KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Nationals won Friday night’s series opener, but it required all manner of wackiness to pull it off, especially when it came to bullpen usage in the final three innings. Davey Martinez can only hope for an easier path to victory this afternoon as his team tries to secure a series win.

Josiah Gray gets the start, so that helps right off the bat. The right-hander has been the club’s most consistent starter, allowing two or fewer runs in eight of his 10 outings. He did, however, walk six batters Sunday against the Tigers, and that limited him to only five innings even though he gave up only one run. Gray will need to be around the strike zone more this afternoon, especially against what on paper is a weak Royals lineup (last night’s 10-run outburst notwithstanding).

For the second straight day, Kansas City sends a starter to the mound with an ERA over 7.00. Friday night, it was Jordan Lyles. Today, it’s Brady Singer, the one-time top prospect who has not yet come close to realizing his full potential. The 26-year-old right-hander is 3-4 with a 7.48 ERA and 1.642 WHIP, and he’s been hit hard by everybody: Left-handed batters own a .948 OPS against him, righties are at .881.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 79 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
CF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The nicest thing about Major League Baseball’s new schedule this season is that it allows every team from one league to play every team from the other league every year, alternating between a home series one year and a road series the next. For the Nationals, that means road trips to some places they haven’t visited much in the past, and Kansas City is high on that list.

The Nats have played at Kauffman Stadium only twice in club history. In August 2013, they took two of three from the Royals, the lone loss coming when Craig Stammen allowed two runs in the bottom of the eighth. And in May 2016, they also took two of three from the Royals, the lone loss coming thanks to a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon in the bottom of the ninth. Now the Nationals are back here, facing a Kansas City team that would have the worst record in the majors if not for the sham that is the 2023 Oakland Athletics.

Tonight’s pitching matchup is a doozy: Patrick Corbin vs. Jordan Lyles, owners of the two highest ERAs in baseball from 2020-22 (minimum 400 innings pitched). The good news for the Nats: Corbin has turned things around this season, with six quality starts in his last seven outings. Lyles, meanwhile, continues to be one of the worst pitchers in baseball, entering tonight a staggering 0-8 record with a 7.15 ERA. His biggest problem (and it’s certainly something Corbin can relate to): He has surrendered a league-leading 14 homers in 56 2/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 74 degrees, wind 12 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
CF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams

How are we at Game 50 already? It’s almost Memorial Day Weekend and this season seems to be flying by.

Also, who would have taken a 21–28 Nationals record through the first 49 games? That’s a three-game improvement from where they were at this point last season.

To add one more to the win column and take this three-game series against the Padres, the Nats will turn to Jake Irvin, who is 1-2 with 5.50 ERA and 1.611 WHIP over his first four major league starts. After allowing only one earned run over his first two starts, he’s allowed 10 over his last two, going only 7 ⅓ innings. The young right-hander will look to get back to what led to his early success.

The Padres are throwing veteran left-hander Blake Snell for this getaway-day finale. The 30-year-old has struggled to start the year, going 1-6 with a 5.60 ERA and 1.556 WHIP over his first nine starts. He was knocked around for six runs in just four innings in his last start against the Red Sox.

Snell is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 1.182 WHIP in four career starts against the Nats.

Tuesday night’s series opener had some extra emotions attached to it, what with Juan Soto returning to D.C. and MacKenzie Gore facing the Padres for the first time. Tonight’s game shouldn’t carry quite the same vibes, even though Soto obviously will still be playing in D.C. And he’ll be facing a guy who hasn’t pitched for the Padres before but is from San Diego.

Yes, Trevor Williams grew up there, so it’s always a bit of a big deal for the right-hander to face the Padres. More than anything, Williams wants to give the Nationals some length tonight and take some pressure off the bullpen, which wasn’t great in the wake of Gore’s 4 2/3-inning start Tuesday night.

