The first inning of Shinnosuke Ogasawara’s major league debut suggested a very long day ahead for the Nationals and the first Japanese free agent in club history. Five batters in, the left-hander had surrendered four runs to the Red Sox, his pitching repertoire looking very much not ready for prime time.

By day’s end, Ogasawara’s lackluster start was only part of the equation that led to the Nats’ 6-4 loss. He was pulled during the top of the third without surrendering any more runs. His bullpen did an admirable job to keep the game within reach despite the heavy workload asked of it. The home team’s lineup, on the other hand, squandered several golden opportunities to get to Boston ace Garrett Crochet, who escaped five harrowing innings with only two runs charged to his name.

And so the Nationals were swept by the Red Sox during a three-game series in which they never once led. Today’s loss wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the two that preceded it (11-2 on Independence Day, 10-3 on Saturday) but in some ways it stung more because it appeared to be there for the taking, despite a pitching matchup that looked overwhelmingly lopsided on paper.

"We had them on the ropes there a couple of times," manager Davey Martinez said. "We just couldn't capitalize."

Ogasawara’s debut start wasn’t some kind of grand event. The Nationals didn’t leak out advance notice in an attempt to drum up interest like they have with several recent top prospects. There were several Japanese media outlets in attendance to cover the game, but nowhere close to the throngs of reporters who typically follow around the country’s top stars.

Two more players acquired in the Juan Soto trade are now All-Stars: James Wood and MacKenzie Gore.

Wood and Gore were officially named to the National League All-Star team today, each of them selected by their fellow players to represent the Nationals at next week’s Midsummer Classic in Atlanta.

CJ Abrams, who played in last year’s game in Texas, was not selected this time from a deep class of NL shortstops, but there’s still a chance he could find his way to Truist Park as roster replacements are announced in the coming days.

For Wood and Gore, today’s announcement is further validation of their respective career ascensions, culminating with their performances through the first half of this season. Wood, who already accepted an invitation to the Home Run Derby last week, entered the day with a .944 OPS, third-best in the NL. Gore ranks third in the league with 131 strikeouts and 12th with a 3.11 ERA.

“Those two guys have played really well this half, and I hope they keep it going,” manager Davey Martinez said. “But it says a lot about this organization. We’d love to win some more games moving forward, but the progress for our young players has been a lot better. We’re excited about that.”

For the first time this season, the Nationals are adjusting the order of the top of their starting rotation, giving MacKenzie Gore an extra day of rest prior to his next outing.

Jake Irvin will now start Tuesday night’s series opener against the Cardinals in St. Louis, a standard five days after the right-hander pitched Thursday against the Tigers. That bumps Gore to Wednesday night’s game at Busch Stadium, a full week following his most recent start last Wednesday against Detroit.

Gore has pitched in front of Irvin throughout the season, beginning with Opening Day, and has firmly established himself as the staff ace. But on the heels of an outing in which he had to extend himself more than usual, manager Davey Martinez thought it would be a good time to give the lefty more time than usual to recover.

“He threw 111 pitches the last outing,” Martinez said. “So this gives him an extra day to kind of recuperate a little bit.”

The swap also puts Gore in a better position to pitch in the All-Star Game, if he’s selected. (The official roster announcement is coming later this afternoon.) If Gore stayed on turn and started Tuesday, he would line up to start again next Sunday in Milwaukee in the second-half finale. Major League Baseball rules prohibit players who pitch on that day to appear in the All-Star Game two days later.

We’re going to see a major league debut today, one that may not compare to other recent ones for the Nationals, but one that carries some significance nonetheless. Shinnosuke Ogasawara is the first player the Nats have ever signed directly out of Asia. The Japanese left-hander may not have come to America as highly touted as plenty of others who have come here over the decades, but today represents a dream come true for the 27-year-old nonetheless.

