The Orioles begin a three-game series against the Reds tonight with a lineup that has Adley Rutschman leading off, Gunnar Henderson batting second and Cedric Mullins fifth.

Tyler O’Neill missed the last two games with neck discomfort but he’s in right field tonight and batting third.

Jordan Westburg is at third base. He’s in an 0-for-24 slump.

Gary Sánchez is catching. Heston Kjerstad is in left field and Jorge Mateo is at second. Jackson Holliday goes to the bench.

Mullins is 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. The rest of the team is 22-for-103 (.214).

PITTSBURGH – Good morning from PNC Park, where the sun is shining and the Nationals and Pirates are set to wrap up their four-game series with an early, 12:35 p.m. matinee. The Nats need to win this one to salvage a split. Having already lost two of three in Miami to begin this road trip, there’s some real pressure to emerge victorious today.

To do that, they’ll have to show more at the plate than they did Wednesday night, when Bailey Falter faced the minimum over seven innings en route to a 6-1 win. They’re facing another left-hander today in Andrew Heaney, who has been solid for the Bucs so far and held the Nationals to one run over seven innings last season when he pitched for the Rangers.

Heaney did not win that game last summer, though, and coincidentally he faces the same opposing starter this afternoon: Trevor Williams, who tossed five scoreless innings that day and earned a hard-fought, 1-0 win. Williams has not looked like the 2024 version of himself yet in 2025. This would be a good day for the veteran right-hander to recapture some of that magic and help pitch his team to a much-needed win before everyone departs for snowy Colorado.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Gametime: 12:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 55 degrees, wind 5 mph right field to left field

NATIONALS
RF Alex Call
DH James Wood
3B Amed Rosario
1B Nathaniel Lowe
RF Dylan Crews
2B Luis García Jr.
CF Jacob Young
C Riley Adams
SS Nasim Nuñez

PITTSBURGH – The Nationals won Tuesday night’s game, 3-0, but it came at a cost. Paul DeJong fractured his nose when he was struck by a pitch in the face, and he’s now on the 10-day injured list, joining CJ Abrams, who was lost over the weekend to a hip pointer strain. The left side of the Nats infield suddenly is quite thin.

They’ll have to hope Nasim Nuñez (4-for-7) continues to play well at shortstop in Abrams’ absence, and they’ll have to hope the trio of Amed Rosario, José Tena and the just-recalled Trey Lipscomb can hold their own at third base with DeJong out for a while. Some more power from James Wood (five homers over his last eight games) wouldn’t hurt, either.

Mitchell Parker will look to pick up where Jake Irvin left off Tuesday night and shut down a Pirates lineup that looked good in Monday’s series opener but overall has been among the least productive units in the league. Parker was outstanding in his first two starts, less so in his last outing against the Marlins (though he technically does have three quality starts to his name so far this year).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 49 degrees, wind 14 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
RF Alex Call
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Nathaniel Lowe
DH Josh Bell
3B Amed Rosario
CF Dylan Crews
2B Luis García Jr.
SS Nasim Nuñez

PITTSBURGH – The temperature has dropped about 30 degrees since Monday, with a strong wind now blowing in from the west, making the conditions at PNC Park far different than they were for the series opener. Maybe that can be a good thing for the Nationals, because they sure didn’t play well under Monday’s conditions en route to their third straight loss.

They’ll try to get back on track tonight behind Jake Irvin, who makes his fourth start of the season. The right-hander doesn’t have a decision yet, but the Nats have lost all three of his previous outings. He can do his part to put his guys in a better position to win by limiting the damage and going more than five innings this time around. That might also take some pressure off the much beleaguered bullpen, perhaps allowing Davey Martinez to use only his top three guys (Jorge López, Jose A. Ferrer, Kyle Finnegan) at the end.

At the plate, the Nationals will happily face anybody other than Paul Skenes. Not that Mitch Keller is a slouch. The 29-year-old right-hander has been a reliable starter for the Pirates for more than four years now, and he was outstanding last time out against the Cardinals, tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings on only 96 pitches.