The Nats will look to get something going offensively against Ryan Weathers, yet another left-hander. They’re currently in a stretch of facing nine opposing lefties in 15 games. The good news: They’ve hit much better against lefties, to the tune of a .299/.359/.441 slash line (it’s only .247/.307/.358 against righties).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SAN DIEGO PADRES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly clear, 79 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Stone Garrett
1B Dominic Smith
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams

Hey, have you heard Juan Soto is back in town? OK, so it is of course a big deal that the 24-year-old slugger is back in D.C. for the first time since mid-August, the second time since he was traded to the Padres. We’ll see what kind of reaction he gets from the crowd when he comes up to bat in the top of the first tonight … against one of the guys he was traded for.

Yes, adding some spice to tonight’s series opener is the presence of MacKenzie Gore on the mound for the Nationals. This will of course be Gore’s first career start against San Diego, and he’ll be challenged to keep his emotions in check and not get too amped up about the matchup.

Yu Darvish starts for the Padres, and that’s always a challenge for any lineup, let alone one with as little experience as the Nats have. Given how many different types of pitches Darvish throws, guys will have to be patient and focus on swinging at good pitches, not just anything that looks like a strike (especially early in the count).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SAN DIEGO PADRES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Hazy, 72 degrees, wind 11 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
3B Jeimer Candelario 
DH Joey Meneses 
LF Corey Dickerson 
C Keibert Ruiz 
1B Dominic Smith 
CF Alex Call 
SS CJ Abrams

The Nationals ended a four-game losing streak Saturday with a solid, 5-2 victory over the Tigers. They’d love to make it two in a row today and take the weekend series in the process.

The Nats have Josiah Gray on the mound, and that usually means they’re going to have an excellent chance of winning. The right-hander really has become their most reliable starter, having allowed three or fewer runs in each of his eight starts since his rough season opener and two or fewer runs in all but one of those starts. He’s also completed seven innings each of the last two times he’s pitched, further evidence of his growth since last year.

The Nationals have faced a bunch of lefties recently, and they get another one today in Detroit’s Joey Wentz. The 25-year-old impressed as a rookie last season, posting a 3.03 ERA and 1.102 WHIP in the first seven starts of his career. He’s been far less successful so far this season, with a 6.38 ERA and 1.445 WHIP through eight starts. Strangely enough, Wentz’s strikeout and walk rates have remained almost the same. The biggest difference from last year: He’s giving up a lot more hits, especially home runs (seven in only 36 2/3 innings).

Davey Martinez is going with a different look in his lineup this afternoon. Stone Garrett will bat cleanup against the lefty, and Riley Adams is giving Keibert Ruiz a well-deserved day off. But the most notable difference is that both CJ Abrams and Luis García are on the bench (García for the second straight day). So it’s Ildemaro Vargas and Michael Chavis up the middle of the infield.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. DETROIT TIGERS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 74 degrees, wind 11 mph in from left field

Happy Star Wars Day from Nationals Park! The team is giving away dueling light side vs. dark side Hawaiian shirts to fans today, so make sure you get to the gates on time.

On the field, the pitching duel sees Patrick Corbin making his 10th start of the season for the light side and Alex Faedo starting for the dark side.

Corbin is 2-5 with a 4.65 ERA and 1.430 WHIP entering this afternoon’s game. He has pitched much better over his last six starts, to the tune of a 3.47 ERA, though he is only 1-3 in those outings and the Nats have split them evenly.

Faedo is the only right-hander scheduled to start for the Tigers this weekend. The 27-year-old former first-round pick is making his third start of the season. He is 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA over his first two, with the Tigers having lost both games. He is 1-5 with a 5.32 ERA and 1.492 WHIP over the first 14 starts of his young career.

There’s a chance of rain tonight, supposedly starting around 6 p.m. Here's hoping we can avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s suspended game and either finish this one in time or avoid getting wet all together.

TORONTO - After yet another series-opening victory the Orioles today have a chance to win yet another series if they can beat the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the weekend set.

