CINCINNATI – There was a good amount of pregame news ahead of the Nationals’ second game against the Reds at Great American Ball Park. Some were baseball related. Some were more important than baseball.

Starting on the diamond, the Nationals made a handful of roster moves before today’s game. They recalled right-hander Andres Machado from Triple-A Rochester and placed left-hander Josh Rogers on the 15-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement, leaving no lefties in the bullpen for tonight.

Machado rejoins the Nats for his third stint this season, in which he has a 5.40 ERA with 10 strikeouts and seven walks in 12 appearances. Rogers has a 5.13 ERA in 16 games (three starts) with the Nats and was charged with two runs after serving up a three-run home run to Kyle Farmer while only recording two outs last night.

“He went on the IL with a little bit of impingement in his left shoulder. So we'll see,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame media session. “He's gonna get an MRI tomorrow and we'll see how he's doing tomorrow. But we brought in Machado to fill that void as well.”

Martinez mentioned yesterday that lefty Evan Lee could be used out of the ‘pen on his bullpen day, but that isn’t until tomorrow. So how will the skipper use his relievers without a southpaw?

CINCINNATI – Surely the Nationals offense will break out of its funk and score some runs tonight, right?

Since their 6-5 win over the Rockies on Sunday – their fourth victory of their previous five games – the Nats have been outscored 36-6 in four straight losses this week.

They’ll get their shot at 10-year veteran Mike Minor on Friday at Great American Ball Park. The 34-year-old is making his Reds debut after being acquired from the Royals for Amir Garrett in March. Minor is 3-3 with a 4.47 ERA in 11 career starts against the Nationals, all of which came between 2010 and 2014, when he was with the Braves.

The Nats have been kept quiet by right-handed starting pitchers this week, so maybe facing a lefty will bring different results. They do have a slightly better average against southpaws this year, hitting .253 to rank fifth in the National League.

Josiah Gray will get to face the team that selected him in the second round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft for the first time. The young right-hander didn’t fare so well when he faced his other former team, the Dodgers, for the first time last week, giving up seven runs in just three innings of work. After the game, Gray said he let his emotions get the best of him, but was looking forward to facing the Reds for the first time. We’ll see if he can keep his emotions in check tonight.

Reds shortstop Kyle Farmer (not in tonight’s lineup after going 2-for-4 with a three-run home run last night) arrived in Cincinnati in the trade that sent Gray to Los Angeles in December 2018. They are the only two major league players currently active from that six-player deal.

The Nationals have recalled Andres Machado from Triple-A Rochester and placed Josh Rogers on the 15-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement. So manager Davey Martinez has no left-handers in his bullpen tonight, with Evan Lee’s bullpen day not until tomorrow.

Congratulations to Dee Strange-Gordon and his wife, Jojo, who welcomed the couple’s second child this morning. They named their son Dash, a fitting name for the son of a speedy utility player. Former Nationals speedster Trea Turner also used “Dash” as a nickname for his firstborn son, Beckham.

The Nationals will place Strange-Gordon on the paternity list and will make another roster move this afternoon.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CINCINNATI REDS
Where: Great American Ball Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 79 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left-center field

NATIONALS
2B Cesár Hernández
LF Lane Thomas
RF Juan Soto
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Josh Bell
3B Maikel Franco
C Riley Adams
SS Luis García
CF Victor Robles

RHP Josiah Gray

REDS
CF Nick Senzel
3B Brandon Drury
LF Tommy Pham
1B Joey Votto
C Tyler Stephenson
DH Mike Moustakas
RF Albert Almora Jr.
2B Alejo Lopez
SS Matt Reynolds

LHP Mike Minor

CINCINNATI – The Nationals were very clear about their plans for infield prospect Luis García: He is to play every day at shortstop. And he wasn’t going to come back up to the majors until the organization felt he was ready to do so at the big league level on a consistent basis.

That might have caused some frustration and confusion among fans, who watched 35-year-old Alcides Escobar, 34-year-old Dee Strange-Gordon and offseason waiver claim Lucius Fox share the reps at shortstop through the first two months of the season while García stayed at Triple-A Rochester.

In a rebuilding year, why not play one of your top prospects whose major league-ready bat can help your struggling offense?

