DENVER – Far be it for anyone to anoint this kind of title upon anyone this early in the season, let alone a 24-year-old who has made only two starts for the organization since his acquisition last summer. But if we want to consider this literally, there’s really no question about it: MacKenzie Gore has been the Nationals’ stopper.

The team has won only two of its first eight games. And the winning pitcher in both of those games has been Gore, who followed up his impressive debut against the Braves with an equally strong performance Friday night in the Nats’ 10-5 victory over the Rockies.

Gore stopped a two-game losing streak to begin the season. And now he’s stopped a four-game losing streak that went all the way back to his last start. That seems to make him worthy of the title, right?

“I think everybody here is capable of doing that,” he insisted. “We can win. We played really good today, we played really good the other day when I pitched. Now we need to figure out how to do that consistently and build off each other. We won yesterday, so let’s try to win again today. That’s what we’re going to try to get to. Everybody’s capable of being a stopper. It’s just kind of worked out this way so far.”

It’s worked out this way because Gore has been head-and-shoulders better than the other four members of the Nationals rotation. In two starts, he has allowed a total of three runs on eight hits, striking out 12 over 11 1/3 innings. And because of that – plus some well-timed run support from his teammates – he has emerged with two wins in two starts, confirming what the club believed all along in acquiring him as part of last summer’s Juan Soto blockbuster deal with the Padres.

DENVER – In this, their eighth game of the season, the Nationals will use their third different leadoff hitter.

Alex Call gets the call tonight against the Rockies, batting first after Lane Thomas (five games) and Luis García (two games) previously handled the responsibility.

Why Call, particularly against José Ureña, a right-handed starter? His .400 on-base percentage so far this season makes a good case for him. So does this particular matchup with Ureña, who struggled with command in his season debut last week.

“The matchup with this guy, I like Alex up there,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He walks some guys. Alex does a great job of being that pesky hitter. We’ll see if we can get him on base.”

Call has performed well since being thrust into a semi-regular job as the starting left fielder while Corey Dickerson is on the injured list with a calf strain. The 28-year-old is batting just .214 (3-for-14) but he’s drawn a team-high five walks, elevating his on-base percentage. He’s also tied with Thomas for the team lead with four RBIs.

DENVER – The Nationals have won one game so far through the first week of the 2023 season. That one win came with MacKenzie Gore on the mound. So even though there hasn’t been a lot to get excited about since Opening Day, the presence of the young lefty on the mound should be enough to get excited about tonight’s game at Coors Field.

Gore was outstanding in his Nats debut, holding the Braves to one run and three hits over 5 1/3 innings. Tonight he faces a Rockies lineup that only managed one run yesterday off Josiah Gray and Mason Thompson, and that run was possible only because of a fly ball lost in the sun. You hate to ask a 24-year-old making his second-ever start for his team to serve as the stopper, but that’s kind of what the Nationals need Gore to be tonight.

Of course, it doesn’t matter how well Gore pitches if his teammates can’t provide some run support. The Nats did not provide any for Gray yesterday, shut out by Kyle Freeland and Co. Tonight, they face perhaps a more favorable matchup in José Ureña. The veteran right-hander and former regular member of the Marlins rotation struggled mightily in his Colorado debut, giving up four runs on five hits and four walks in only 2 1/3 innings against the Padres. The Nationals will have to be careful not to chase if Ureña is regularly out of the strike zone again tonight.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 8:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 61 degrees, wind 7 mph in from center field

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

DENVER – Well aware of their offensive deficiencies entering the season, the Nationals insisted they were going to find other ways to assist in the production of scoring runs. They were going to need to do a better job of moving runners once they got on base. They were going to need to be able to bring them home from third base with fewer than two outs. And they were going to need to take advantage of their team speed, plus baseball’s new rules, and more aggressively run the bases.

It all sounded good, but seven games into the season, the Nats’ run game has proven not only to be rare but also ineffective.

