PHILADELPHIA – Hello from Citizens Bank Park for the start of what has turned into a highly anticipated four-game series between the Nationals and Phillies.

The Nats are coming off an impressive three-game sweep in Cincinnati and are now owners of an 11-5 record since July 21. The Phillies just won two of three against the last-place Royals and have won five of their last seven games while tied with the Giants for the first National League wild card spot.

Tonight’s pitching matchup is a rematch of the July 2 game here when the Nationals sealed a series win in Philly: Trevor Willams vs. Ranger Suárez.

Williams, who was officially activated off the bereavement list yesterday, has had a bit of an odd schedule so far this second half. He’s only pitched 17 ⅔ innings over his four starts since the break, limited to just 2 ⅔ in St. Louis because of rain and only lasting four in his last start on June 30 in New York before going on bereavement leave. He did complete five innings while giving up three runs and earning the win here last month.

On the other side, Suárez has been able to eat up a little more innings for the Phillies, going at least five in each of his second-half starts. He only gave up one run over 6 ⅓ innings in his previous start against the Marlins, but the left-hander gave up five in 5 ⅓ when he faced the Nats in July.

PHILADELPHIA – Rainouts and doubleheaders are usually bad news for pitchers. A pregame or warmup routine can be thrown off if the game isn’t called until too close to the first pitch. And 18 innings, with the potential for more, are a lot to cover in a single day.

But for the Nationals, last night’s rainout and today’s doubleheader against the Phillies might actually benefit their pitching staff.

Despite a plethora of injuries, the Nats bullpen has been one of the best in baseball in recent weeks. The Nats currently have seven relievers on the injured list, with the latest casualty being Mason Thompson landing on the 15-day IL with a left knee contusion.

But over their last 16 games, the Nats bullpen has posted a collective 2.39 ERA, the best in the National League and third-best in the majors during that span. Relievers have also posted a 1.139 WHIP and 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings over 52 ⅔ innings since July 21.

“I think we're starting to realize that we need to attack the strike zone and get ahead,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame press conference before yesterday’s postponement. “That's been the biggest difference right now for our bullpen guys is that we're really emphasizing getting ahead of hitters, attacking them early and not put yourself in a hole. And these guys have done that, and they've done really well.”

PHILADELPHIA – Like many thought throughout the day, there will be no baseball played at Citizens Bank Park tonight.

The Nationals and Phillies have been postponed due to the approaching storms in the Philadelphia region, which have been going up the entire East Coast this afternoon. The game will be made up tomorrow, Aug. 8, at 4:05 p.m. as part of a single-admission doubleheader. Game 2 will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1. Both games will air on MASN2.

If you are planning to attend tomorrow’s game, all gates will open at 3:05 p.m. Tickets from tonight’s game will not be valid for either game on Tuesday.

Trevor Williams, who was scheduled to start tonight, will start Game 1 tomorrow, with Josiah Gray starting Game 2.

The rotation will actually be OK moving forward despite the upcoming doubleheader. The Nats have off-days on each of the next two Mondays. And with Joan Adon’s successful start on Saturday and Williams’ return from the bereavement list, they have six starters readily available for the near future.

When the Nationals left Wrigley Field on July 19, they did so with a bullpen in shambles.

Hunter Harvey had just joined an injured list that already included Carl Edwards Jr. The rest of the group featured one established late-inning arm in Kyle Finnegan, a once-promising setup man now in the midst of massive slump in Mason Thompson and a bunch of other inexperienced and ineffective pitchers who had just endured through a nightmare of a series.

Over the course of their last two games against the Cubs, Nationals relievers had collectively surrendered 20 earned runs on 18 hits and seven walks in only 5 2/3 innings of work. They twice turned competitive, low-scoring games into lopsided blowouts.

At that point, all Davey Martinez could do was acknowledge the situation he was in, and hope things would improve with time and experience.

“They’re going to get another opportunity,” the manager insisted after an embarrassing 17-3 loss. “Many more opportunities. Hopefully they bounce back and learn from today.”

CINCINNATI – In order to sweep the Reds and win for the 11th time in their last 16 games overall, the Nationals merely needed to hit back-to-back homers on the first two pitches of the afternoon, then entrust an overworked, unproven, still-effective bullpen to hang on in one of baseball’s toughest pitchers’ parks.

When things are going your way, things are going your way. And they are most certainly going the Nats’ way right now.