The Orioles have been hitting more homers lately, and added three more in Friday's 6-2 win as Ryan Mountcastle hit a three-run shot, Anthony Santander a solo and Adam Frazier a two-run home run. The Birds have hit 11 homers in the last five games. With 56 on the year as a team, they rank seventh in the American League in home runs.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (2-1, 6.57 ERA) will make his ninth start today, coming off an outing Monday when he allowed nine hits and eight runs in 3 1/3 innings versus the Los Angeles Angels. Over his past three starts, he has an ERA of 11.37, allowing six, two and eight runs. But on a positive note, the Orioles are 6-2 in his starts this year, a better winning percentage than the team's overall win percentage of .644, which is second-best in the major leagues.

The Orioles would be in first place today in five of the six divisions in Major League Baseball.

Right-hander Alek Manoah (1-4, 5.40 ERA) pitches for Toronto. Last season he finished third in the AL Cy Young Award voting, going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA. But this year he has an ERA of 6.59 his past three starts and has allowed 1.800 WHIP with a 1.6 homer rate.

It was a frustrating three days for the Nationals in Miami, where they lost three straight to the Marlins by a grand total of four runs. They continue to play close games, but they’re still learning how to consistently win a majority of those games.

They’ll give it another try this weekend with an interleague series against the Tigers, a team that’s also rebuilding and is also performing a little better than expected so far this season. Detroit is 19-22 despite a run differential of minus-48. (For comparison’s sake, the Nats are 18-26 with a run differential of minus-24.)

Like the Nationals, the Tigers don’t hit a lot. They’re last in the American League in runs, hits and on-base percentage, second-to-last in homers, walks, slugging percentage and OPS. Catcher Jake Rogers leads the team with five homers. Shortstop Javier Báez leads the team with 19 RBIs. Veteran left-hander Matthew Boyd, in his second stint with Detroit, is on the mound tonight. He was roughed up by the Mariners in his last start, allowing five runs and failing to get through the second inning.

Jake Irvin makes his fourth career start for the Nats, hoping to do what he’s done through the majority of his first three and just avoid the one bad inning that plagued him last week against the Mets.

Joey Meneses is back from his paternity leave and the Nationals have optioned Jake Alu back to Rochester to make roster room.

MIAMI – After dropping the first two games here against the Marlins, the Nationals need a win this afternoon to avoid a sweep.

That’s a position they are all too familiar with from last year. The Nationals lost five of their six series against the Fish in 2022, putting themselves in position to get swept in all five, and actually losing each game of the series three times.

They’ll rely on former Marlins draft pick Trevor Williams to help get the job done. Williams, who was a second-round pick by the Marlins in 2013, brings a 1-1 record, 4.23 ERA and 1.304 WHIP to his ninth start of the season. Having pitched in the National League his entire career to date, and with the Mets the previous two seasons, he has substantial history against Miami, going 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in nine appearances (four starts).

Eury Pérez gets the call for his second major league start for the home team. He is young, but has a big presence on the mound as the 20-year-old right-hander is listed at 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds. Signed as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2019, he is the Marlins’ top-ranked prospect, the No. 7 ranked prospect in all of baseball and the No. 2 ranked right-handed pitching prospect in the sport, per MLB Pipeline. He had a 2.32 ERA over six starts with Double-A Pensacola before getting the call to the majors, skipping Triple-A ball.

Pérez gave up two runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 4 ⅔ innings in his major league debut Friday against the Reds. He has a fastball that sits at 94-97 mph and peaks at 100, a deceptive upper-80s changeup, an upper-70s curveball and a mid-80s slider.

MIAMI – The Nationals will try to bounce back after last night’s heartbreaking loss to the Marlins when Hunter Harvey surrendered a two-run walk-off home run to Jorge Soler.

There are still two games left to play in this series and the Nats will have another good chance to get a win tonight with MacKenzie Gore on the mound. The young left-hander is 3-2 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.463 WHIP over his first eight starts, while still sporting an impressive 11.2 strikeout-per-nine-innings rate. Gore gutted through four shutout innings Friday against the Mets, a high pitch count of 96 shortening his outing. He’ll try to keep it down tonight in his first career start against the Marlins.