At a time when the rest of the majors have been swiping bases at a record pace, the Nationals have successfully stolen only one. Worse, they’ve been caught stealing three times.

Each of those stats ranks last in the majors. The Nats are one of seven teams with only one stolen base to their name so far. And they join the Dodgers as the only teams in the sport to have been caught stealing three separate times.

That’s not what Davey Martinez had in mind entering the season. And it’s really not what the manager was looking for at the same time his lineup was struggling to score runs in any manner.

DENVER – Coors Field can play tricks with the minds of pitchers and hitters alike. Pitchers enter this gorgeous ballpark at mile-high elevation and panic about anything left up and over the plate being launched into the stratosphere. Hitters come here and assume all they have to do is get the ball in the air and then watch it fly.

It doesn’t always work that way. It certainly didn’t this afternoon in the 30th home opener in Rockies history, in which the home team scored one run thanks to a fly ball lost in the sun and the visitors never came close to crossing the plate themselves.

Yep, that’s a 1-0 final, only the 11th in ballpark history, the Nationals losing for the sixth time in seven games to begin the season despite getting six highly effective innings from Josiah Gray and two more from reliever Mason Thompson. Quality pitching at altitude matters not if your lineup can’t even score a run.

"It's tough," manager Davey Martinez said. "He threw the ball well. Mason came in, threw the ball well. We couldn't score any runs today."

It's the first time the Nats have been shut out this year, but it's hardly the first time they've been rendered helpless. They've scored a total of 17 runs in seven games. They're batting .227 as a team, while slugging just .289.

DENVER – Though he made it only two days into the season before landing on the injured list, Corey Dickerson is traveling with the Nationals and hoping his stint off the active roster is a short one.

Dickerson, who suffered a left calf strain Saturday against the Braves and was placed on the 10-day IL the following morning, flew with the Nats to Colorado and will spend this road trip rehabbing. The veteran left fielder is already taking light swings in the cage.

“I wanted him here,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s feeling better each and every day, which is a good sign.”

Though he’s able to swing a bat, Dickerson has not tested his leg yet. Martinez said that will probably happen first on an AlterG treadmill, after which a decision will be made if he can progress to the field.

Dickerson technically is eligible to return one week from today. Given how few at-bats he was able to take before suffering the injury, he may need to go on a minor league rehab assignment before coming off the IL.

DENVER – Hello from Coors Field, where the Rockies celebrate their home opener this afternoon, the Nationals serving as the visitors for the festivities. It’s not exactly warm here: There were slow flurries last night, and the temperature was below freezing this morning. But it’s supposed to approach 50 degrees later this afternoon, and the bright sunshine does actually make it feel warmer than the temperature.

The Nats come to town for a four-game series, hoping the thin Colorado air helps them hit the ball with a bit more authority. They hit only two homers in six games during the opening homestand, and each of those was a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth with the team trailing by multiple runs. Perhaps the combination of Coors Field and the Rockies pitching staff will help flip that troubling trend.

Unfortunately, the Nationals aren’t going to want the ball to fly too much today with Josiah Gray on the mound. As you surely know by now, the right-hander gave up the most homers in the majors last season, and despite an outstanding spring in Florida served up three of them to the Braves in his 2023 debut. This will be a real challenge for him today, especially considering how much he relies on his breaking balls, which don’t break as much at altitude.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 49 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

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

If I had asked who would be leading the Nationals in on-base percentage six games into the season, how many of you would have said Victor Robles?

Those of you with your hands raised are lying.

But it’s true, as the 25-year-old center fielder currently leads his team by getting on base at a .476 clip through the season’s first two series.

“For me, his on-base percentage,” manager Davey Martinez said when asked what numbers will be most significant in judging Robles’ success this year. “We talk a lot about team at-bats, too, and what they do in team at-bats. So he's a guy that needs to be very situational, whether it's bunting a guy over, getting a guy over from second base with no outs, driving in free runs from third base with less than two outs. Those are the little things that I want to see Victor do.”