Today’s 6-3 victory capped off an impressive weekend sweep at Great American Ball Park by an upstart visiting ballclub that made up for the sweep it suffered at the hands of the Reds last month in D.C. And it continued this club’s best sustained stretch in more than two years.

Owners of an 11-5 record since July 21, with sweeps of the Giants and Reds and a series win over the Brewers, the Nationals are giving themselves and their fans more reason to be optimistic than at any previous moment since the roster teardown and franchise rebuild began in July 2021. At 49-63 overall, they’re now on a 71-win pace that would represent a healthy 16-game improvement from last season’s 107-loss nadir.

"It's a long season. To do that consistently is hard," right fielder Lane Thomas told reporters afterward. "Otherwise, a lot of teams would do it. We've just got to keep doing what we're doing, and control what we can control. I think we do good things when we do that."

CINCINNATI – The Nationals cut ties with Paolo Espino today, requesting unconditional release waivers on the veteran right-hander in one of a series of transactions prior to their series finale against the Reds.

The Nats also reinstated Trevor Williams from bereavement leave and activated Israel Pineda off the 60-day injured list and subsequently optioned the now-healthy catcher to Double-A Harrisburg. They already had cleared a spot on the active roster for Williams, optioning reliever Amos Willingham to Triple-A Rochester following Saturday’s game. But they needed to make another move to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Pineda, and Espino was the unfortunate victim.

“It’s always hard, because I’ve known Paolo for quite some time now,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters at Great American Ball Park. “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s been really good, a very positive guy. Working with these guys, getting to know them, getting to know their families, it’s always tough when you have to let them go.”

Espino was on the 15-day injured list with a sprain in his right ring finger after a ragged relief appearance in Chicago three weeks ago. In three big league games this season, the 36-year-old right-hander was charged with 11 runs and 14 hits in only four innings, a disappointing final act for what had been an uplifting story when he first joined the team.

A journeyman who had pitched for four different organizations from 2007-19 but appeared in only 12 major league games for the Brewers and Rangers during that time, Espino was called up from the Nationals in September 2020 to make two late-season appearances. He then was called up again in April 2021 to make a spot start for an injured Stephen Strasburg and wound up staying on the big league roster through the end of the 2022 season.

CINCINNATI – Well, well, well. Look at what we’ve got here. The Nationals have won 10 of 15 for the first time since June 2021. They’ve won four of their last five series, three of those coming against playoff contenders San Francisco, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. And they have a chance today to pull off their second three-game sweep in less than a month, if they can beat the Reds one more time.

Jake Irvin gets the start, facing the same Cincinnati club he held to three runs over six innings last month in D.C. The rookie right-hander continues to give his team a chance most times he takes the ball, even if his 4.86 ERA doesn’t exactly scream high-quality. Davey Martinez is probably going to need some length from Irvin today, because the back end of his bullpen may be burned up and unavailable, with Kyle Finnegan, Jordan Weems and Andrés Machado each having pitched each of the last two days.

It would help, then, if the Nationals lineup can score runs in bunches and provide some cushion for the pitching staff. That group will be facing an unfamiliar foe today in Lyon Richardson, a 23-year-old right-hander making his major league debut. A second-round pick in 2018, Richardson missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery. He burst through the Reds organization this year, producing a 1.86 ERA and a whopping 81 strikeouts in only 58 innings across three levels of the minors. But he made only one start at Triple-A before getting this promotion, and he has yet to pitch more than four innings at a time. So look for the Reds to pull him early, regardless of the result, and go to their bullpen.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CINCINNATI REDS
Where: Great American Ball Park
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 83 degrees, wind 14 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
2B Jake Alu
3B Ildemaro Vargas
LF Blake Rutherford
CF Alex Call

CINCINNATI – Only once in his major league career had Joan Adon looked anything like this. It wasn’t in his two relief appearances earlier this season. It wasn’t in any of his 14 starts last season, 12 of which ended in a loss.

No, you have to go all the way back to Adon’s major league debut on the final day of the 2021 season to find any outing that resembled today’s performance by the young Nationals right-hander.

On that day, best remembered as the final day of Ryan Zimmerman’s storied career, Adon took the mound at Nationals Park, stared down a potent Red Sox club that needed to win to make the postseason and caught everyone by surprise with an eye-opening performance.

Nearly two years and a lot of disappointing starts later, Adon rediscovered his prime form today during a 7-3 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. And then dialed it up a few more notches to put together the best outing of his brief career.