Edward Cabrera gets the start for the Fish. The 25-year-old right-hander is 2-3 with a 5.35 ERA and 1.670 WHIP over his first eight starts. He has struggled to get deep into games this year, only pitching into the sixth once. Cabrera is 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.063 WHIP in three career starts against the Nats.

The Nationals are planning to platoon left field with Corey Dickerson getting the starts against right-handers and Stone Garrett starting against lefties. With Cabrera on the mound for Miami, Dickerson returns to the lineup for the first time since being reinstated from the injured list on Monday, but as the designated hitter. He only appeared in the first two games of the season, as a pinch-hitter on Opening Day and as the starting left fielder on April 1 before hurting his calf in the eighth inning.

A roster move is expected to come before the game. Jake Alu has a locker in the Nats clubhouse and Joey Meneses doesn’t. Meneses’ wife is pregnant and due soon, so he should land on the paternity list. Ildemaro Vargas is playing left field while Dickerson is the DH.

MIAMI – Hello from loanDepot Park, where they make sure to stylize that with a lowercase L. I don’t understand why because even now in its third season since the name change from Marlins Park, I still read it as if it’s a capital I. But I digress …

Josiah Gray will get the ball to start this quick three-game road trip in South Beach. He’s been fantastic through his first eight starts of the season, sporting an improved 3-5 record, 2.96 ERA and 1.336 WHIP. The right-hander will look to continue that trend tonight as he hopes to fare much better against the Fish than he did last year: In six starts against Miami, Gray went 0-3 with a 5.67 ERA and a 1.560 WHIP.

To be fair, the Nationals as a team did not do well against the Marlins last year (or anyone in the National League East for that matter). They finished 4-15 against the Marlins in 2022 and started off by losing 12 of the first 13 matchups.

Former Nationals third-round pick Jesús Luzardo makes his ninth start of the season for the home team. You’ll remember him being included in the 2017 trade to the Athletics for Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson. He was then traded to Miami for Starling Marte in 2021. The left-hander is 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.412 WHIP on the season, but 0-2 with a 7.58 ERA and 1.895 WHIP in four career starts against the Nats.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

It’s been a long, often frustrating weekend at Nationals Park. And yet, there’s still a chance for the home team to emerge with an encouraging end result.

If the Nationals can win today’s finale of their four-game, wraparound series with the Mets, they’ll have continued their trend of playing .500 baseball over an extended stretch. They would split the series and improve to 17-17 since their 1-6 start to the season. Nothing to complain about there, right?

They’re going to need to do more in the clutch today than they did yesterday, when CJ Abrams drove in all four of their runs across 16 innings of play while the rest of the team went 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position. They won’t be facing Max Scherzer today; it’s left-hander David Peterson, who enters with a 1-5 record and 7.68 ERA.

Speaking of 1-5 records, Patrick Corbin starts for the Nats. That record isn’t entirely indicative of how he’s pitched. Over his last five starts, the lefty has a 3.56 ERA, 1.088 WHIP and 21 strikeouts to only three walks. And yet he’s gone 0-3 in those games, with the Nationals winning his two no-decisions.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 75 degrees, wind 8 mph out to center field

The Nationals pulled out all the stops to win the opener of today’s pseudo doubleheader, using five relievers en route to a 3-2 victory over the Mets. What does that leave for the nightcap? We’ll have to wait and see.

Jake Irvin makes his third career start, hoping to pick up where he left off last week in San Francisco, when he reached the seventh inning in impressive fashion. This is a very tough Mets lineup the right-hander is facing; he’ll have to throw strikes to avoid a high pitch count and an early exit.

If Irvin has any trouble, the Nationals have some length in the bullpen in the form of Cory Abbott. Turns out the team brought both Abbott and Joan Adon here from Triple-A Rochester, waiting to decide which pitcher would make more sense to add as the 27th man for this game. They decided to go with Abbott, who has bullpen experience, over Adon, who does not.