It’s a small sample size, sure, but keep in mind where we’re coming from. Robles posted a career-low .273 on-base percentage in 132 games last year and he hasn’t come anywhere near his career-best rate of .348 in 2018 (which came in only 21 games).

On Opening Day, Patrick Corbin suffered through some defensive errors behind him, some bad luck on weak contact by Braves hitters and some poor pitches on his own part. He couldn’t retire the only batter he faced in the fourth while giving up four runs (two earned) and throwing 85 pitches.

In today’s matinee finale against the Rays, he was more efficient with his pitches but at times not all that effective, with the results more of the same in a 7-2 loss to complete a three-game sweep in front of 13,836 fans at Nationals Park.

Corbin kept his pitch count down throughout most of the outing, much better than his first start on Thursday. He had only thrown 69 pitches and 47 strikes while keeping it a 3-2 game through five innings. And he was getting ahead of hitters at a better rate, something he also struggled with against the Braves. Of the 21 hitters he faced through five frames, he got ahead of 12 of them to limit the Rays to six hits and three runs.

But in the sixth he ran into some classic Corbin issues. One out away from a quality start and possibly allowing himself to come out for another inning, he gave up a home run to Harold Ramírez after getting ahead 0-1. The 80-mph slider was just below the zone for the Rays designated hitter to golf over the center field fence to end a streak of 11 consecutive retired batters.

After a single by Manuel Margot, it was time for some of the usual bad luck to strike Corbin again. Victor Robles, who had just made a nice diving grab to rob Isaac Paredes of a leadoff hit, lost Taylor Walls’ fly ball to the Sun Monster, resulting in an RBI double. Then Jose Siri hit an RBI single to right, advanced to second on a throwing error by Lane Thomas and was put out at third on a heads up play by Jeimer Candelario and CJ Abrams.

For the fourth time in their first six games of the new season, the Nationals are facing a left-handed starter in Shane McClanahan for this afternoon’s series finale against the Rays.

While trying to avoid a sweep in just the second series of 2023 and with it still being so early, manager Davey Martinez is playing matchups, stacking his starting lineup with right-handed bats and giving some of his everyday lefty hitters a day off.

That leaves Luis García on the bench for the second straight game after he was removed from the lineup for the first time this season against rookie southpaw Josh Fleming on Tuesday. He did record a pinch-hit RBI double in the seventh against righty Kevin Kelly.

Martinez confirmed there is nothing physically wrong with his young second baseman, insisting that he's just playing the matchups. Shortstop CJ Abrams is the only left-handed hitter starting today, with Michael Chavis once again replacing García at second base.

“No, we got a run of just left-handed pitchers, so I kind of want to pick my spots with him,” Martinez said of García. “He came in yesterday, pinch-hit, hit the ball well. But this guy we're facing today, he's tough. He's tough on lefties. Abrams stays in there a little bit better on sliders, so he's gonna play short today. And Chavis swung the bat well yesterday, so I want to get him back out there again and give him a couple of days. But Luis will be back in there. We got a lefty tomorrow, we'll need him today, but he'll be out there again tomorrow.”

Today is April 5? With a sunny forecast and temperatures expected to reach the 80s for an early weekday game, it feels more like July 4 in the District, am I right?

Anyways, good morning from Nationals Park, where the Nats wrap up the first homestand of the season with a 1 p.m. game against the Rays, the only remaining undefeated team in the majors.

Patrick Corbin becomes the first Nationals starter to make his second start in the rotation during today’s finale against the Rays. The Nats will hope to get more length from their veteran southpaw after he only pitched three innings plus one batter against the Braves on Opening Day. Thanks to a couple of errors by shortstop CJ Abrams, some bad luck on soft contact and a few mistakes of his own, Corbin gave up seven hits and four runs (two earned) with three walks and three strikes while throwing 85 pitches (48 strikes) six days ago.