Well, García finally got the call back to the majors ahead of Wednesday’s finale in New York when Escobar landed on the 10-day injured list ​​with a right hamstring strain and everyday reps at shortstop became available.

But it’s still a developing period for the 22-year-old, and the Nats are keeping a close watch on one of their key pieces of their future.

CINCINNATI – The Nationals have had their fair share of issues to begin this 10-game road trip. That’s the easy way to put it.

What are those issues? Much of the same. Poor pitching, lack of hitting and sloppy defense.

You’ve seen this story before. Now for the fourth time this week, actually.

Entering this four-game series against the Reds, the Nats had been shut out in back-to-back games and were riding a 21-inning scoreless streak. That streak extended to 27 ⅓ innings before they finally scored a run. But it was just one run, and that wasn’t nearly enough in this 8-1 loss in front of 12,799 at Great American Ball Park.

The Nationals were averaging 3.0 runs per game over their last 14 road games before tonight. That number is going to shrink after scoring just the one on Josh Bell’s seventh-inning home run to left field, his fifth of the season.

CINCINNATI – Hello from Cincinnati, my first time visiting The Queen City and Great American Ball Park!

The Nationals continue their 10-game road trip with a four-game set this weekend against the Reds that could help determine who gets next year’s No. 1 overall pick in the draft. (Although the implementation of the draft lottery next year will also play a factor.) There was a time earlier this season when the Nats were actually playing better on the road than at home. But they have lost 11 out of their last 14 road games while averaging just 3.0 runs per game and allowing 6.0 runs per game.

Joan Adon will face the Reds for the first time in his young career. Although he is just 1-8 with a 6.08 ERA on the year, the right-hander will look to build off a strong start his last time out in which he held the Rockies to two unearned runs over six innings.

Adon could also benefit from some support from the offense, which has only given him an average of 1.62 runs of support over his first 10 starts of the season. Yes, the same offense that is currently riding a 21-inning scoreless streak.

The Reds will counter with their own young right-hander in rookie Graham Ashcraft. The 24-year-old has pitched to a 1.69 ERA over his first two major league outings, aided by 6 ⅓ scoreless innings against the Giants in his last start.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CINCINNATI REDS
Where: Great American Ball Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 76 degrees, wind 8 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
C Keibert Ruiz 
RF Juan Soto 
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Josh Bell
LF Yadiel Hernandez
3B Maikel Franco
SS Luis García
CF Victor Robles 

RHP Joan Adon

REDS
CF Nick Senzel
3B Brandon Drury
LF Tommy Pham
DH Joey Votto
SS Kyle Farmer
1B Mike Moustakas
RF Albert Almora Jr.
C Aramis Garcia
2B Matt Reynolds

RHP Graham Ashcraft

CINCINNATI – Nationals manager Davey Martinez was impressed with Evan Lee’s major league debut Wednesday against the Mets. The 24-year-old’s 3 ⅔ innings on 67 pitches was strong enough for the skipper to suggest the left-hander would get another chance to pitch in the big leagues.

Whether that’s in the form of another start or an appearance out of the bullpen remains to be seen. Martinez wants to see how these four-games in Cincinnati play out before making a commitment to Lee making a second start.

Martinez did confirm, however, that Lee is staying with the Nationals for the time being, instead of being sent back down to the minors after a spot start.

“Yeah, he's here. We told him to be ready for the five days” Martinez said of Lee during his pregame media session with the media. “We'll see what transpires in those other days. We also, for me, we got one left-hander in the bullpen. So on his bullpen day, we might keep him back and maybe put him in the bullpen for that day.”

That bullpen day typically comes on the third day of a five-day rotation, meaning Lee could be available out of the bullpen for Saturday’s afternoon game against the Reds with Erick Fedde on the mound. Josh Rogers, the only lefty currently in the ‘pen, had to pitch in two of the three games in New York, including mop up duty in the eighth inning Wednesday after Jordan Weems couldn’t close out the inning.

NEW YORK – Though he’d never admit it publicly, Mike Rizzo knew what this season likely had in store for the Nationals. From the moment he dealt away eight veterans at last July’s trade deadline and made only modest acquisitions to account for it last winter, the longtime general manager signaled 2022 would be less about wins and losses and more about rebooting a franchise that sorely needed it.