Today, of course, is Jackie Robinson Day across the major leagues. Everybody will be wearing nameless No. 42 jerseys in honor of the 78th anniversary of his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, always a special occasion for all involved.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of showers, 46 degrees, wind 17 mph out to left field

PITTSBURGH – A road trip that looked much more manageable on paper than the recently completed homestand did has not proven to be all that manageable so far. The Nationals lost two of three in Miami over the weekend, and now they open a four-game series in Pittsburgh with a matchup against the best young pitcher in the sport.

Yes, Paul Skenes is on the mound tonight for the Pirates, the first time the phenom right-hander has faced the Nats in his career. Only two members of the Nationals’ current roster have any experience against Skenes, and even that’s minimal: two at-bats by Amed Rosario, one by Josh Bell. Suffice it to say, this is going to be a challenge tonight for the visiting lineup, which includes Nasim Nuñez at shortstop and Dylan Crews (Skenes’ old LSU teammate) in center field.

On the flip side of the equation, nobody with the Pirates has any experience against Brad Lord, because he’s making only his second career start tonight. Lord was solid in his previous outing, tossing three scoreless innings against the mighty Dodgers on 55 pitches. He should be good to build up to maybe 70 or so pitches tonight, and the Nationals would love for that to stretch out over five innings if possible. If not, it turns into another bullpen game, with Jackson Rutledge probably tasked with throwing multiple innings at some point along the way.

Also complicating matters: There’s a chance of storms here right around or shortly after first pitch. You wouldn’t think either team wants to risk burning up its starter, so they might just have to err on the side of caution and delay the start of the game. Stay tuned for updates.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 72 degrees, wind 11 mph right field to left field

MIAMI – The Nationals can still leave South Beach with a series win over the Marlins. Hopefully, they’ll get a complete team effort today to close it out.

MacKenzie Gore will lead the charge on the mound. The left-hander is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA, 1.059 WHIP and a league-leading 13.4 strikeouts per nine innings. Gore held a tough Dodgers lineup to just two runs with seven strikeouts over six innings in his last start. He’s set up to have another good day today, coming in with a 2-1 record, 2.22 ERA, 0.781 WHIP and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings in four career starts against the Marlins.

The Nationals offense will look to stay hot against Cal Quantrill. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA and 1.444 WHIP over two starts to begin his first year with the Marlins. But after giving up six runs in four innings against the Mets, he shut out the Braves over five frames in his last start. The seven-year veteran is 0-1 with a 4.24 ERA and 1.177 WHIP in four starts against the Nats.

Davey Martinez should have all of his high-leverage relievers available today to shut the door late if needed.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot park
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 7 mph in from left field

The Orioles have posted the same lineup in back-to-back days for the first time this season.

Heston Kjerstad gets another start in left field after hitting his first home run yesterday. Ryan O'Hearn is the designated hitter.

Ryan Mountcastle is batting eighth again, followed by Jackson Holliday.

The rainout pushed back Cade Povich’s start to today. He’s allowed four earned runs and seven total in 10 1/3 innings in his two outings.

Povich faced the Blue Jays twice last season and went 0-2 with an 8.38 ERA and 2.172 WHIP in 9 2/3 innings. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 4-for-5 with two doubles and a home run.

MIAMI – The Nationals have embarked on their first extended road trip of the season after only playing one series away from the friendly confines of Nats Park. That series resulted in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays in Toronto, so the Nats will be looking for better results over the next 10 days in Miami, Pittsburgh and Colorado.

First up: A weekend series in The 305. The Nats dominated the Marlins last season, winning 11 of their 13 matchups. They also won five of the six games played here at loanDepot park, with the lone loss coming in the last game in walk-off fashion.

Mitchell Parker makes his third start of the young season looking to improve his winnings streak. The left-hander is 2-0 so far with a 0.73 ERA and 1.216 WHIP. He went 1-0 with a 1.10 ERA and 1.041 WHIP in three starts against the Fish last year.

The Marlins activated Edward Cabrera off the 15-day injured list to make his first start of the season. The right-hander was dealing with a blister on his right middle finger and could be on a limited pitch count tonight. He’s 2-3 with a 4.02 ERA and 0.957 WHIP in six career starts against the Nats, including 0-2 with a 4.35 ERA and 0.774 WHIP in starts against Washington in 2024.