The lineup, meanwhile, will do its best against a guy named Max Scherzer, who returns to his old stomping grounds wearing blue and orange instead of his more familiar red and white uniform. Scherzer has made only one start since his 10-game suspension for sticky hands, and this start was pushed back due to neck spasms.  

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 77 degrees, wind 77 mph in from left field

So, here we are again. After a fiasco of a Saturday afternoon and evening, the Nationals and Mets are back at it this afternoon for what amounts to nearly a full doubleheader. Today’s originally scheduled 1:35 p.m. game has been pushed back to 4:35 p.m., with Jake Irvin and Max Scherzer still expected to start. But first, the teams have to complete Saturday’s game, which was suspended with one out in the top of the third, the Nats leading 1-0.

The Mets were threatening when the game finally went into a rain delay, with Michael Perez’s double to deep center leaving runners on second and third with one out and Brandon Nimmo due to bat. Trevor Williams had been on the mound for the Nats, but he won’t be back out there today. Davey Martinez was still contemplating Saturday night how to approach this. The hunch here: He’ll try to use one of his better relievers to get out of the jam in the third, then turn to his multi-inning relievers in the fourth inning and beyond.

Joey Lucchesi won’t return for the Mets, either, so Buck Showalter will need to decide who to use out of his bullpen for a clean bottom of the third, with Luis García due to lead off. There are at least 16 innings of baseball that need to be played today; it’s going to be a challenge for both clubs to get through it in one piece.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS (resumption of suspended game)
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 12:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 72 degrees, wind 7 mph in from center field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
*2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Alex Call
1B Dominic Smith
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Stone Garrett
SS CJ Abrams

It’s not exactly a beautiful day for baseball in the nation’s capital. Rain is expected all afternoon, so there’s a reasonable chance the second game of his four-game series between the Nationals and Mets doesn’t start on time. Will it be played at all today? Well, according to my sources (aka the same weather app all of you use), it’s supposed to rain from 2-7 p.m., then clear up after that. So, this late-afternoon game could very well turn into a night game. Stay tuned.

The Nats are looking to bounce back from a tough, one-run loss Friday night in which their starter lasted only four innings. They’ll need more than that from Trevor Williams, who faces his former team for the second time this season. Williams wasn’t great two weeks ago at Citi Field, allowing four runs on nine hits in five innings. The Nationals could sure use a more efficient outing from the right-hander today.

Williams was opposed that night by Joey Lucchesi, and he’ll again be opposed by the Mets left-hander today. The Nats got to Lucchesi for three runs in 5 1/3 innings, with Alex Call homering. Call is batting fifth today, ahead of Dominic Smith, Jeimer Candelario and Stone Garrett (who gets the nod in left field).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 68 degrees, wind 9 mph in from left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Alex Call
1B Dominic Smith
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Stone Garrett
SS CJ Abrams

The Nationals are back home after a 3-3 road trip and Thursday’s off-day. It’s an odd setup for this four-game series before the Nats head back on the road to Miami: They’ll play these four games against the Mets on Friday-Monday this Mother’s Day weekend.

MacKenzie Gore returns to the mound to start this series for the home team. The young left-hander is 3-2 with a 3.65 ERA and 1.432 WHIP over his first seven starts. His 11.68 strikeout-per-nine-innings rate is fifth in the major leagues, thanks to two recent outings. He struck out nine over six innings on Saturday against the Diamondbacks, and he tied his career high with 10 strikeouts over six frames against these Mets two weeks ago in New York.

Tylor Megill will make his eighth start for the Mets, going 3-2 with a 4.33 ERA and 1.500 WHIP to start the season. Since starting the year 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA, the right-hander is 0-2 with a 6.05 ERA over his last four starts, with the Mets losing three of those games.

Since starting the season 1-6, the Nationals have played .500 ball with a plus run differential over their last 30 games. Meanwhile, the Mets have been reeling. Starting with that series at Citi Field in which the Nats won two of three, the Mets are 4-11 with a -34 run differential. Entering this weekend, the Nats are only 1 ½ games behind the Mets in the National League East.