Two months in, though, with his team owning one of the worst records in the majors, Rizzo admits he’s less than satisfied with what he’s watching. Not necessarily because of the record. But because of the way the Nats are playing.

“I think that the discouraging thing is that we’re not playing good defense, and we’re not running the bases well,” Rizzo said in the visiting dugout at Citi Field prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Mets, an eventual 5-0 loss that featured several shaky defensive moments. “And those are fundamental mistakes that shouldn’t happen at the rate that they’re happening now. So that’s the biggest takeaway I’ve seen from the beginning of the season.”

Don’t confuse Rizzo’s frustration with the current manner of play from the Nationals as any concession his grand plan isn’t going as planned. He will immediately point to a revamped farm system that has performed better than the big league club, the development of prospects throughout that system and the promise of it all translating into more wins in D.C. sooner rather than later.

“I think setting expectations was important when we started this process with the ownership group and with the fan base,” he said. “I think a lot of people understand it, where we’re at, and I really believe that the reboot is in full-go, and I think that we’re in a better position than we were in 2009. A few short years later, we won the division, and I think we're in a better position now because our minor leagues are much better now than they were then.

NEW YORK – Mike Rizzo was discussing the Nationals’ ragged opening two months to this season about an hour before first pitch of today’s series finale at Citi Field and on multiple occasions singled out his team’s poor fundamentals for making life even more difficult than it already is on a struggling pitching staff and lineup.

“We’re a team that the margin for error is small,” the longtime general manager said. “We can’t be giving extra outs on defense, and running into outs on the basepaths. To me, walks and errors have been the Achilles’ heel of the start.”

By day’s end, Rizzo had seen that very scenario play out and contribute to yet another loss. The Nats’ 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Mets, completing a three-game sweep, perhaps was inevitable regardless because the lineup was shut out for the second straight day and has now gone 21 consecutive innings without scoring a run. But it’s also not inaccurate to say four of the five runs they surrendered were a direct result of shaky defense and two of the five walks their pitching staff issued.

"The walks and the defense: Two bad combinations," manager Davey Martinez said. "We've got to play better on defense,and we've got to limit the walks. I've always said the hitting comes and goes. That's part of the game. But you've got to do three constants: Play defense, run the bases well and pitch well. And today, two of the three things we didn't do well."

This team, as Rizzo noted, simply can’t afford to make fundamental mistakes because it simply doesn’t have enough consistent offensive firepower or an accomplished enough pitching staff to make up for it. Perhaps it could’ve been overlooked today, but only if they had produced at the plate to offset the other stuff.

NEW YORK – The Nationals waited the last two months for Luis García to prove to them he was ready to be called back up to the big leagues. But sometimes other developments force the issue, and when Alcides Escobar injured his right hamstring during Tuesday night’s loss to the Mets, the organization knew it was time to promote their 22-year-old infielder.

García was officially recalled from Triple-A Rochester this morning, with Escobar placed on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain that’s not serious enough to sideline him long-term but was significant enough to sideline him for a little while.

“He said he was still sore. And the position he plays, it’s tough to play when your hamstring is bothering you,” manager Davey Martinez said prior to today’s series finale against the Mets. “We decided the best thing to do is just let it heal, let it get right. Hopefully it only takes 10 days, 12 days, but we’ll see where he’s at.”

The Nationals could’ve called up a short-term replacement for Escobar, such as utility infielder Lucius Fox. But García has long been considered a potential long-term part of the organization’s rebuilding plan, and his performance over the last two months at Triple-A – most notably a .314/.368/.531 offensive slash line – convinced the team’s decision makers the time was right to promote him.

“It made sense, because we have a shortstop on the (IL),” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “We thought he was very close, and when Escobar went down it made it a fairly simple decision to make.”

NEW YORK – The Nationals haven’t been good at many things this season, but they have been good at avoiding sweeps. Six times already they’ve found themselves needing to win a series finale to avoid getting swept, and in four of those instances they’ve found a way to win (including their last three such instances).