What can we expect from Ogasawara against the Red Sox? His fastball, we know, is not elite. He needs to command it exceptionally well, and then he needs to rely heavily on his deep arsenal of off-speed pitches to try to keep the hitters off-balance. He did have a bit of success in a couple of his early season starts for Triple-A Rochester. But he then missed two months with an oblique strain, so it’s hard to know what exactly to expect today.

On the flip side, the Nationals would love to provide their rookie starter with some run support. They’ve got quite a challenge in that regard facing Garrett Crochet. The Boston lefty enters with a sparkling 2.34 ERA and league-leading 144 strikeouts in a league-leading 115 1/3 innings. That said, he did give up five runs in his last start against the Reds (while also striking out nine over six innings).

BOSTON RED SOX at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 87 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

RED SOX
3B Nate Eaton
2B Romy Gonzalez
RF Roman Anthony
DH Rob Refsnyder
SS Trevor Story
LF Jarren Duran
1B Abraham Toro
C Connor Wong
CF Ceddane Rafaela

Some of the Nationals’ worst qualities converged today and made for another lopsided loss in a season that already had included too many of those.

Mitchell Parker’s propensity for early struggles was on full display. So was his continued inability to field routine comebackers toward the mound. Add some more sloppy infield defense to the mix, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a game that was well out of hand before many in the crowd of 34,319 had a chance to get settled in at Nationals Park.

This 10-3 loss to the Red Sox ranks right up there with the ugliest of the season. It’s the ninth time in 89 games the Nats have lost by seven or more runs, the third time in five games on this current homestand.

To win Sunday’s finale and avoid a sweep at the hands of Boston, they’re going to have to get a whole lot better of a performance from the pitcher they promote from their farm system to take over the rotation spot Trevor Williams held until landing on the 15-day injured list this week with a sprained elbow: Shinnosuke Ogasawara.

Manager Davey Martinez announced this evening the Japanese left-hander will be promoted from Triple-A Rochester to make his major league debut, selected over top prospect Cade Cavalli (who gave up seven runs over three innings in his most recent minor league start). Ogasawara, the first free agent the Nationals have ever signed directly out of Asia, opened the season at Triple-A but only recently returned from a two-month stint on the injured list with an oblique strain. The 27-year-old, who signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract, faces a stiff challenge in his debut.

Just as they’re getting one reliever back from a major elbow surgery, the Nationals are worried another key reliever may have a serious problem with his elbow.

On the same day they activated Mason Thompson off the 60-day injured list, the Nats transferred Derek Law to the 60-day IL and revealed the veteran right-hander will be getting an MRI on his elbow after experiencing a recurrence of pain following his most recent rehab appearance.

Law has been attempting to work his way back since late March, stymied by setbacks on several occasions along the way. The 34-year-old, who made 75 appearances while totaling 90 innings as the workhorse of the Nationals bullpen last season, already was shut down a week recently before coming back to pitch for Triple-A Rochester on Wednesday.

Though that outing (one scoreless inning, one walk, one strikeout) went well, he told team officials he had a recurrence of elbow pain the next day, prompting them to shut him down again and bring him back to D.C. for a new MRI.

“I’m more concerned for him,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Because he wants to come back and help us. The big thing is to figure out what’s really going on. We thought we were over the hump there, but his elbow started barking again. We’ll go get an MRI and we’ll see what the MRI says.”

Friday morning’s game pretty much stunk for the Nationals, who were routed by the Red Sox and gave little reason for a big crowd to get excited about the home team. But if there’s anything we’ve learned about this particular group, the previous day’s result rarely seems to foretell what’s going to happen the next day. So perhaps that means the Nats are in store for a bounce back later this afternoon in the second game of the weekend series.

Mitchell Parker will need to be on point to give his team a chance, and the left-hander has generally been much better of late, allowing three or fewer runs in five of his last six starts. He’s been much better in the first inning in recent outings, with his struggles more often coming near the end of his starts. The Red Sox, for what it’s worth, have been better against lefties than righties this season.