Corbin has made one start against the Rays in his career, going five innings and allowing three runs on three hits and four walks with three strikes at Tropicana Field on June 9, 2021.

The Nationals lineup will have to deal with the fourth left-handed starter they’ve faced already to begin this young season in Shane McClanahan. The 25-year-old Baltimore native is coming off his first All-Star campaign while finishing sixth in American League Cy Young voting last year with a 12-8 record, 2.54 ERA and 0.926 WHIP in 28 starts. He pitched six shutout innings with six strikeouts in an Opening Day win over the Tigers.

The Nationals out-hit the Rays all night long, entering the top of the ninth tonight with more than three times as many base hits as their opponents. So why was there a sense of unease as Kyle Finnegan took the mound trying to close out a victory?

Because the Nats didn't make the most of their hits. Yes, they totaled 16 of them, but 13 were singles and the other three were doubles.

The Rays, on the other hand, most definitely made the most of their hits in this game. That's because seven of their 10 went for extra bases, four of those clearing the fence.

And when Luke Raley, Josh Lowe and Yandy Díaz all took Finnegan deep in a disastrous ninth, what should have been an uplifting Nationals victory instead flipped to their most agonizing loss of the young season, a 10-6 defeat that left the home team and a crowd of 15,272 stunned.

"We did what we needed to do to win, and I came up short tonight," Finnegan said. "That's what hurts the most. You want to win the game. I've got to be better."

Every member of the Nationals’ Opening Day bullpen had made his season debut by Sunday. Tonight, every member of their Opening Day bench will have done the same.

Riley Adams and Michael Chavis are each in the starting lineup for the first time, Adams catching and Chavis at second base for the Nats’ game against the Rays, their fifth overall game this season.

Manager Davey Martinez said he didn’t want either reserve to sit too long, especially after playing as regularly as they did during spring training. Chavis took 44 plate appearances in the Grapefruit League, batting .225 with a double, a homer and four RBIs; Adams took 42 plate appearances, batting .237 with two doubles, a team-high three homers and six RBIs.

Neither has played, though, since last Tuesday’s exhibition finale against the Yankees. The hope is that both managed to stay engaged through their workouts over the last week despite the lack of actual game action.

“You’re talking about two guys who are workaholics,” Martinez said. “They get plenty of swings throughout the day to keep themselves ready. They’re both in great shape. But I’ve got to understand they’ve got to get in the game. They’ve got to play a little bit, too. It’s part of it, so today they get an opportunity to play.”

The Nationals have scored nine runs in four games so far this season, which obviously is not good. In their defense, they’ve faced some pretty tough pitching, from the Braves’ Max Fried and Spencer Strider to the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen. The one opposing starter they had some success against was Atlanta rookie left-hander Jared Shuster. There’s a chance for success tonight against Tampa Bay lefty Josh Fleming.

Fleming, 26, owns a 4.93 ERA and 1.410 WHIP over 171 2/3 career major league innings, and he really struggled last year (6.43 ERA, 1.886 WHIP in only 35 innings) while shuttling back and forth between St. Petersburg and Durham. Knowing the way Kevin Cash manages his bullpen, don’t be surprised if the leash on Fleming is short. If you’re the Nats, look to be aggressive early as they were against Shuster on Sunday and try to take an early lead.

If they can do that, they’ll provide some breathing room for Chad Kuhl, who makes his season debut tonight as the No. 5 starter in place of the injured Cade Cavalli. Kuhl actually becomes the third straight starter to make his Nationals debut, following MacKenzie Gore and Trevor Williams. It’s only the second time that’s ever happened in club history, and to be honest, the first time shouldn’t really count because it was the first four games in club history, with Liván Hernández, Zach Day, Esteban Loaiza and Tomo Ohka taking the ball from Frank Robinson in April 2005. Thing is, all of those guys except for Loaiza had been part of the 2004 Expos’ roster, so it’s not really like they were all joining a new team.