So that’s the challenge facing the Nats today here at Citi Field, with an extra twist added in: They’re sending a kid to the mound to make his major league debut. Evan Lee, a 24-year-old left-hander, has been called up from Double-A Harrisburg and will start against the Mets, hoping to do what Erick Fedde and Patrick Corbin could not do the previous two nights and hold down this potent lineup.

Davey Martinez is purposely setting the bar low for Lee, saying Tuesday night he’s only looking for three or four innings from his starter. The bullpen isn’t in terrible shape, all things considered, with Josh Rogers the most likely option to pitch multiple innings at some point and perhaps even Paolo Espino available for some work after tossing three scoreless innings during Monday’s blowout. Tanner Rainey, Kyle Finnegan and Victor Arano all have yet to pitch in this series, as well.

The Nationals could certainly help Lee out and provide some run support. They’re facing Carlos Carrasco for the third time this season, and they haven’t had much success against the right-hander to date: three runs scored in 12 1/3 innings. They’re probably going to need to do better than that today if they want to again avoid a series sweep and at least get out of town feeling better about themselves.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 1:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (outside D.C. and N.Y. markets), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 67 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NEW YORK – The Nationals couldn’t really afford to be picky when it came time to choose their starter for today’s series finale against the Mets. They had to take whomever was most available for this game.

They hoped that would be Josh Rogers or Paolo Espino, but both were needed out of the bullpen after Erick Fedde lasted just 1 1/3 innings during Monday night’s series opener. So that knocked each of them out of the equation.

In a perfect world, Stephen Strasburg would’ve been ready by now, but he’s not quite there yet. The news has been very encouraging on Strasburg, who tossed five hitless innings in a rehab start Sunday for Single-A Fredericksburg, but he needs at least one more tune-up Friday at Triple-A Rochester to build his innings and pitch counts up before coming off the injured list at last.

Cade Cavalli and Cole Henry each was dominant in his last start, Cavalli tossing seven scoreless innings for Rochester, Henry pitching four perfect innings for Double-A Harrisburg. But neither top prospect is deemed ready quite yet. And besides, neither was on the right schedule after starting Sunday.

So that left two remaining options from the Nationals’ farm system who were both on the right five-day scheduled: Jackson Tetreault and Evan Lee.

NEW YORK – Indignity for the Nationals came in multiple forms tonight.

It came in another lousy start for Patrick Corbin, who recorded only one more out (13) than hits allowed (12).

It came in another feeble offensive showing against a moderately accomplished opposing starter: the Mets’ Trevor Williams, who shut them out over five innings before his bullpen finished the job.

It came in the sight of Maikel Franco getting called out when Dee Strange-Gordon’s scorched liner struck him on the back as he led off first base.

And it came in the loss of Alcides Escobar to what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury suffered making a fine play in the bottom of the fourth, leaving the Nats thinking they might need to search for another shortstop before learning later Escobar appears to be fine.

NEW YORK – Desperate for some fresh arms out of the bullpen after Monday night’s 13-6 trouncing at the hands of the Mets, the Nationals promoted Jordan Weems and Francisco Perez from Triple-A Rochester, moves that cost Andres Machado and Austin Voth their jobs.

Voth was designated for assignment, potentially ending the right-hander’s nine-year relationship with the organization. A fifth-round pick in the 2013 draft, he made his major league debut in 2018 and enjoyed his best run of success in 2019 but progressively struggled more and more since.

In 19 appearances this season, Voth compiled a gaudy 10.13 ERA and 2.143 WHIP. Over 92 total appearances since making his debut, he had a 5.70 ERA and 1.453 WHIP.

“I was more frustrated, because I sat down with him daily to try to figure it out,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We looked at all kinds of stuff, all kinds of numbers. We tried some things with him, and he was open to them. You saw some signs that maybe this was going to work, and unfortunately it didn’t. It’s tough. I really believe he was going to get through it, and it just didn’t happen.”

Voth, who was out of options, can either be claimed off waivers by another club or be traded. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll have the ability to decide whether to report to Rochester or sign a minor league contract with another organization.

NEW YORK – Monday night’s series opener was a miserable one for the Nationals, who got down 12-3 after four innings and never had a chance during what wound up a 13-6 loss to the Mets. If that was merely a one-off, with no lingering effects, it would be one thing. But the fear is that that lopsided loss will have a carryover effect, because of what it did to the Nats pitching staff.

When Erick Fedde was knocked out after only 1 1/3 innings, then Andres Machado and Austin Voth lasted only 1 1/3 inning each in relief, then Paolo Espino had to go three innings in mop-up duty before Josh Rogers pitched the final frame, the Nationals left themselves in a precarious pitching position for the rest of the series.

With that in mind, the club made a couple of roster moves today to bring in a couple of fresh arms. Right-hander Jordan Weems and left-hander Francisco Perez were called up from Triple-A Rochester and will be available out of the bullpen tonight. Each has some prior big league experience. To create roster space for them, the Nationals optioned Machado back to Rochester only three days after he was recalled and designated the long-struggling Voth for assignment, potentially ending his time in the organization.

The best thing the Nats could do to help avoid more problems tonight, though, is get a quality start out of Patrick Corbin. Corbin finally earned his first win of the season when he allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings to the Rockies. He shut out the Mets over five innings earlier this month and held them to two runs in four innings on opening day.

The Nationals also will try to keep their quietly improving lineup producing tonight against Trevor Williams. Williams has faced them twice in relief this season, allowing two unearned runs in 4 2/3 innings. He’s making only his third overall start, having yet to exceed 65 pitches in total. Nelson Cruz, who had to leave Monday night's game after getting hit by a pitch on his left ankle, is not in the lineup but could be available off the bench.

NEW YORK – Look strictly at his numbers – 2.28 ERA, 1.141 WHIP, 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio – and you can’t help but think Paolo Espino must be among the Nationals’ primary bullpen options for high-leverage situations.

And then you look at his individual games this season, and you realize every one of Espino’s 17 appearances to date has come with the Nats either trailing by three or more runs or leading by four or more runs, with 14 of those 17 appearances coming in the eighth or ninth inning.

Not once this year has Espino pitched in a close ballgame. Which would leave you wondering if it’s tough for the veteran right-hander to maintain a certain level of intensity when he takes the mound.

“Not really,” he insisted following Monday night’s 13-5 loss to the Mets. “In my head, it’s always a tie game, or a close game. I don’t let the score determine how I’m going to go out there. Today, they were ahead by a lot, but I still went out there to pitch my game, to pitch like it was a tie game. That’s the way I go out there every outing.”

Leading by a bunch, trailing by a bunch, it doesn’t matter to Espino. He arguably has been the Nationals’ most consistently reliable pitcher, always willing to take the ball whenever asked, never one to complain about the fact he never gets a chance to pitch in a situation of real consequence.

NEW YORK – The Nationals sent Erick Fedde to the mound at Citi Field tonight, first and foremost, in an attempt to win their series opener against the Mets. They also sent Fedde out there, second and furthermore, in an attempt to get enough innings from their starter to help set the stage for the rest of the series, knowing they need somebody to make a spot start Wednesday afternoon.

If Fedde – and Patrick Corbin on Tuesday – could provide enough depth to keep the bullpen from being overworked, manager Davey Martinez could then use long men Paolo Espino and Josh Rogers in tandem on Wednesday, negating the need to summon an inexperienced minor league starter for one game.

It took less than two innings tonight for that hopeful plan to go up in flames.

Fedde was rocked by the Mets for six runs and eight hits in only 1 1/3 innings, setting the Nationals on a runaway path toward a lopsided 13-5 loss and leaving the organization in an unenviable position as it now tries to figure out who’s going to pitch the next several days.

"It's brutal," the right-hander said. "It lets the whole team down. If anything, if you're able to at least go six (innings) and give up a bunch of runs, you put the team in a better position going forward. But today was just really unacceptable in a sense. I feel bad for the guys in the bullpen. I put them behind the 8-ball probably for the next week or so."

NEW YORK – Watching Kyle Finnegan labor through the top of the eighth Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park, Davey Martinez felt like something didn’t look right with the Nats reliever.

The results certainly weren’t up to Finnegan’s standards: He retired only one of the five batters he faced, allowing three singles and a double, letting two Rockies runners score and trim a 6-3 lead down to 6-5. Ultimately, Martinez felt he had no choice but to summon Tanner Rainey to clean up the mess in the eighth and then also pitch the ninth for the first multi-inning save of his career.

What, though, was going on with Finnegan? After studying some video Sunday night and earlier today, the Nationals noticed his legs were spread wider than normal as he came set to throw each pitch. A seemingly minor discrepancy actually caused a significant drop in performance.

As Martinez and the club’s coaching and analytics staff realized, the spin rate on Finnegan’s fastball was down 10 percent Sunday from his season average. Suddenly, that upper-90s pitch was more hittable than it’s been all year.

“We talked a little bit. I noticed that his legs were a little bit wider on his setup,” Martinez said before tonight’s series opener against the Mets. “We talked to him about it. He was going to come in today, we were going to look at some numbers. His spin rate was down because of it, which I kind of figured. But we’re going to correct it.”

NEW YORK – The Nationals have won four of their last five. As such, they’ve improved to 18-31 on the season. Which means if they win tonight’s series opener against the Mets, they’ll be 19-31. And we all know what that means.

OK, so it probably wouldn’t mean what it meant three years ago when the Nats got swept in this very ballpark to fall to 19-31. If anything, this time it would represent a significant improvement over the way things had been going. Not that anyone here would be celebrating it if it does happen.

The challenge the next three weeks is tough, facing a Mets club that has been comfortably leading the division most of the season to date, despite injuries to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. They’ll send left-hander David Peterson, owner of a 2.14 ERA in five games, to the mound tonight to face a Nats lineup that doesn’t have a ton of regular season experience against him. (Though they’ve faced him several times in spring training.)

Erick Fedde starts for the Nationals, and he quietly has turned into the most consistently effective member of their rotation. Over his last six starts, Fedde has a 2.23 ERA, allowing two or fewer earned runs in five of those outings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (outside D.C. and N.Y. markets), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees, wind 11 mph out to left field

Stephen Strasburg was already in the home clubhouse at Nationals Park by the time Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the Rockies was completed, the traffic on northbound Interstate-95 apparently not nearly as awful as you’d typically expect it to be on a holiday weekend.

While the Nats were hanging on to beat Colorado and earn their first home series win of the season, Strasburg was making his second rehab start for Single-A Fredericksburg. And unlike his uneven first outing Tuesday night, this time he dominated his far-less-experienced opponents.

Strasburg tossed five no-hit innings. He retired the first 14 batters before finally surrendering a walk with two outs in the fifth. He struck out six. He did all this in only 58 pitches (38 strikes). Suffice it to say, it was about as best-case scenario as you could draw up under the circumstances.

And most importantly, it moves the 33-year-old one step closer to rejoining the Nationals and finally making his 2022 debut.

Manager Davey Martinez has said he’d like Strasburg to be able to complete six innings and/or throw 90 pitches before coming off the injured list. After going five innings Sunday, he should be cleared to go six in his next outing. The pitch count progression might lag a bit behind; it’s tough to imagine the organization would let him throw more than 75 or so pitches next time out. But as efficient as he was in this one, it’s entirely possible he could complete six frames around that total.

No team in the National League has hit fewer home runs than the Nationals, who entered today’s series finale with only 30 of them through the season’s first 48 games and lengthy individual power droughts by some of their biggest power hitters.

Through it all, manager Davey Martinez has been positive the homers will come, as hitters get their timing down, elevate the ball and take advantage of warmer summer weather.

And then on this warm, 80-degree Memorial Day Sunday afternoon on South Capitol Street, Martinez and the Nats began to see signs of it finally happening, most importantly from their most important hitter.

Juan Soto’s first homer since May 12, a span of 16 games, put the Nationals up early. And then Lane Thomas’ homer in the sixth provided some insurance they wound up needing to secure a 6-5 victory over the Rockies and a rare series win.

It got a bit hairy late, with Andres Machado allowing two runs in the seventh and Kyle Finnegan allowing two runs in the eighth before Tanner Rainey locked things down. But at the end of the day, the Nats took three of four from Colorado and four of five overall to end this homestand with their first series victory since late April in San Francisco, their first home series victory of the year.