The roof is open here at loanDepot park, so weather may actually play a factor in this National League East matchup in South Beach.

MIAMI – After a wild, come-from-behind victory to start the series, the Nationals will be looking to jump ahead early in this afternoon’s contest against the Marlins.

In order to do so, they have a tough challenge ahead of them in Miami ace Sandy Alcantara. The former Cy Young Award winner has made two starts this season after missing all of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander has gone 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA, 0.931 WHIP and 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings over 9 ⅔ frames to start his 2025 campaign.

In 15 career starts against the Nats, Alcantara is 7-6 with a 3.42 ERA and 1.202 WHIP.

The Nationals will counter with Trevor Williams making his third start of the year. The right-hander is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA and 1.700 WHIP while completing five innings in each of his previous two starts.

Williams is 1-4 with a 4.95 ERA and 1.331 WHIP in 14 career appearances, nine starts, against the team that drafted him back in 2013. But he held the Marlins to one run over five strong innings in his lone start against them last year.

The last time the Nationals swept the Dodgers? That would be August 2008, when they won three straight behind the pitching efforts of John Lannan, Tim Redding and Collin Balester. Yeah, it’s been a while.

They’ve got a chance to do the unthinkable this afternoon when they take the field for the series finale, looking to keep up the positive momentum from the last two nights and not only complete a three-game sweep but a five-game winning streak that would leave them with a .500 record heading into a 10-game road trip to Miami, Pittsburgh and Colorado. Who saw that coming five days ago when they were 1-6 and facing this daunting schedule?

The Nats have been getting plenty of offense during this stretch, especially early in games, and they’ll try to do the same today against Los Angeles right-hander Landon Knack. They’ve got CJ Abrams back in the lineup after a two-day absence. Keibert Ruiz, meanwhile, starts his 11th game behind the plate, having sat only once so far this season. And Alex Call makes his fifth straight start (seventh of eight), forcing the issue with his hot bat and forcing Jacob Young back to the bench.

Jake Irvin gets the nod for the series finale. The right-hander wasn’t pleased with his last outing (four runs over five innings against the Diamondbacks), so he’ll be motivated to at minimum provide more length this afternoon. If he can’t, at least the Nationals bullpen is in better shape. Jose A. Ferrer, Jorge López and Kyle Finnegan should all be available today if the game is close late.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS 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: Sunny, 54 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

The Orioles placed starter Zach Eflin on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain and recalled reliever Colin Selby, who was on the taxi squad last night in Arizona.

Eflin has made three quality starts in his three outings this season and allowed six runs in 18 innings.

Two off-days could prevent the Orioles from needing a fifth starter until April 19. They currently have nine relievers on their roster.

Heston Kjerstad remains in left field today for the finale of the two-city road trip. Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter, with Ryan Mountcastle at first base. Ramón Urías is playing third base and Jackson Holliday is at second, which puts Jordan Westburg on the bench.

Dean Kremer makes his third start after allowing seven earned runs (eight total) and 13 hits in 9 2/3 innings. Right-handers are hitting .318/.333/.364 against him and left-handers are hitting .300/.333/.450.

Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter tonight in Arizona, Ryan O’Hearn is playing first base and Ryan Mountcastle is on the bench.

Jordan Westburg is the third baseman and cleanup hitter. Tyler O’Neill is in right field and Heston Kjerstad is in left.

Jackson Holliday is the second baseman.

Charlie Morton has made two starts with the Orioles and allowed nine runs and 13 hits in 8 1/3 innings. He’s struck out 13 batters.

Morton is making his 16^th career start against the Diamondbacks. He’s registered a 4.27 ERA over 86 1/3 innings. Morton has made nine starts at Chase Field and registered a 5.19 ERA in 50 1/3 innings.

Who would’ve thought three days ago the Nationals would find themselves on a three-game winning streak, against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers no less? And yet here we are, with the team having already clinched at least a .500 homestand against two of the best teams in the league, and now a chance to clinch a winning week with one more victory tonight or Wednesday.