With both power and precision, the 24-year-old carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before the Reds finally got to him. No matter, because thanks to early run support from his teammates and lights-out work from his bullpen, Adon still emerged at the end of the day with only his second major league win.

CINCINNATI – The Nationals added another reliever to the injured list today, placing Mason Thompson on the 15-day IL with a left knee contusion that appears to have prevented the right-hander from pitching most of the week.

Thompson hadn’t appeared in a game since Monday, when he tossed a scoreless eighth on all of five pitches, helping lead the Nats to a 5-3 win over the Brewers. Despite the team being in several close games since then, manager Davey Martinez did not call upon his top setup man.

Martinez revealed Thompson recently hurt himself after falling, though he did not offer any more specifics than that.

“I don’t know how he fell, but he said he fell and he’s been dealing with it for a few days,” Martinez told reporters before today's game against the Reds. “Hopefully it will go away. He had an MRI that showed he had a contusion. So we’re going to make sure we take care of him and get him ready to go again.”

Though it has been five days since Thompson last pitched, IL moves can only be backdated three days. So he officially goes on the IL on Aug. 2 and will eligible to return Aug. 17.

CINCINNATI – Don’t look now, but the Nationals are playing some pretty good baseball. Seriously. They’ve won nine of their last 14 games, and they’re 19-16 since June 24, when they opened up a solid West Coast trip in San Diego and Seattle. That’s actually the sixth-best record in the National League during that time frame, 11th-best in the majors.

They’ll look to keep the good vibes going tonight and capture another series against a quality opponent if they can defeat the Reds again, though they’ll do so with something of a surprise starter on the mound: Joan Adon.

This was supposed to be Trevor Williams’ turn in the rotation, but the right-hander isn’t expected back from bereavement leave until Sunday, so the team needed a fill-in for this game. That fill-in is Adon, who makes his first big league start of the season, his third overall appearance. The 24-year-old right-hander wasn’t exactly tearing it up at Triple-A Rochester (3-5, 4.62 ERA, 1.506 WHIP in 17 starts) but his strikeout numbers of late (13 in his last 11 innings) have been good, so maybe that’s a sign of something.

The Nationals face a good young left-hander in rookie Andrew Abbott, a University of Virginia alum who enters with a 6-2 record, 2.35 ERA and 1.031 WHIP over his first 11 big league starts. Davey Martinez counters with a right-handed-heavy lineup that includes Joey Meneses at first base, Keibert Ruiz as DH, Riley Adams behind the plate and Stone Garrett in left field.

One other note: To clear a spot on the active roster for Adon, the Nats placed Mason Thompson on the 15-day injured list with a left knee contusion. The reliever hadn’t pitched since Monday, but IL moves can only be backdated three days, so that means he’s eligible to return Aug. 17.

CINCINNATI – Blake Rutherford initially figured he’d make his major league debut for the team that used its first-round draft pick on him in 2016: the Yankees. When he was part of a significant trade one year later, he assumed his debut would now come for the club that acquired him: the White Sox.

So imagine what must’ve been going through Rutherford’s mind Friday night when he took the field at Great American Ball Park, making his long-awaited major league debut not for the Yankees, not for the White Sox but for the Nationals.

“A lot of emotions,” the 26-year-old admitted. “A lot of people to thank. A lot of special people in my life that allowed me to get to this moment.”

The path may have been longer and more winding than he imagined when he became a professional seven years ago, but that didn’t make the end result any less sweet for Rutherford. He’s a big leaguer now, promoted by the Nationals and thrust into their starting lineup in left field for Friday’s series opener against the Reds after veteran Corey Dickerson was released.

Rutherford was a top-50 prospect in the sport back in 2017, the 18th overall pick in the draft by the Yankees out of his Southern California high school. And he was highly touted enough to be part of a four-player package (including Tyler Clippard) the Yankees sent to the White Sox in a July 2017 trade for Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle.

CINCINNATI – The Nationals, as anyone who has watched them all season knows, don’t hit home runs. The Reds, as anyone who has watched them in recent months knows, try to win games less with power and more with speed.

So wouldn’t you know all but one run scored in tonight’s series opener at Great American Ball Park came via the long ball. Including some really big ones from two of the Nats’ most important hitters.

Lane Thomas and Joey Meneses combined to launch three homers from the sixth through 10th innings, with Thomas’ second blast of the night serving as the final blow in the Nationals’ come-from-behind, 6-3 victory in extras.