TAMPA BAY RAYS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 76 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
1B Dominic Smith
LF Alex Call
2B Michael Chavis
C Riley Adams
CF Victor Robles
SS CJ Abrams

The play looked eerily familiar, and not just because it had just happened moments earlier to the previous batter, who hit a nearly identical dribbler up the first base line.

No, for anyone who has watched the Nationals on a semi-regular basis since 2019, Manuel Margot’s little roller up the line in the top of the second Monday night immediately struck a chord. It certainly did once Trevor Williams picked up the ball and threw toward first base, only to watch as Margot (running in fair territory) ran past Dominic Smith and knocked his glove off to reach safely and then advance to second on the error.

Yep, it was the Trea Turner Play all over again. The one that nearly cost the Nationals in Game 6 of the World Series. The one that plagued Turner again two years later at Wrigley Field, not to mention Josh Bell in Miami. And led to multiple ejections for manager Davey Martinez.

Martinez didn’t get ejected this time, but he still couldn’t help but reiterate his point about the usage – or, in this case, non-usage – of Rule 5.09a(11), which states any batter-runner who is not in the designated running lane and in the judgment of the umpire interferes with the first baseman’s attempt to catch a throw shall be called out.

That’s what umpires called in the previous cases of Turner and Bell. Larry Vanover and his crew did not call it on Margot on Monday.

The Nationals understand they’re not going to hit many home runs this season. That’s just not in the cards with this particular lineup, which features nobody who hit more than 17 homers last year.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t deliver the occasional extra-base hit, some doubles or even a triple. Or, you know, hit the ball in the air every once in a while.

Even that seemingly simple act proved difficult tonight during a 6-2 loss to the Rays. Tampa Bay rode six dominant innings from starter Drew Rasmussen and effective work from their bullpen to cruise to victory on a 70-degree Monday evening in the nation’s capital. The evening would’ve been perfectly pleasant if only the home club was able to give those who attended any valid reason to believe a rally was possible.

Instead, a paid crowd of 10,754 – officially the second-lowest in Nationals history, ahead of only the 9,261 who were announced as attending the first half of a makeup doubleheader against the Diamondbacks last April – was left to watch the lineup flail away at Tampa Bay’s admittedly excellent pitching staff to little avail.

Rasmussen, the Rays’ No. 4 starter despite an 11-7 record and 2.84 ERA last season, cruised through six scoreless innings on a scant 66 pitches. The right-hander allowed two singles, didn’t issue a walk and struck out seven, pulled by manager Kevin Cash only because the organization is being careful with all of its starters early in the season.

The MRI of Corey Dickerson’s left calf showed only a “mild strain,” according to Davey Martinez, and the Nationals manager is hopeful his veteran left fielder’s stint on the 10-day injured list won’t be a long one. History, though, suggests it may be as quick a stint as the club hopes.

Dickerson missed a full month with a calf strain last summer while playing for the Cardinals. That doesn’t necessarily mean this one will take the same amount of time to heal, but the Nats do have a potential road map for his rehab based on what happened last year.

“When I talked to him yesterday, he said he was pretty sore,” Martinez said. “We’ll take it day to day. He’s already started the rehab process, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Signed to a $2.25 million contract over the winter, Dickerson was supposed to be the Nationals’ primary left fielder entering the season. But when Alex Call started Opening Day against Braves ace Max Fried, Martinez revealed he planned to platoon the duo, with Dickerson only playing against right-handers.

The 33-year-old wound up starting only one game before his calf tightened up on him in the seventh inning Saturday afternoon.