On the flip side, the Nationals will be facing a struggling opposing starter in Walker Buehler. The veteran right-hander has a 6.45 ERA and 1.582 WHIP, having walked a career-high 4.3 batters and allowed a home run to a career-high 2.0 batters per nine innings. He hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning in four of his last five outings, with a hefty 14 walks issued in his last 11 1/3 innings.

BOSTON RED SOX 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, 87 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

RED SOX
3B Nate Eaton
2B Romy Gonzalez
RF Roman Anthony
DH Rob Refsnyder
C Carlos Narváez
SS Trevor Story
LF Jarren Duran
1B Abraham Toro
CF Ceddane Rafaela

Things were a little different around here the last time Lucas Giolito started a game at Nationals Park.

On Aug. 28, 2016, the Nationals were 20 games over .500, well on their way to a division title under new manager Dusty Baker. Trea Turner was the leadoff-hitting center fielder. Daniel Murphy hit third and owned a .994 OPS. Oliver Pérez, Koda Glover and Matt Belisle came out of the bullpen in relief.

Giolito, of course, was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball at that time, viewed internally as the next great member of a rotation that already featured Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Gio González.

And then a few months later, he was gone, one of three pitching prospects dealt to the White Sox in exchange for outfielder Adam Eaton, a trade that sent shockwaves through the Winter Meetings at National Harbor and revealed that perhaps the Nats didn’t view Giolito quite as favorably as everyone assumed they did.

We can debate the merits of that trade for eternity. Giolito and Reynaldo López certainly went on to have some success elsewhere, even if it took a while to materialize. Eaton played an important role on a Nationals team that won the World Series in 2019. Maybe it all worked out in the end.

For the second straight season, Trevor Williams is going on the injured list with an arm issue. And the veteran right-hander didn’t sound overly optimistic about his latest ailment.

The Nationals placed Williams on the 15-day IL with a right elbow sprain, the most significant of a series of transactions the club made this morning prior to its Fourth of July matinee against the Red Sox. The team also activated catcher Keibert Ruiz off the 7-day concussion IL, optioned Drew Millas to Triple-A Rochester and recalled reliever Ryan Loutos only one day after sending him down.

The Williams injury revelation comes two days after the 33-year-old labored through the worst of his 17 starts this season, one in which he threw 54 pitches in a six-run top of the first against the Tigers and then returned to toss two more innings before manager Davey Martinez pulled him in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.

Williams said his arm didn’t respond as it normally does after a start, so he notified club officials about it Thursday and underwent an MRI. He suggested the team is still waiting to fully decipher the results of that test before determining a course of action, but the right-hander concedes he’s going to miss some time.

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly,” he said. “It could be a mechanical deficiency. It could be a grip thing. Who knows? The unfortunate part is that the MRI showed I’m not going to be able to start this weekend. We’ll see what happens and what the next steps will be.”

It’s the Fourth of July in our nation’s capital, and that means the return of one of the great annual traditions around here: morning baseball! Every Independence Day since 2012 (except for 2020), the Nationals have taken the field at 11:05 a.m. for the only major league game played during that early window. They’ve gone 6-6 all-time in the morning game, including a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Mets last year.

This year’s opponents are the Red Sox, who also played here on July 4, 2018, and won the game 3-0 behind a combined shutout from Eduardo Rodriguez, Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel. Boston’s starter today: Lucas Giolito, the long-ago Nats prospect who finally makes his first career start at Nationals Park for the opposition after six appearances for the home team as a rookie in 2016. Finally healthy after missing the 2024 season following Tommy John surgery, the right-hander is 4-1 with a 3.99 ERA. He’s not striking out as many batters as in the past, but his velocity remains at pre-surgery levels (93.4 mph fastball).

Michael Soroka (who is Canadian) gets the honor of starting today for the Nationals. As rough as June was for the team, the right-hander enjoyed a strong month, delivering a 3.49 ERA with an 0.812 WHIP and impressive 36-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The Nationals announced a flurry of roster moves this morning: Trevor Williams was placed on the 15-day injured list with a sprained right elbow (more on that coming shortly), with Ryan Loutos recalled from Triple-A Rochester only one day after he was sent down. And Keibert Ruiz was activated off the 7-day concussion IL and will start behind the plate today, with Drew Millas optioned to Rochester.