NEW YORK METS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 83 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right-center field

SAN FRANCISCO – The Nationals have an opportunity today to win another road series and head home with a .500 road trip. They’ve been a .500 team away from D.C. the entire season to date, entering this one with a 9-9 record (as opposed to 6-12 at home). And they’ll have one of their best starters on the mound this afternoon at Oracle Park.

Josiah Gray opened this trip with a rare blah start in Arizona, allowing three runs and seven hits in only five innings. He would very much like to get back on track today with an outing more reflective of the way he’s pitched through the majority of the season’s first six weeks. The Nats would love to get six-plus innings out of the right-hander, but with most of the bullpen fresh and a day off Thursday, Davey Martinez should have the flexibility to manage the later innings however he likes.

Sean Manaea starts for the Giants, and Martinez has a few changes to his lineup against the left-hander. CJ Abrams gets a rare day off (on the heels of a shaky performance Tuesday both at the plate and in the field), so it’s Ildemaro Vargas at shortstop. Keibert Ruiz also gets a well-deserved day off, his first of the trip, so it’ll be Riley Adams behind the plate. And Stone Garrett is back in left field against the left-hander, with Jake Alu coming off the bench following an 0-for-4 performance in his major league debut.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Oracle Park
Gametime: 3:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 58 degrees, wind 15 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
CF Alex Call
1B Dominic Smith
LF Stone Garrett
SS Ildemaro Vargas
C Riley Adams

SAN FRANCISCO – Don’t look now, but the Nationals have won 10 of their last 17. They’re 15-20 overall. They’re one game behind the Phillies, 1 1/2 games behind the Marlins, two games behind the Mets. Sure, it’s still early May, and there’s a whole lot that can still go wrong (or right), but this is unquestionably a better position than almost anyone envisioned this team being in at this moment.

The Nats will look to keep the good vibes rolling tonight in the middle game of this series against the Giants, hoping Patrick Corbin can pick up where he left off last time out. In far and away his best start in a long time, Corbin carried a one-hit shutout into the eighth inning against the Cubs before finally fading. He did so by pounding the strike zone, tunneling his fastball and slider to make them look the same coming out of his hand and keeping the opposing hitters off balance.

The Nationals would love to give Corbin an early lead like they did for Jake Irvin on Monday night. They’ll see what they can do against veteran Giants right-hander Logan Webb, trotting out the same lineup as the series opener with one notable exception: Jake Alu makes his major league debut, batting ninth and starting in left field.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Oracle Park
Gametime: 9:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 57 degrees, wind 16 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
C Keibert Ruiz
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
1B Dominic Smith
CF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
LF Jake Alu

SAN FRANCISCO – After a wild weekend in Arizona, what’s in store for the Nationals here in San Francisco? Oracle Park isn’t exactly a home run haven, so they may not want to count on hitting ninth-inning bombs again this week. But with all the room out there in the gaps, this could be a big series for doubles and triples.

Jake Irvin takes the ball for his second career start, having acquitted himself well in his debut against the Cubs. Irvin will need to be a bit more efficient this time around and try to avoid the four walks he issued last time out. He would also do well not to plunk the Giants’ leadoff man on his very first pitch.

The Nationals go up against veteran right-hander Anthony DeSclafani, who has been quite good so far this season. He enters 3-1 with a 2.13 ERA and a ridiculous 30-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in six starts. He tossed eight scoreless innings in Houston last time out, which of course is no small feat.

As Davey Martinez revealed after Sunday’s game, the Nats have made a roster move: Victor Robles officially was placed on the 10-day injured list today with back spasms, with utility man Jake Alu promoted from Triple-A Rochester for the first time in his career. With Robles sidelined, expect to see a lot of Alex Call in center field and Stone Garrett in left field, but we’ll see if Alu or Ildemaro Vargas get any time in the outfield as well.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Oracle Park
Gametime: 9:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 57 degrees, wind 14 mph out to center field