Kyle Finnegan has once again found himself as the Nationals’ de facto closer. With Tanner Rainey and Sean Doolittle rehabbing their respective elbow injuries and bullpen mates Carl Edwards Jr. and Hunter Harvey being used in more of a setup role, the 31-year-old right-hander has been used most often in the ninth inning. Or in whatever high-leverage situation manager Davey Martinez deems as the “save” opportunity.

“Yeah, it's great,” Finnegan said of the confidence he has from Martinez in the closer’s role. “I found myself in that position the last two years. So it's familiar territory. I think getting the last three outs of a game is special and it's awesome. I don't think it's my job to win the game. Our team has already won the game at that point. It's just my job to get those last three out. I don't try to make the moment too big. We've got the game in hand, just go out there and get three outs, and limit damage and secure the win.”

Finnegan pitched to a 3.55 ERA with 11 saves over 68 appearances in 2021 and a 3.51 ERA with another 11 saves last year. Both of his first two appearances of 2023 have come in the ninth inning with differing results.

Facing the bottom of the Braves lineup on Opening Day, he issued two walks and a two-run double as part of a three-run ninth inning that turned a two-run game into a five-run Atlanta lead.

But with the season’s first save opportunity coming in Sunday’s finale, Martinez trusted Finnegan again to retire the heart of Atlanta’s order to seal the first Curly W of the 2023 campaign. While it took him 23 pitches to complete the ninth on Thursday, Finnegan needed only eight efficient pitches Sunday afternoon to get two groundouts, a flyout and the save.

The Nationals opened the season in traditional fashion, with a three-game series against a division rival. Major League Baseball’s new schedule, though, has dramatically reduced the number of division games, so get ready to see a bunch of unfamiliar opponents now. Fourteen of the next 18 games, in fact, will be against American League teams, beginning tonight against the Rays.

Because of that, there’s not a lot of familiarity between hitters and pitchers. Only four members of the Nats roster have ever faced Drew Rasmussen (Jeimer Candelario, Michael Chavis, Lane Thomas, Ildemaro Vargas) and combined they’ve only totaled seven at-bats against the right-hander. Conversely, only three Tampa Bay batters have ever faced Trevor Williams (Yandy Diaz, Manuel Margot, Jose Siri) and they’ve combined for only seven at-bats as well.

Williams makes his Nationals debut. He’s technically the No. 4 starter, but he arguably could rank much higher within the rotation when it’s all said and done. The right-hander has a track record, he got a two-year deal over the winter and he takes a leadership role on the staff. Tonight he’ll get his first chance to show the Nats what they have in him.

The Nationals lineup has Luis García back in the leadoff spot. It has CJ Abrams back at shortstop after a day off. And it has Ildemaro Vargas in left field, not Alex Call despite Davey Martinez's claim Sunday that Call would make the bulk of the starts there with Corey Dickerson on the injured list.

TAMPA BAY RAYS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 68 degrees, wind 15 mph out to left field

Jeimer Candelario was sitting at his locker following Sunday’s game, phone in hand, watching the highlight of one of his defensive gems from the Nationals’ 4-1 win over the Braves, when reporters approached him.

Perhaps caught by surprise, Candelario quickly turned off the phone, as if he didn’t want anyone to know he was watching his own highlight reel. Not that anyone could blame him for wanting to bask in the glow following a spectacular game at third base.

“We knew that going in. We knew he was going to make plays,” said MacKenzie Gore, the pitcher who most directly benefitted from the stellar glove work. “We’re going to play good defense. We did that in the spring, and that’s what we did today. We had double plays. Candy was making plays all around. It was fun to watch.”

After a sloppy Opening Day and a less-than-crisp Game 2 to the season, the Nationals infield was flawless during Sunday’s win. They turned three double plays, including a critical 4-6-3 started by Luis Garcia to escape a sixth-inning jam. They saw Ildemaro Vargas, filling in for CJ Abrams at shortstop for the day, handle his three chances with no problems.

But most of all, they watched Candelario put on a dazzling show throughout the afternoon at third base.