BOSTON RED SOX at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 11:05 a.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv, MLB Network (outside D.C. market)
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 81 degrees, wind 7 mph in from left field

There was already plenty of energy surrounding South Capitol Street ahead of the Nationals’ series finale against the Tigers. People were making their way to Nationals Park to start their holiday weekend early. And about five hours before first pitch, James Wood announced he will participate in the Home Run Derby.

The icing on the cake would be a victory at the end of the night to clinch a series win over the best team in the American League.

It was a rocky start, but the Nats indeed were able to tame the Tigers one more time for an 11-7 win to allow the crowd of 31,599 fans to enjoy the postgame fireworks, kicking off the Independence Day celebrations. It was especially enjoyable for manager Davey Martinez, who earned the 500th win of his managerial career, all with the Nationals.

“Hey, I can't do what I do without those guys in there. So I appreciate what they do," Martinez said after his milestone victory. "Thank you to the Washington Nationals for giving me an opportunity to do what I love to do. I'd trade it all in for another World Series, I can tell you that. But let's keep doing what we're doing. We're playing well right now.”

Indeed, they are. The Nationals offense carried over the momentum it built up in last night’s late-inning rally to win the doubleheader nightcap. Facing an early 3-0 deficit in the first, the Nats immediately rallied to take the lead with five runs in the bottom frame.

You have to give the Nationals credit. After the disaster that was the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader against the Tigers, the Nats rallied for one of their best come-from-behind wins of the season in the nightcap, setting themselves up tonight for a chance to win this series against one of the best teams in baseball.

We are one day shy of the one-year anniversary of Jake Irvin’s best start of his career. Last year on the Fourth of July, the right-hander shut out the Mets over eight innings of one-hit, one-walk ball with eight strikeouts. It’s not Independence Day yet and it’s not the Mets, but Irvin will look to repeat his holiday dominance tonight against a tough Tigers lineup.

Meanwhile, the offense will look to carry over their late-inning fireworks from last night into tonight’s finale against Dietrich Enns. The left-hander has only made 12 major league appearances (two starts) over parts of the 2017, 2021 and 2025 seasons. After having his contract selected from Triple-A Toledo on June 26, he shut out the Athletics over five innings with one hit, two walks and four strikeouts in his lone big league start of the year.

The Nationals would love to start the holiday weekend with early fireworks ahead of tonight’s postgame show.

They also made a pregame roster move, reinstating Andrew Chafin from the 15-day injured list and optioning Ryan Loutos to Triple-A Rochester.

James Wood has been making headlines locally all season as the Nationals’ budding young superstar. Today he made national headlines with a special announcement.

Wood announced today that he will participate in the Home Run Derby on July 14 during All-Star Week at Truist Park in Atlanta.

The 22-year-old phenom became the third player to officially join the yearly event the night before the Midsummer Classic, joining Ronald Acuña Jr. of the host Braves and the major league home run leader Cal Raleigh of the Mariners.

“I just got the invite. I can't remember when, really. But it's just something cool to be part of,” Wood said at his locker ahead of tonight’s finale against the Tigers. “I was watching it a lot growing up, so it should be a lot of fun.”

The announcement comes just 367 days after Wood made his major league debut at Nationals Park last summer. He said he will have third base coach Ricky Gutierrez throw to him as he does during batting practice.

The outcome of Wednesday afternoon’s game had long since been decided by the time Andry Lara took the mound in the top of the seventh. The Nationals were well on their way to an 11-2 loss to the Tigers, a result that felt preordained the moment Trevor Williams was roughed up for six innings during a torturous top of the first.

None of that, of course, mattered to Lara. When the lanky right-hander trotted in from the bullpen, the score of the game was insignificant. The fact he was pitching in a major league game was.

“It’s incredible,” he said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid, me and my family. I just don’t have any words.”