Jake Alu’s latest clutch hit, an RBI double over the first baseman’s head, drove home automatic runner Ildemaro Vargas with the go-ahead run off Cincinnati closer Alexis Díaz. It was Alu’s third RBI in as many days since his promotion from Triple-A Rochester to replace traded third baseman Jeimer Candelario.

"He gives himself a chance," manager Davey Martinez told reporters afterward. "He battles up there. Even though he gets to two strikes, he battles and battles and battles until he gets a pitch to hit. Does a great job of moving the guys over, then driving them in."

CINCINNATI – The Nationals’ surprise decision to demote Luis García to Triple-A following Wednesday’s game wasn’t a sign the organization has given up on the struggling second baseman, manager Davey Martinez insisted today, but rather an acknowledgment he must show improvement in several areas to earn his way back to the big leagues.

“I still strongly believe that Luis is a big part of our future, I really do,” Martinez told reporters before tonight’s series opener against the Reds. “There’s some consistency stuff that we want him to work on. We want him to do it without having to worry about putting up numbers and that nature. He does a lot of things well. We think he can get better.”

García was optioned after Wednesday’s walk-off win over the Brewers after a sustained slump over 27 games that saw him bat just .196 with a .227 on-base percentage and .499 OPS. That left his season totals at a disappointing .259 average, .293 on-base percentage and .656 OPS.

The 23-year-old, who made his major league debut almost exactly three years ago, had been a mainstay on the big league roster and in the Nats lineup since last summer. And through much of the first three months of this season, he had shown progress in his pitch selection at the plate and defensive play at second base.

But García's struggles over the last month were noticeable, and Martinez indicated there were concerns about his preparation and pregame routine. Rather than let him try to work that out at the big league level, the club felt it was better to have him figure it out at Rochester.

CINCINNATI – Hello from Great American Ball Park, where the Nationals come to town with some new faces and a new look to their lineup after Wednesday’s surprising roster moves.

Blake Rutherford is your new starting left fielder, the 26-year-old set to make his major league debut after getting called up from Triple-A Rochester to take Corey Dickerson’s spot. A former first-round pick of the Yankees, Rutherford produced a .978 OPS in the minors this season and now will finally get his shot at this level. A left-handed hitter, it would appear he’ll join Stone Garrett in the left field platoon.

Jeter Downs also was called up from Triple-A, though he’s not in tonight’s lineup. Instead, Jake Alu moves to second base to take Luis García’s spot, with Ildemaro Vargas starting at third base. We’ll see what Davey Martinez has to say about the infield plan now.

Patrick Corbin, meanwhile, gets the ball against a Reds lineup that roughed him up for six runs and 10 hits in five innings back on July 4 in D.C. He’ll have his hands full against the likes of Elly De La Cruz and this exciting young Cincinnati club, which swept that four-game holiday series last month. 

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CINCINNATI REDS
Where: Great American Ball Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 3 mph out to left field

Cole Henry has had a long road in front of him. Ever since he decided to undergo surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome last August, he has faced an uphill climb to get his career back on track.

All things considered, it’s been so far, so good for the Nationals’ No. 12 prospect, per MLB Pipeline.

Thoracic outlet syndrome surgery has a negative stigma surrounding it in baseball, especially here in Washington as it derailed the careers of Stephen Strasburg and Will Harris.

Granted, those pitchers were older than the now 24-year-old Henry was when they had their surgeries. But any procedure in which a rib and a neck muscle are removed would come with tales of caution.

But Henry is on the path to being a success story having been able to report to spring training just six months after his own surgery and pitching in minor league games three months after that.

Inside a rollicking Nationals clubhouse Wednesday afternoon, Luis García was all smiles. He was kidding around with Victor Robles. He was intently watching Ildemaro Vargas get interviewed about his game-winning run in a walk-off, 3-2 victory over the Brewers. By all accounts, he had no idea the news he was about to receive.

García was optioned to Triple-A Rochester a few minutes later, after reporters had left the clubhouse, before the team departed for a weekend series in Cincinnati. The team’s starting second baseman since Aug. 26, 2022, was now a minor leaguer again.

The García move – as well as the requesting of unconditional release waivers on outfielder Corey Dickerson – caught people off-guard because of the timing, minutes after an inspiring, come-from-behind win over a playoff contender. Truth be told, it was probably in the works for a while, the odd timing an unfortunate byproduct.

