaching base in three of his five plate appearances and stealing two bases, on the heels of a strong spring in which he hit .368 with a .455 on-base percentage.

All that progress, though, was disrupted by his injury, which knocked him out a full month. He went on a rehab assignment in Rochester last week and over the course of six games went 7-for-20 with a double, a triple, three RBIs and three walks, convincing club officials and himself he was ready to return.

“I feel great,” he said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “My legs feel great. I have no discomfort when I’m running around.”

To the eye, the Nationals have played better defense this season, whether in the form of above-average plays in the infield, strong throws from the outfield or improved work behind the plate.

The metrics don’t quite see as much improvement yet.

The Nats enter today with minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved, which ranks 26th out of 30 major league clubs, according to Sports Info Solutions. They rate better in FanGraphs’ overall defensive metric, checking in at 19th in the majors.

The most encouraging sign of improvement is in the old-fashioned department of errors: The Nationals have been charged with only 14 of them this season (tied for fifth-fewest in the majors), and that includes the four errors they committed during Saturday’s ugly 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays.

“Just one of those days,” manager Davey Martinez said afterward. “We’ve been playing really good defense, and I harp on it all the time. Today just wasn’t that day.”

Jacob Young is available off the bench for Saturday’s game after departing in the top of the fifth inning of Friday’s 9-3 victory over the Blue Jays.

While batting leadoff and playing center field, Young was 1-for-2 with a leadoff double in the third, coming around to score the Nats’ first run of the night, but was replaced two innings later by Jesse Winker with back spasms, manager Davey Martinez confirmed after the game.

The 24-year-old outfielder was seen in the Nats clubhouse this afternoon coming back from the batting cages with his bat and gloves, presumably taking swings to test out his back. Although he’s not in the starting lineup, with Alex Call taking over in center field and CJ Abrams bumped back up to the leadoff spot, Martinez said Young should be available to either pinch-hit or pinch-run.

“He's better today. He's better,” Martinez said of Young. “He'll be available, maybe, to come off the bench. Pinch-hit or pinch-run or something. But he's doing better.”

Even though Young is feeling better, Martinez did not play with the idea of putting him back in the starting lineup today.

Asked this afternoon about the new-look lineup he put together after his Nationals were held to two total runs the previous three days, Davey Martinez smirked.

"The definition of insanity, right?" the manager said. "Hey, I'm going to try to do something."

That new look – Jacob Young leading off, ahead of CJ Abrams – did produce the Nats’ first run of the night against the Blue Jays. But it was Martinez’s other big decision later in the evening that paid off the most.

With his offensively challenged team desperately needing runs in bunches, Martinez sent Luis García Jr. to the plate to pinch-hit for Trey Lipscomb with two on in the bottom of the seventh. Seconds later, García was circling the bases to flashing red stadium lights, his three-run homer giving the Nationals a lead they ultimately expanded into a much-needed, 9-3 victory over Toronto.

"It's hard to explain with words the emotions that run through you," said García, who is now batting .300 with an .800 OPS, via interpreter Octavio Martinez.

ARLINGTON, Texas – This wasn’t how Jacob Young envisioned the streak coming to an end. If he was finally going to be thrown out trying to steal a base, he didn’t want it to be the result of an overslide.

“You’d rather get thrown out by six steps than have something like that happen,” the Nationals rookie said with a laugh. “But in my mind, it was going to end eventually. I feel like throughout (the streak), we were able to change a lot of games doing it. We’ll just keep on going and start a new one.”

Young had been a perfect 25-for-25 stealing bases since making his major league debut late last season. It was the fifth-longest streak to begin a career in major league history. And when he took off for second in the top of the ninth Wednesday night, he had good reason to believe he was about to be 26-for-26.

Young beat Rangers catcher Jonah Heim’s throw, his left hand reaching second base before shortstop Corey Seager applied the tag. But his momentum carried him past the bag, and perhaps with a little extra push by Seager’s glove, he came off the base with the tag still applied. Second base umpire Alan Porter called him out, and thus did the streak end.

Young had a brief conversation with Porter, asking about the possibility of a push. The umpire told him what Seager did was legal.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Hello from Globe Life Park, home of the defending World Series champions. The Nationals come to town flying high after a four-game sweep of the Marlins, but the challenge over the next three days will be markedly more significant. If they can pull off another win tonight, though, it’ll be notable for a couple of reasons: 1) The Nats would own a winning record at any point in the season for the first time since July 1, 2021, and 2) They would finish April with a winning record for the first time since 2017 (when Dusty Baker was manager).

The Nationals have been getting excellent starting pitching through this run, so they’ll hope that continues tonight with MacKenzie Gore. Though he didn’t have his best stuff last week, Gore impressively held the Dodgers to only one run in six innings. He should enter this start with confidence.

At the plate, the Nats will try to keep the pressure on by not only getting on base but advancing once they’re on. We saw how effective they could be running over the weekend in Miami. Look for more of the same tonight against Texas starter Jon Gray and catcher Jonah Heim, who has thrown out only 3-of-18 base stealers so far this year.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TEXAS RANGERS
Where: Globe Life Park
Gametime: 8:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF Jesse Winker
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
DH Nick Senzel
RF Eddie Rosario
3B Trey Lipscomb
CF Jacob Young