MIAMI – Wednesday night was a glimpse into the Nationals’ potentially bright future.

After dropping the first two games of the series and first five games of the season against the Marlins, the Nats’ rough week in Miami looked like it was going to end in the worst way.

The offense couldn’t capitalize on a bases-loaded opportunity in the eighth inning and Tanner Rainey blew his second save of the season in the ninth.

No worries, because Keibert Ruiz – dubbed “​​the star of the game” by manager Davey Martinez afterwards – came to the rescue with a game-winning RBI double in the top of the 10th.

That capped off a 3-for-3 night with two doubles, an RBI and two walks as Ruiz reached base in all five plate appearances for the first time in his career. Even more impressive was the fact that the switch-hitter was able to produce that incredible night from both sides of the plate.

MIAMI – Well, if the Nationals thought the Marlins’ pitching staff was tough to hit over the first two games of this three-game set, it isn’t going to get any easier in tonight’s finale.

Pablo López brings his 4-1 record, 0.814 WHIP and major league-leading 1.05 ERA to the mound as the Marlins look to complete their second sweep of the Nationals this season.

López dominated the Nats in a win back on April 27, shutting them out over six innings of three-hit ball while striking out six. It was one of four scoreless outings for the right-hander already this season.

The Nationals will counter with one of their better starting pitchers in Josiah Gray, who is looking to bounce back from back-to-back rough starts that elevated his ERA from 3.12 for 4.34. He gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Angels on May 7 and six runs over six innings against the Astros on Friday.

Gray’s issues with the longball have also recently resurfaced. After allowing only three home runs over his first five starts, he’s allowed five over his last two. The Marlins have already hit three homers over the first two games of this series, though they have all been solo shots.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
RF Juan Soto
1B Josh Bell
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Yadiel Hernandez
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Maikel Franco
CF Lane Thomas
SS Alcides Escobar

RHP Josiah Gray

MARLINS
2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.
DH Jesús Aguilar
1B Garrett Cooper
RF Avasaíl García
LF Brian Anderson
CF Jesús Sánchez
C Jacob Stallings
SS Miguel Rojas
3B Erik González

RHP Pablo López

MIAMI – A getaway game in the middle of a road trip before an off-day doesn’t usually bring a lot of news. The Nationals didn’t take batting practice on the field at loanDepot Park, so players were slow to arrive in the clubhouse, hanging at their lockers or getting some work in the batting cage tunnel.

A handful of players were catching the end of the Brewers’ extra-inning win over the Braves, watching their next opponent walk off their division rival in 11 innings.

Here's some pregame news and notes from our conversation with manager Davey Martinez before the Nats take on the Marlins:

* After a brutal stretch of 18 scheduled games in 18 days to start the season, the Nationals have benefited from one off-day in each of the last four weeks. But that will end after tomorrow’s day off, when they embark on another stretch of 17 scheduled games in 17 days, starting Friday in Milwaukee.

So Martinez wanted to take today as an opportunity to get the guys off their feet for a little bit while still getting their work in without actual batting practice.

MIAMI – Baseball’s a hard game. It’s one of the hardest games in professional sports.

It’s a game in which if you succeed one-third of the time, you’re considered one of the best in the sport.

So naturally, there are going to be plenty of ups and downs throughout the course of a 162-game season. All teams will go through hot streaks. All teams will go through cold ruts.

The Nationals currently find themselves in the middle of a particularly frustrating rut. They are 12-26, having lost three straight after last night’s 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Marlins. They lost all five games so far this season against the Fish, a team they usually beat. And they’ve lost seven of their last nine overall.

But they’re doing their best to not let their frustrations boil over and get the best of them.

MIAMI – Nelson Cruz has been in big spots throughout his 18-year career. And he’s been in much bigger games than the Nationals’ 38th game of the season against a division opponent.

But after missing Monday’s series opener with an illness, Cruz found himself back in the lineup Tuesday night, and wouldn’t you know it, the game put him in one of the biggest spots of the night.

What happened didn’t ultimately lead to the Nationals’ 5-1 loss in front of 8,097 at loanDepot Park, which also included a close to seven-minute delay due to a false fire alarm in the fifth inning. But it certainly was their biggest opportunity to get ahead of the Marlins late and perhaps win their first game against their National League East rival.