Make no mistake, García was in a prolonged slump. Over his last 27 games, he was batting .196 with a .227 on-base percentage and .272 slugging percentage. Those are paltry numbers. His defense was fine – he was charged with only two errors over his last 31 games – but that couldn’t make up for his offensive decline.

So the Nationals made the move, perhaps hoping it would serve as something of a wake-up call to the 23-year-old, who has now played in 303 big league games and taken 1,170 plate appearances but just learned he’s not as secure as he perhaps thought.

As he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, the bases loaded with teammates, the tying run on third, the winning run on second, Alex Call visualized what he hoped would happen next.

"Line drive to right-center," the Nationals center fielder said with a laugh. "But we won, so that's all that matters."

Yes, they did. By a 3-2 margin over the Brewers thanks to a furious rally in the bottom of the ninth against All-Star closer Devin Williams. The details of how they pulled that off are inconsequential, right?

"You know what exit velo is to me?" manager Davey Martinez asked as he walked into the press conference room at Nationals Park. "A hit. A hit is a hit."

Fair enough. Though for the record, the Nationals recorded only one actual hit during their game-winning rally. That was Dominic Smith's jam-shot, opposite-field single, which departed his bat with a velocity of a whopping 69.9 mph.

The Nationals made another change to their ever-changing bullpen today, adding recently acquired left-hander Robert Garcia to the mix and optioning right-hander Hobie Harris to Triple-A Rochester.

Garcia was just claimed off waivers from the Marlins on Tuesday, a lower-profile transaction on trade deadline day that nevertheless could have some short-term impact for a Nats club that has been desperately trying to find quality lefties for its bullpen all season.

Garcia, 27, made his major league for Miami last month, pitching one-third of a scoreless inning against the Orioles, after posting a 2.85 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 41 innings for Triple-A Jacksonville. He wound up getting caught up in a roster crunch as the surprising Marlins became buyers at the trade deadline, and the Nats jumped in and claimed him.

“Terrific Triple-A season so far,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “A lefty that has two good pitches and has shown a propensity to strike guys out. Tough left-on-left. And a guy we think will add to a deficiency of our minor league system.”

Originally a 15th round pick of the Royals in 2017, Garcia becomes the third left-hander in a Nationals bullpen that for much of this season had none. Whether he, Jose A. Ferrer or Joe La Sorsa sticks remains to be seen, but there’s been a concerted effort to try to address that obvious area of need.

A very quick homestand comes to an end this afternoon for the Nationals, who still have a chance to keep their positive vibes going on South Capitol Street. They’ve actually won eight of their last 10 home games, not to mention their last three home series. A victory today over the Brewers would continue that trend.

After watching Josiah Gray labor through 3 2/3 innings during Tuesday’s loss, the Nats could really use something better from MacKenzie Gore. The young lefty has been alternating between good and bad starts for more than a month now. If the pattern holds, he’s due for a good one. These final two months are big for Gore, who has already topped the 100-inning mark and is likely to be shut down at some point in September. He would love to finish both healthy and effective.

The Nationals lineup gets to face a lefty this afternoon in veteran Wade Miley. The 36-year-old continues to pitch well in his 13th big league season, entering this one with a 3.06 ERA and 1.153 WHIP in 13 starts. This is, however, his first outing since July 9, after which he landed on the 15-day IL with a sore left elbow.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 3 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Joey Meneses
LF Stone Garrett
1B Dominic Smith
C Riley Adams
CF Alex Call
3B Jake Alu
2B Michael Chavis

The 6 p.m. trade deadline came and went without any more moves from the Nationals. The front offices on South Capitol Street remained quiet after yesterday’s deal that sent Jeimer Candelario to the Cubs for two prospects.

So it was back to business as usual for the boys in the navy blue jerseys and curly W caps.

“Play baseball after that," manager Davey Martinez said after letting out a long sigh when asked about his emotions once the deadline passed. "A couple of our players came in at 6:01 p.m. and asked, 'Am I still here?' I go, 'Yeah, you guys are good. You got traded to the Washington Nationals, so congratulations. Keep playing.'”

Although the fact they didn’t trade away any more players may be a sign that the Nats are closer to contention now than they were when they started this rebuilding project at this time two years ago, unfortunately tonight’s on-field result was similar to many around these parts since the 2019 World Series: A 6-4 loss to the Brewers in front of 19,847 fans who came out to Nats Park on a beautiful August night.

Josiah Gray, who was acquired at the 2021 deadline, started the night off strong, but lost his command as the game went on.