After going all-in to win Monday’s opener, Davey Martinez has no choice but to take a different approach tonight. That starts with the guy starting the game: Brad Lord. After three relief appearances to begin his career, the 25-year-old right-hander now makes his first career start, essentially taking the injured Michael Soroka’s place.

Because he hasn’t been stretched out, Lord is probably good for only 45-50 pitches. Which means Jackson Rutledge will probably come out of the bullpen, either directly behind him or later on in the game, to provide multiple innings himself. And if the Nationals are in a position to win the game late, there’s no way Kyle Finnegan is pitching for a fourth straight day. So who gets the ninth? Jose A. Ferrer? Jorge López? Martinez would love to be in a position to find out.

Offensively, the Nats have done a lot more during this homestand than they did during the season’s first week, especially early in games. They will look to do the same tonight against the Dodgers’ own fill-in starter. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski was called up from Triple-A to replace the injured Blake Snell, who was supposed to take the mound tonight but is dealing with a shoulder ailment. Wrobleski is Los Angeles’ 11th-ranked prospect and made six big league starts last year, going 1-2 with a 5.70 ERA. He threw 76 pitches over 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his lone outing for Oklahoma City to begin the season, so he is stretched out to make a full start if he pitches well.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS 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: Clear, 45 degrees, wind 17 mph left field to right field

The Nationals beat the Diamondbacks on Saturday. Then they beat them again on Sunday. You know what that’s called? A winning streak! Now, can they keep it going against the defending World Series champions and their star-studded roster?

Yes, the Dodgers are in town the next three nights, so get ready for a whole lot of blue and a whole lot of Japanese media following Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Word is, there won’t be an empty seat in the press box during this series. Giddy-up.

It’s a great test tonight for MacKenzie Gore, who gets the ball for the series opener. The Nats ace was brilliant on Opening Day against the Phillies, then labored but minimized the damage against the Blue Jays. He last faced the Dodgers nearly a year ago, right here in D.C., and he was very good in that one: six innings of one-run ball. The key tonight: Efficiency. With all of their top relievers pitching much of the weekend, the bullpen could be thin for this game. Gore needs to get deep in the game.

The Nationals lineup finally did a good job jumping out to early leads against Arizona, and they’ll try to keep that up tonight against Dustin May. The oft-injured right-hander missed all of 2024 but is healthy again and tossed five innings of one-hit ball in his season debut against the Braves.

CJ Abrams sits tonight with tightness in his right thigh, while Paul DeJong moves to shortstop and José Tena starts at third base. James Wood slides up to the leadoff spot in Abrams' place. 

For the first time this season, the Nationals are in position to win a series.

The Nats will look to build upon the eight runs they put up in the first two games. But they will have a tough task against Diamondbacks starter Corbin Burnes. The right-hander is making his second start of the six-year, $210 million contract he received from Arizona over the offseason after he finished fifth in American League Cy Young Award voting in his one year with the Orioles.

Burnes was charged with four runs (two earned), four hits and three walks with eight strikeouts over 4 ⅓ innings in his Arizona debut against the Yankees. He did give up two home runs to that dangerous New York lineup, so maybe the Nats can follow the Bronx Bombers’ footsteps and take Burnes deep a couple of times this afternoon.

Today was supposed to be Michael Soroka’s second start in a Nationals uniform, but a right arm biceps strain landed him on the 15-day injured list. So instead it will be Trevor Williams taking the mound for his second start. Thanks to Thursday’s off-day, the right-hander will be on normal rest. Williams gave up 10 hits (all singles) and three runs in his 2025 debut against the Blue Jays, but for the most part had a solid five innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 57 degrees, wind 8 mph in from left field

KANSAS CITY – Tomoyuki Sugano gets his second chance in the majors this afternoon after leaving his debut with cramping in both hands.

Sugano allowed two runs and four hits in four innings at Rogers Centre in Toronto in the fourth game of the season. He faces the Royals today in the bitter cold, but at least it's dry.

Gunnar Henderson is serving as the designated hitter today and Gary Sánchez is catching. Adley Rutschman is on the bench.

Ryan Mountcastle moves up from eighth to cleanup. Cedric Mullins is batting third.

Heston Kjerstad stays in left field. Ramón Urías is at third base and Jordan Westburg is at second. Jackson Holliday is the shortstop.