Lara’s major league debut, in which he tossed three scoreless innings and struck out four, was probably the lone bright spot of Wednesday’s lopsided loss. But it helped keep the rest of the Nats bullpen fresh heading into the nightcap of the doubleheader, and it gave Lara a long-awaited opportunity to face big league hitters.

Six years after the Nationals signed him out of Venezuela for $1.25 million, with a rocky path in front of him, Lara finally made his debut. The 22-year-old actually had been called up for the team’s Easter Sunday doubleheader in Colorado, but neither game presented the right situation for him to pitch, so he returned to Triple-A Rochester afterward.

Their ace had labored through 5 1/3 innings of 111-pitch ball. Their lineup had gone dead silent since an early rally against the opposing starter. And their bullpen had turned a slim lead into a slim deficit, giving the crowd of 16,0965 at Nationals Park reason to believe the nightcap of today’s doubleheader against the Tigers was going down an all-too-familiar path.

And then Detroit manager A.J. Hinch turned to the usually reliable Tommy Kahnle for the bottom of the eighth, and the top half of the Nats lineup sprang back to life with one of its most impressive rallies of the season.

Scoring five runs before making an out in the eighth, then adding another after that, the Nationals took a 9-4 lead and then handed over the ninth to Kyle Finnegan, who closed out a most impressive, come-from-behind victory over one of the best teams in the majors.

That ninth inning, by the way, including a leaping catch at the wall by Jacob Young, who appeared to rob Riley Greene of a homer.

"I think we all had the same reaction, which was: Holy smokes!" designated hitter Josh Bell said. "I just held my finger up pointing. I think everybody did for about 15 seconds. Probably the best catch that I've seen in person."

As ugly as the opener of today’s doubleheader was, there are some saving graces from the Nationals’ perspective. They’ve now got their ace taking the mound in the nightcap. And thanks to six innings of relief from Jackson Rutledge, Eduardo Salazar and especially Andry Lara after Trevor Williams was knocked out early, they’ve got all of their top bullpen arms fresh and available in search of a win this evening.

All eyes will be on MacKenzie Gore to do his usual thing, and to do it against a tough Tigers lineup that leads the American League in runs scored. Gore, of course, has never been one to back down from a challenge, and he’s coming off an outstanding start in San Diego that nevertheless resulted in a 1-0 loss (his eighth of the season despite his 3.09 ERA).

So the Nationals will need to provide some run support for their No. 1 guy tonight. They face Jack Flaherty, the enigmatic 29-year-old who at times during his career has looked like a true frontline starter and at other times has looked lost. It’s been a rough season for him so far, as evidenced by his 5-9 record and 4.80 ERA. Flaherty’s biggest issue: He has surrendered 16 homers in 84 1/3 innings, seventh-most in the AL. The Nats need to hit the ball in the air against him tonight.

DETROIT TIGERS 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: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 5 mph right field to left field

TIGERS
DH Justyn-Henry Malloy
2B Gleyber Torres
LF Jahmai Jones
1B Spencer Torkelson
CF Matt Vierling
RF Wenceel Perez
C Dillon Dingler
SS Javy Báez
3B Zach McKinstry

The Nationals didn’t need a gem out of Trevor Williams today. They needed length. And, ideally, a minimal amount of damage sustained to keep the opener of today’s day-night doubleheader against the Tigers within reach.

Eight batters into the game, the second half of that preferred equation had already been thrown out the window. But Davey Martinez had no choice but to try and at least get length out of his No. 5 starter, which explains why Williams was still on the mound in the top of the first throwing his 54th pitch of the most laborious inning of his life.

And why Williams retook the mound for the top of the second and top of the third before Martinez finally decided enough was enough. When he needed length from his starter, he got three innings, 86 pitches and a massive hole en route to an 11-2 thrashing that set a decidedly negative tone to this long day and night of baseball on South Capitol Street.

The Nats could not have drawn up a worse script for this unexpected matinee, the result of Tuesday night’s rainout. They’ll try to lick their wounds, regroup and split the doubleheader behind ace MacKenzie Gore later this evening.

"It's an unfortunate spot. I put us in a really big hole in the first game of a doubleheader," Williams said. "But I know the guys are going to come out in the second game ready to win." 

Paul DeJong always knew he’d be back playing for the Nationals again. He just couldn’t fully appreciate the process of returning from his frightening injury until he actually completed the process.

“It’s been a humbling experience for me to go back to square one and just pray to get healthy and recover from a traumatic injury,” he said. “But that process went about as good as it could have gone for me.”

It’s been 2 1/2 months since DeJong was struck by a fastball on the left side of his face during the Nationals’ April 16 game in Pittsburgh. He fractured his nose and multiple bones near his left eye, requiring surgery. He spent several weeks holed up in his apartment, watching old movies with his grandfather, who came to D.C. from Florida to help take care of him.

Then the rehab process finally began, slow and steady. DeJong, who fortunately did not suffer any vision impairment, built up to the point where he could face live pitching again. And two weeks ago, he headed off to Double-A Harrisburg for a rehab stint, his first opportunity to play competitive baseball since the injury.

Over the course of 12 games with the Senators – only four fewer than he played for the Nats before going on the 10-day IL – DeJong went 11-for-40 with a double, a homer and six RBIs. He was hit by a pitch (in the foot). And he became comfortable standing in the batter’s box again, now wearing an extended ear flap to protect the left side of his face.

Alright, what do you say we give this another shot? And then play another game after that?

Unable to commence this week’s homestand on time due to a vicious line of thunderstorms that rolled through the area Tuesday afternoon and evening, the Nationals now face the prospect of a day-night doubleheader against the Tigers this afternoon and evening. The nightcap will be the previously scheduled 6:45 p.m. game, with MacKenzie Gore starting as planned all along against Jack Flaherty (who was supposed to start Tuesday’s game).

That means today’s 1:05 p.m. game (the rescheduled game, available to anyone who had tickets to Tuesday’s rainout) will now feature Trevor Williams against Detroit left-hander Tyler Holton. Holton is not a starter. He’s an opener, specifically chosen by manager A.J. Hinch to face the top of the Nationals’ lineup in the first inning. So we’ll have to see if CJ Abrams, James Wood and Co. can throw a wrench into those plans and get on the board first.

Williams will be even more rested than he already was, hoping to keep the Tigers’ lineup in check and provide some length. Though the Nats get to carry an extra reliever today, they’ve still got another game to worry about tonight, so Davey Martinez has to be careful not to burn up too many games in the opener.

DETROIT TIGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 80 degrees, wind 5 mph in from right field

After a week and a half of gorgeous weather in Southern California, the Nationals returned home and must now deal with the harsh reality of summer life back on the East Coast: Heat, humidity and rain.

Tonight’s homestand opener against the Tigers has been postponed, the club announced, due to the significant line of thunderstorms passing through the region this afternoon and evening. They’ll now play a day-night doubleheader Wednesday, with the rescheduled game at 1:05 p.m. in advance of the originally scheduled game at 6:45 p.m.

The Nats never had to consider any weather issues during their nine-game trip to Los Angeles, San Diego and Anaheim, with temperatures generally in the 70s and nothing but sunshine pouring down from the sky. It’s a different story back here in D.C., where temperatures have been in the 90s and dew points in the 70s, ingredients ripe for thunderstorms.

The first round of rain already blew through Nationals Park this afternoon, canceling batting practice for both teams. Though there is currently a break in the precipitation, several inches more are expected the rest of the evening and into Wednesday morning.

Fans who held tickets to tonight’s postponed game can use them for admittance to Wednesday’s 1:05 p.m. game. A separate ticket is required for the originally scheduled 6:45 p.m. game. The series still wraps up Thursday at 6:45 p.m., with a postgame fireworks show planned in advance of Friday’s traditional 11:05 a.m. Independence Day game against the Red Sox.