With the Nats down 1-0 and with one out in the sixth, Victor Robles singled to center field to get a speedy runner on base. But he was promptly picked off by Marlins lefty reliever Steven Okert, this coming after Robles stole his first base in his first attempt of the season last night.

But Cesár Hernández followed with an infield single, and Juan Soto and Josh Bell reached on back-to-back walks against the erratic Okert.

MIAMI – After a rough start to the week in the form of an 8-2 loss to the Marlins on Monday, the Nationals were greeted to some good news before the second game of this three-game set at loanDepot Park.

Nelson Cruz returns to the starting lineup after being a pregame scratch with an illness before last night’s game. He left the Nationals clubhouse yesterday while wearing a mask – sent away from the rest of the team to keep anyone else from getting sick – but returned this afternoon without a face covering.

“He was good. He just said he wasn't feeling well yesterday, so precautionary,” said manager Davey Martinez during his pregame session with the media. “You know, I don't want anybody else getting sick. He woke up today, said he felt fine. I watched him do his warmups and he hit in the cage and looked good. So he's back in there.”

Cruz is back in his usual designated hitter role and batting cleanup behind Cesár Hernández, Juan Soto and Josh Bell. Yadiel Hernandez, who replaced Cruz as the DH last night while Lane Thomas took over in left field, is back in left and hitting fifth.

The 41-year-old gets another chance to continue his much-improved May after a rough start to the season in April: He’s slashing .275/.333/.450 with a .783 OPS, two homers and nine RBIs over his first 11 games this month. Cruz can also try to take advantage of the controlled elements inside the roofed loanDepot Park, a stadium where he’s only made two plate appearances during his career spent mostly in the American League.

MIAMI – Would you believe it if I told you the Nationals are looking for their first win of the season against the Marlins tonight?

Well, it’s true. The Marlins have won all four matchups so far in 2022, most recently last night behind a dominant start by Sandy Alcantara. These are not the same Marlins, against whom the Nationals used to rack up wins.

The Nats have at least one win against every opponent they’ve faced this year except the Fish.

Joan Adon will try to get deeper into tonight’s game than Aaron Sanchez’s 3 ⅔ innings of work last night. However, that’s also how far Adon went in his last start when he gave up three runs and five walks to the Mets. The rookie is 1-6 with a 7.03 ERA on the season and hasn’t faced the Fish yet in his young career.

Meanwhile, the Nats offense hopes to have more success against Cody Poteet than they did against Alcantara. The 27-year-old right-hander makes his first start of the season after posting an impressive 0.55 ERA and 0.980 WHIP in 16 ⅓ innings over eight relief appearances.

Poteet hasn’t faced the Nats this year and gave up five runs in three innings in his only start against them last year.

Nelson Cruz and Alcides Escobar will both return to the lineup tonight. 

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

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

RHP Joan Adon

MARLINS
2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.
1B Jesús Aguilar
DH Garrett Cooper
RF Avasaíl García
LF Brian Anderson
CF Bryan De La Cruz
C Jacob Stallings
SS Miguel Rojas
3B Erik González

RHP Cody Poteet

MIAMI – We hear it all the time when teams go through offensive slumps. It’s the major leagues. The guy on the mound gets paid to get batters out, too.

Sometimes it’s just the case that a team runs into some tough pitching matchups.

That has been the case for the Nationals, who, aside from an 8-3 win over the Mets and a 13-6 victory over the Astros, have struggled to score in bunches over the past week.

Over their last five losses, the Nats have been outscored 30-6 and have failed to score more than two runs in a game.

The latest such games came facing future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander on Sunday and budding star Sandy Alcantara on Monday. Sometimes the cards you’re dealt are really good pitchers.

MIAMI – It’s been all or nothing at all lately for the Nationals. They won by five-run and seven-run margins in their two victories over the last week. They then failed to score more than two runs in any of their four losses.

On Sunday, they ran into a red-hot Justin Verlander, who held them scoreless over five innings in an eventual 8-0 loss. On Monday night, it was the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara who kept the Nationals bats quiet while handing down an 8-2 loss in front of 6,601 at loanDepot Park.

So now that makes no more than two runs scored in each of their last five losses.

The evening actually started off well for the visiting side. César Hernández greeted Alcantara with a leadoff single in the top of the first and would eventually come all the way around to score on an RBI single from Yadiel Hernandez (filling the designated hitter role after Nelson Cruz was scratched from the lineup with an illness) for a quick 1-0 lead.

That would be all the Nats could muster off Alcantara.

MIAMI – The Nationals will be without designated hitter Nelson Cruz for Monday’s series opener against the Marlins.

Originally slated to bat fourth in his usual DH role, Cruz was scratched just under two hours before the scheduled first pitch to start this three-game set in Miami. Yadiel Hernandez will now bat cleanup as the designated hitter, with Lane Thomas sliding into left field and batting seventh.

Cruz was seen earlier today in the Nationals clubhouse before the team took the field for pregame warmups. He was wearing a mask as he gathered his things and left the clubhouse shortly before the media spoke to manager Davey Martinez.

“Yeah, we might have a lineup change,” Martinez said when asked about Cruz’s sudden departure. “He didn't feel too good. I didn't want him around the other boys. So I'm going to talk to our trainers after this and we'll figure out what's going on.”

Whether Cruz was wearing a mask for precautionary reasons or it was deemed that he had to remains unclear. No other players, coaches or staff members were seen wearing masks.

MIAMI – ¡Bienvenidos a Miami! After finishing up a six-game homestand by going 2-4 against the Mets and Astros, the Nationals now embark on a six-game road trip starting with tonight’s series opener against the Marlins.

Interestingly enough, the Nats have fared much better away from their home ballpark so far in 2022. They’re 7-9 (.438) in their 16 road games and have outscored their opponents 94-86. They are 5-15 (.250) and have been outscored 100-56 in 20 home games.

Aaron Sanchez will look to build off one of his strongest outings as a National, when he held the Mets to three runs on six hits with no walks over 5 1/3 innings Wednesday. For the season, Sanchez is 2-2 with a 7.58 ERA and 1.421 WHIP over four starts.

Sanchez made two starts against the Marlins last year as a member of the Giants, holding the Fish to just one run over a combined 9 2/3 innings.

Sandy Alcantara will take the bump for Don Mattingly’s club while looking to continue his strong start to the season. The right-hander is 2-2 with a 2.74 ERA that ranks ninth in the National League. He held the Nats to just one run over six innings in an April 26 win at Nationals Park.

This is my first solo road trip covering the Nats, so I’m excited to bring you coverage this week from South Beach. Mark Zuckerman will rejoin the team in Milwaukee on Friday.

Update: Nelson Cruz was scratched from tonight's lineup. Manager Davey Martinez said the slugger wasn't feeling well. Yadiel Hernandez is now the designated hitter and batting fourth, and Lane Thomas is now in left field and batting seventh.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
RF Juan Soto
1B Josh Bell
DH Nelson Cruz Yadiel Hernandez
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Maikel Franco
LF Lane Thomas
SS Dee Strange-Gordon
CF Victor Robles

RHP Aaron Sanchez

MARLINS
2B Jazz Chisholm
DH Jesús Aguilar
LF Jorge Soler
1B Garrett Cooper
RF Avasaíl García
3B Brian Anderson
CF Bryan De La Cruz
SS Erik González
C Jacob Stallings

RHP Sandy Alcantara

Quick quiz: Who leads the Nationals in RBIs? It’s Josh Bell, right?

Yes, but it’s not only Bell. Also checking in with 21 RBIs through the season’s first 36 games is an unexpected contributor: Maikel Franco.

While Bell’s offensive exploits have been front and center since opening day, Franco’s contributions have been delivered in a bit more quiet fashion. But sure enough, the veteran third baseman’s two-run homer during Saturday night’s blowout win over the Astros brought him up to Bell’s RBI total and the team lead.

Some of this is a reflection of Juan Soto’s struggles to drive in runs – he has only 11, despite eight homers and an .890 OPS – but it’s also a credit to Franco, who surprisingly finds himself on pace for 95 RBIs at the moment, a total that would shatter his previous career-high of 88.

 “He’s been great,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s worked really hard. He and (assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler) have built a really good relationship. They work hard in the batting cages. He’s got a really good routine going on right now.”

It had all the trimmings of a classic pitchers’ duel, Justin Verlander and Patrick Corbin matching zeros in the run column while Verlander maintained a zero in the hits column as well.

For Verlander, though, this was par for the course. He just carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning in his previous start.

For Corbin, this was uncharted territory for 2022. And 2020 and 2021, for that matter. The pressure rested squarely upon the left-hander’s shoulder to keep up with his more accomplished counterpart. And though he did best Verlander in the length of his start, Corbin came nowhere close to beating him in the only department that actually counts.

Three late homers by the Astros spoiled Corbin’s afternoon. And with the Nationals unable to push a run across in five innings against Verlander or the next four innings against Houston relievers, the end result was an 8-0 loss that didn’t really convey the type of ballgame this actually was.

"Look who we faced today," manager Davey Martinez said. "We've been swinging the bat well. Regardless of whether or not we score runs, we've been getting five, six, seven, eight hits a game. Today, that guy was good."

Tanner Rainey is the Nationals’ best reliever. Or, at least, they’re handling him like he’s their best reliever, using him as their closer when the opportunity presents itself.

Trouble is, there just haven’t been many of those opportunities to date.

The Nats have held a lead of three or fewer runs in the ninth inning only four times through the season’s first 35 games. And it’s happened, remarkably, only once in their last 22 games. (The team’s last six wins all have come by at least four runs, often many more.)

Which has left Rainey frequently doing nothing but watching games from the bullpen without ever taking the mound himself. He has appeared only 10 times overall this season, only four times so far this month.

So when the latter innings of Saturday night’s 13-6 rout of the Astros came around, manager Davey Martinez felt he had no choice but to go ahead and pitch Rainey, no matter the score. It was the 29-year-old’s first outing since his lone blown save Sunday in Anaheim, the third time already this season he was pitching on five days’ rest.

The Nationals were held to one run during Friday night’s loss to the Astros. They exploded for 13 runs during Saturday night’s win over the Astros. So what should we expect from them during today’s series finale against the Astros?

As much as you’d love to see another offensive explosion, you’ve got to think the odds are stacked against them, with Justin Verlander taking the mound for Houston. The 39-year-old right-hander has been phenomenal so far this season, with a 4-1 record and league-leading 1.55 ERA and 0.639 WHIP. And he’s doing this in his return from Tommy John surgery. Like his former rotation mate in Detroit, Max Scherzer, Verlander is a freak of nature.

There are several Nationals with considerable experience against Verlander. Nelson Cruz is 15-for-57 with four doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs. Alcides Escobar is 18-for-88 with four doubles and four RBIs. And, of course, Juan Soto is 2-for-6 with a double and a titanic home run off Verlander during the 2019 World Series.

Runs are probably going to be at a premium today, though, so the pressure’s on Patrick Corbin to deliver another quality start. The left-hander seems to have turned his entire season around over his last three starts, producing a 2.37 ERA and 1.158 WHIP. The challenge today against the Astros lineup will be tougher, but success in this one might be the most legitimate evidence to date that Corbin actually has turned a corner.

HOUSTON ASTROS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain late, 79 degrees, wind 5 mph out to left field

No major league club has played better, or particularly pitched better, this month than the Astros. The Houston staff that walked into Nationals Park tonight had surrendered a grand total of 12 runs over the last 11 games. Not surprisingly, all 11 resulted in victory for Dusty Baker’s squad.

So consider what the Nationals just did on this Saturday evening, and try to explain it. Scoring a run in the first and then multiple runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, they torched the Astros’ previously ironclad pitching staff during a 13-6 win that kind of defied logic.

The same Nats lineup that has struggled so mightily to produce extra-base hits got five of them in this game, including Yadiel Hernandez’s three-run homer, Nelson Cruz’s three-run double and Maikel Franco’s two-run homer.

All told, the Nationals crossed the plate more times tonight than they did their previous four games combined, putting an end the Astros’ winning streak with emphasis and giving a crowd of 22,949 plenty of reason to cheer, something that has been in woefully short supply this season.

"Just good at-bats," Cruz said. "We were patient. We hit strikes. We were facing pretty good pitchers, from their starters to their relievers. To be able to score that many runs, it shows how good of a lineup we have."

Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross are ready to shift into a regular, five-day pitching routine that could prepare them to join the Nationals’ rotation sometime next month after completing their latest simulated games with no issues.

Strasburg, who is recovering from last summer’s thoracic outlet surgery, and Ross, who is recovering from March’s surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow, each tossed two innings during a simulated game Friday in West Palm Beach, Fla. Strasburg threw 27 pitches, reaching 92 mph with his fastball, according to manager Davey Martinez. Ross threw 33 pitches, topping out at 95 mph.

“They’re feeling really good,” Martinez said. “We hope that continues.”

This session came four days after both right-handers pitched their first simulated games at the club’s spring training complex. They’ll now shift to a standard, five-game schedule between outings, further evidence they are transitioning from rehab mode to preparation mode.

Both Strasburg and Ross still need time to build their arms back up. They’re essentially now treating this final stage of rehab as if they were in spring training, with no significant restrictions due to their prior injuries.

Very little went right for the Nationals on Friday night. They trailed 5-0 in the top of the first, and though Josiah Gray did right the ship after that, the lineup did nothing of consequence to try to mount a comeback. They’ll hope for a much better outcome tonight against the Astros, really hoping they can start stringing together some hits. (Or, even better, some extra-base hits.)

The challenge standing in their way: A Houston pitching staff that has allowed a grand total of 12 runs during the current 11-game winning streak. That’s almost impossible to believe, but it’s true. Cristian Javier, tonight’s starter, has been part of this run himself, and will take the mound with a 2-0 record and 0.83 ERA, though four of his six appearances to date have come out of the bullpen and he’s yet to top 87 pitches in either of his starts.

Davey Martinez has two changes from Friday night’s lineup. Yadiel Hernandez, who sat against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez, is back in there batting fifth and playing left field. And Dee Strange-Gordon gets the start at shortstop instead of Alcides Escobar, who actually had a strong night in the field but had another 0-fer at the plate.

Erick Fedde gets the ball for the Nationals. He managed to shut out the Angels’ potent lineup for five innings in his last start, but he found himself having to pitch out of trouble that entire outing. He’ll need to be more efficient tonight if he wants to go deeper in the game and take some load off the bullpen’s shoulders.

HOUSTON ASTROS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Rain ending, 70 degrees, wind 4 mph right field to left field

There are any number of ways to articulate how well Josh Bell has hit for the Nationals so far this season. The .342 batting average is an obvious one, as is the .434 on-base percentage. Each ranks third among all qualifying National League hitters.

There’s another, less obvious way to underscore Bell’s success to date: His lack of strikeouts.

Consider that the 29-year-old first baseman has struck out only 15 times in 138 plate appearances so far this season. Only four qualifying NL hitters have struck out fewer times, and they’re all contact-happy middle infielders: Jose Iglesias, Miguel Rojas, Nico Hoerner and Jeff McNeil.

Bell? He’s one of the most intimidating physical presences in the batter’s box in the majors, a 261-pound slugger who seems to want to hit the ball as hard as he can every time he swings.

Looks, however, can be deceiving.

The crowd at Nationals Park had just had an opportunity to welcome Dusty Baker back to town, standing and applauding the former Nats manager in his first appearance here since October 2017. Then, within seconds, the applause morphed into boos as the visitors’ starting lineup was announced, the first such appearance here for the Astros since October 2019.

Thus was the stage set for the start of an emotional weekend, one that plenty of folks had eagerly anticipated for some time.

And then Jose Altuve blasted Josiah Gray’s very first pitch of the game off the top of the center field fence for a leadoff home run, and the mood instantly changed.

And then Michael Brantley followed with a double off the wall, and Alex Bregman followed that with a double down the line, and Yordan Alvarez followed that with an RBI single and then – with a quick break for an actual out to be recorded – Yuli Gurriel crushed Gray’s 14th pitch of the night deep to left and the Astros already led by five runs and all life had been sucked out of the crowd.

It would never really return by the end of the night, Houston cruising to a 6-1 victory that for all purposes was resolved before the Nationals even came up to bat in the bottom of the first.