The Nationals, plain and simple, need a win. They’re 1-6 to begin the season, and though they’ve pretty much been in every game, they have not shown an ability to do what they need to do late in those games to emerge victorious. They’ll give it another shot this afternoon against the Diamondbacks, perhaps inspired by the pregame induction of the inaugural 2005 club into the Nationals Park Ring of Honor.

Davey Martinez is going with a different look to his lineup. Facing Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, he’s got Amed Rosario batting second, the red-hot Nathaniel Lowe batting third, Alex Call batting sixth and Riley Adams finally getting his first start of the season, batting ninth. We’ll see what, if any, difference that look makes.

Mitchell Parker gets the start, and the young lefty will look to pick up where he left off in his season debut last weekend. He’s still the only member of the staff to reach the seventh inning so far in 2025.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
2B Amed Rosario
1B Nathaniel Lowe
DH Josh Bell
LF James Wood
RF Alex Call
CF Dylan Crews
3B Paul DeJong
C Riley Adams

And we’re back. After a brief international trip for their first road series of the season, the Nationals are back home for six straight against a pair of tough National League West foes. The undefeated, defending champion Dodgers come to town next week. But first up, it’s the Diamondbacks, the 2023 NL champs.

As stated numerous times over the last several days, the Nats really need to get their lineup clicking early. They’ve scored only two runs in the first three innings of six games to date. That’s a tough way to live. They’ll try to make it happen tonight against right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who they did beat last summer with three runs over 6 1/3 innings.

Jake Irvin gets the ball for the Nationals, on the heels of a good-not-great season debut. The right-hander lasted only five innings against the Phillies and put nine runners on base. But he limited the damage to two runs, an encouraging sign.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 69 degrees, wind 7 mph in from center field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Nathaniel Lowe
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Josh Bell
RF Dylan Crews
3B José Tena
CF Jacob Young

TORONTO – For the second time already in this young season, the Nationals find themselves needing a win to avoid a series sweep. They managed to do it Sunday against the Phillies. Now they need to do it again against the Blue Jays.

The good news: MacKenzie Gore is on the mound, looking to pick up right where he left off Opening Day. The lefty was utterly dominant that afternoon, striking out 13 over six scoreless innings of one-hit ball. Most impressively, Gore issued zero walks and kept his pitch count to a mere 93 even with all those strikeouts. He needs to bring that same approach to this outing against a good Toronto lineup.

The Nationals also need more offense than they’ve been getting, especially early in the game. They’ll be facing an unknown in Easton Lucas, a 28-year-old left-hander with a 9.82 ERA in 14 career major league appearances, all of them out of the bullpen. Lucas isn’t likely to pitch deep into this game, so it could wind up as more of a bullpen game for the Blue Jays. Regardless, now would be an opportune time for the Nats to string some hits together and finally score runs in bunches.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Where: Rogers Centre
Gametime: 3:07 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
2B Amed Rosario
C Keibert Ruiz
LF James Wood
1B Nathaniel Lowe
DH Josh Bell
RF Alex Call
3B Paul DeJong
CF Dylan Crews

TORONTO – The Nationals have done some things well through their first four games, but not enough things well. Which is why they enter tonight’s contest with a 1-3 record, in search of a win before things really turn upside down on them. Their best path to making that happen? More offense.

Though they’ve actually hit for power so far, with eight homers through four games (fifth most in the majors), they’re not scoring runs the old fashioned way. They’re batting just .121 (4-for-33) with runners in scoring position (fifth worst in the majors). So while the big swings have been nice, a few more clutch hits would be even nicer.

They’ll try to solve that problem tonight against Blue Jays ace José Berríos, who had a rough one on Opening Day. The Orioles got to the right-hander for six runs and nine hits (three of them homers) in five innings.

Trevor Williams makes his season debut as the Nats’ fifth starter. The veteran hopes to prove last year was no fluke, when he finished with a 2.03 ERA and 1.035 WHIP in 13 starts despite missing more than three months with an elbow strain. Williams’ task: Keep the ball down in the zone and keep Toronto’s hitters from getting the ball in the air.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Where: Rogers Centre
Gametime: 7:07 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors