OK, let’s try this again. The Nationals and Rockies came oh so close to playing Friday night, only to have the game postponed about 25 minutes before scheduled first pitch and rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader today. So get ready for a long day (and night) of baseball on South Capitol Street, beginning at 12:05 p.m. with the makeup for Friday night’s postponed game.

Aaron Sanchez, who started to get loose in the outfield but never made it to the bullpen for warmups, will go ahead and make this start. As noted before, the right-hander gave up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings when he faced the Rockies at Coors Field earlier this month. He’ll need to be better today, especially when you consider the Nationals need as many innings from their starters as possible to ease the workload on a bullpen that will have to cover innings in both games.

Austin Gomber, who did throw some warmup pitches in the bullpen prior to the postponement announcement, will start for Colorado. The lefty held the Nats to two runs in 6 2/3 innings a few weeks ago.

The Nationals decided to use the allotted 27th roster spot for the doubleheader on reliever Andres Machado, who will be available for both games. The right-hander has a 6.43 ERA in six appearances for Triple-A Rochester since his demotion last month.

COLORADO ROCKIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS (Game 1)
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 12:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 10 mph out to right field

Despite initial hopes of being able to play tonight before an expected storm arrived, the Nationals’ game against the Rockies was postponed once it became clear the rain would likely hit earlier than anticipated.

The announcement didn’t come until about 25 minutes before the scheduled 7:05 p.m. first pitch, with many in the crowd for Juan Soto Shuffle Bobblehead Night having already settled into their seats and no rain in the immediate vicinity yet. Both teams’ starters – the Nats’ Aaron Sanchez, the Rockies’ Austin Gomber – were already getting loose in the outfield as the game was officially postponed.

The clubs will play a split, separate-admission doubleheader Saturday, with the makeup game starting at 12:05 p.m. and the original 4:05 p.m. game now moved to 6:05 p.m.

Fans who held tickets and parking passes for tonight’s game can use them for admission to Saturday’s 12:05 p.m. game or call the Nationals ticket office to exchange them for a future available date. Fans who hold tickets and parking passes for Saturday’s 4:05 p.m. game can use them for the rescheduled 6:05 p.m. nightcap.

The evening forecast looked dicey all day, with a first round of storms sweeping through the Washington area around noon and another round expected to arrive sometime in the 8-9 p.m. range tonight. There was consideration given to postponing the game earlier, but Major League Baseball did not give the official approval until about 6:40 p.m.

Stephen Strasburg will head back to Fredericksburg for his second rehab appearance, starting Sunday’s game for the Nationals’ low Single-A affiliate five days after taking the mound in a competitive game for the first time in nearly a year.

Strasburg, who allowed three runs while throwing 61 pitches in 2 2/3 innings Tuesday night for the FredNats, is slated to ramp up to 4-5 innings or 60-70 pitches, according to Nationals manager Davey Martinez. Because minor league teams now play six-game series every Tuesday-Sunday, he’ll be facing the same Salem Red Sox lineup he pitched against earlier this week.

The 33-year-old right-hander, recovering from last summer’s thoracic outlet surgery, is entering the final stages of a long rehab program. Martinez has said he’d like for him to reach six innings and 90 pitches before coming off the injured list and making his much anticipated season debut, perhaps sometime in the next 2-3 weeks.

Further evidence that Strasburg is getting closer to pitching for the Nationals: After pitching Sunday afternoon, he’ll drive back to D.C. and join his teammates on their charter flight to New York. While the Nats face the Mets during a three-game series at Citi Field, he’ll go through his typical between-starts routine.

“Our plans are, if everything goes well, to take him with us to New York so he can throw another bullpen with us,” Martinez said. “And then we’ll determine what happens next.”

There’s a ballgame scheduled tonight at Nationals Park. Whether it’s played on time, with or without interruption, or played at all, remains to be seen. The storms that have been rolling through town all day are certainly a threat, but at this point there’s been no proclamation about the status of the game between the Nationals and Rockies.

If they play, the Nats are seeking to do something they haven’t yet done in 2022: Win three games in a row. Yep, they’ve won back-to-back games several times, but they have not managed to win back-to-back-to-back games. So there’s your motivation this evening.

The Nationals will need to keep the offense rolling after scoring seven runs in Thursday’s series opener. They’ll need to do so against a Rockies starter they struggled against a few weeks ago: Austin Gomber, who held them to two runs in 6 2/3 innings May 4 at Coors Field. That game included a home run by Lane Thomas, so unsurprisingly Tomas is in tonight’s lineup.

One night later, Aaron Sanchez started for the Nats and gave up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings. He’s back on the mound tonight, looking for better results and hoping to pick up where he left off last weekend in Milwaukee when he allowed only two runs in five innings thanks in large part to three double plays induced.

COLORADO ROCKIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Storms, 72 degrees, wind 9 mph out to left field

He may not have known the precise time elapsed since his last extra-base hit, but Josh Bell knew it had been too long.

“I mean, I didn’t get a hit for a while, so I think I had to start there,” the Nationals slugger said with a laugh. “Finally getting back into that extra-base hit column definitely helps. Hopefully there’s more to come.”

After a six-week stretch to open the season that was as productive as that of any hitter in baseball, Bell suddenly fell into a slump over the last week. He went hitless in 24 at-bats from May 16-23, seeing his batting average plummet from .333 to .291. And he went without an extra-base hit for 19 days, his last one coming May 7 when he homered in Anaheim.

So imagine Bell’s relief Thursday when he delivered a long-awaited big hit right away in the bottom of the first of what became a 7-3 win over the Rockies. His RBI double off the wall in deep left-center snapped that ignominious powerless streak and contributed to his team’s fortunes as well.

And he wasn’t done there. Though Bell wouldn’t record another hit in the game, he did drive another ball to left field that was caught and later drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center. All told, he ended three of his four at-bats with balls that left his bat at 104 mph.

The Nationals lineup did its part, jumping out to an early lead with a first-inning barrage of hits. Patrick Corbin did his part, producing a rare quality start and departing in the seventh inning with his team ahead.

All that stood between Corbin and his long-anticipated first win of the season was a Nats bullpen that needed some reconfiguring on this night.

With Kyle Finnegan presumably unavailable after pitching back-to-back days, manager Davey Martinez made the aggressive move to put closer Tanner Rainey on the mound to face the heart of the Rockies’ lineup in the eighth inning. And after Rainey retired the side, it was veteran Steve Cishek entrusted with the ninth, his team’s lead having just been padded to four runs.

There was no save in the end, but Cishek did finish off a satisfying 7-3 victory for the Nationals that finally got Corbin in the win column for the first time in 10 tries this year.

"It was going to come," Martinez said. "And I told him: 'Don't fight it. Don't worry about the wins and losses. It's going to come. Just keep pitching, keep doing what you're doing.' And tonight was a perfect example. He went out there and pitched well, kept us in the game. We scored some runs, and he got his first one out of the way."

The latest MRI taken of Joe Ross’ elbow ligament showed “a little bit more of a sprain than I had in my previous MRIs,” the right-hander revealed today, making the second Tommy John surgery of his career a distinct possibility now.

Ross, who had to cut short his rehab assignment with Double-A Harrisburg after three innings Tuesday night, is scheduled for more tests Friday before a final decision is made. The 29-year-old and the Nationals are bracing for news he needs ligament replacement surgery again after trying to avoid that last-ditch option since last summer.

“I’m definitely frustrated,” he said. “Just a combination of missing the last five or so weeks last year, then doing all the rehab and going through all that from day one of the offseason, staying down in Florida and watching how this season is going so far, obviously I’d like to provide some assistance by coming back. … So it’s definitely frustrating to go through all that and not be able to assist in the way I would’ve liked, or at least how I was planning to.”

Ross had been diagnosed with a partial tear of the UCL last summer, but doctors determined he could attempt to rest and rehab and avoid surgery. He reported for spring training hoping to open the season on time, but after experiencing more elbow issues learned he had a bone spur that needed to be removed.

Ross started up his rehab process again, throwing alongside Stephen Strasburg for the last two months in West Palm Beach, Fla., and was excited to finally pitch in a competitive game for the first time this week. He said his arm felt strong during his first two innings in Harrisburg, when his fastball reached 95 mph, but he had trouble getting loose in the third inning and realized he couldn’t continue after that frame was over, even though he had barely thrown half of the total pitches (60) he was scheduled for in the start.

The Nationals haven’t won a series opener since May 3, more than three weeks ago at this point. Their opponent that evening: The Rockies, with Germán Márquez on the mound for a 10-2 victory. Guess who’s in town for a four-game series beginning tonight? And guess who’s on the mound?

Yep, the Nats will try to duplicate that earlier feat against Márquez and the Rockies, who after a surprising start to the season have lost 12 of their last 16. Following a brutal stretch against some really tough competition, the Nationals will hope to take advantage of a more favorable matchup this weekend.

The lineup again features Keibert Ruiz in the No. 2 spot, ahead of the struggling Juan Soto and the surging Nelson Cruz. It also includes Dee Strange-Gordon at shortstop for the fourth time in six games, an interesting development.

Patrick Corbin gets the start, and he likewise will be looking to duplicate his performance the last time he faced the Rockies. One night after that series-opening win at Coors Field, Corbin tossed a complete game, allowing five runs (three earned) all in the bottom of the fourth and posting zeros the rest of the way during a 5-2 loss.

COLORADO ROCKIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 74 degrees, wind 9 mph out to left field

The story of Wednesday’s 1-0 victory surely was the performance of the Nationals pitching staff, which became the first to shut out the Dodgers lineup in nine months. And specifically the Nats bullpen, which tossed three scoreless innings with zero margin for error and wound up stranding runners on base in each of those frames, including in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth.

It served as a reminder what this bullpen is capable of doing, when given the opportunity to be used as intended all along.

“I’ve said it before: We get some starting pitching, we get deep – deep to me is somewhere in that sixth inning or so – and we got the lead, our bullpen can hold us down,” manager Davey Martinez said afterward. “Today was an example of that with a really good team and a really good lineup.”

Erick Fedde’s six strong innings allowed everything else to fall into place, with Carl Edwards Jr. taking over for the seventh, Kyle Finnegan for the eighth and Tanner Rainey for the ninth.

Truth be told, though, the bullpen’s performance didn’t come out of nowhere. This unit has been performing well all season, with a couple of notable exceptions.

Meaningful late-inning opportunities for Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey have been so sparse this season that Davey Martinez has regularly been compelled to use his best relievers in blowouts just to make sure they don’t get rusty.

The Nationals have had a save opportunity in only two games this month (each of them blown saves by Rainey, for what it’s worth). So when the situation finally presented itself again early this evening on South Capitol Street, it was more than appropriate to feel some pangs of anxiety for the home ballclub.

Turns out there was nothing to be worried about, because Finnegan and Rainey delivered in the eighth and ninth innings to close out a tense, much-needed, 1-0 victory over the Dodgers to avoid a series sweep.

"Those are the moments you want to be pitching in, and those are the moments you're hoping for," Finnegan said. "To get one of those tonight and do our job at the back end of the bullpen and come away with the win, it was awesome."

A matinee finale that saw Erick Fedde toss six scoreless innings and the Nationals push across one run in the bottom of the sixth, ultimately came down to the two relievers Martinez has ready to pitch the final two innings every night but hardly ever had been able to use as desired through the season’s first 45 games.

Though Stephen Strasburg emerged from his first minor league rehab start encouraged about the way his arm felt and is ready to continue progressing toward his return to the Nationals rotation, Joe Ross did not enjoy the same outcome after experiencing tightness in his surgically repaired elbow during his outing.

Both Strasburg and Ross were scheduled to throw four innings or 60 pitches in their first competitive game appearances of the season. Strasburg reached his pitch limit after only 2 2/3 innings. Ross never got there, getting pulled after his elbow tightened up during the third inning, with his pitch total reaching only 31.

Both pitchers were back at Nationals Park today, and Ross was headed to get an MRI on his elbow, with manager Davey Martinez admitting concern given the right-hander’s injury history. Ross had Tommy John surgery in 2017, then missed the second half of the 2021 season when a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament was discovered, then had arthroscopic surgery in March to remove a bone spur in the elbow.

“It’s a concern, because it’s his elbow again,” Martinez said. “But I don’t want to jump to any conclusions until we get the MRI back.”

Martinez said Ross showed no signs of trouble during his first two innings at Double-A Harrisburg, with his fastball topping out at 95 mph. But there was a drop in velocity during the third inning, and after he returned to the dugout he told the coaching staff his elbow was tight, at which point the decision was made not to send him back to the mound for another inning.

For the sixth time in 14 series this season – and the third straight series – the Nationals head into the finale needing a win to avoid getting swept. This is not a good way to live life in the major leagues, but it’s the way this team is living this year, and that’s just the way it is.

The Nats will hope Erick Fedde can put forth a better start than Joan Adon or Josiah Gray did the last two nights. Fedde arguably has been the team’s most effective starter recently, but he faces quite a challenge this afternoon in a Dodgers lineup that has blasted out 19 runs over the last 48 hours.

The Nationals go up against Los Angeles left-hander Julio Urías, who just shut out the Phillies over five innings in his last start and led the league with 20 wins a year ago. Lane Thomas isn't batting leadoff against the lefty, as he did in the series opener, but he's still near the top of the order, behind César Hernández.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 70 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right field

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

Instead of writing more of the same stuff after back-to-back blowout losses to the Dodgers, let’s take a look at what actually turned out to be an eventful night on the Nationals farm.

Major leaguers started rehab assignments, top prospects were in action and, unfortunately, a top player suffered an injury.

Manager Davey Martinez didn’t have updates immediately after last night’s game, so expect more information to come out later today …

* Let’s start with Stephen Strasburg, who made his first rehab start with low Single-A Fredericksburg while making his way back from last summer’s thoracic outlet surgery.

Strasburg was scheduled to go four innings and/or 60 pitches with the FredNats, but he reached the pitch count before he could finish the third inning.

It was going to be the headline one way or another: Josiah Gray facing the Dodgers for the first time since last summer’s trade deadline.

The other reunions happened last night. Keibert Ruiz went 0-for-4 in his first game against the Dodgers, and Trea Turner and Daniel Hudson received a joint tribute video in their return to Nationals Park.

Tuesday night was Gray’s turn. And it wasn’t a ceremonious occasion.

Gray was rudely greeted by his former club in the form of a 9-4 loss in front of 22,418 fans at his new home ballpark. It was the second straight blowout loss the Nationals suffered at the hands of the Dodgers to start this three-game series and seven-game homestand.

Unlike his last time out against the Marlins, Gray’s game plan and execution didn’t work against some of his former teammates, who saw him very well at the plate. The ability to knock him around and make loud contact drove the Nats starter’s pitch count up, setting up a short outing no matter what adjustments were made.

It’s not any easy task asked of Josiah Gray tonight. To face the team that traded him and his catcher, Keibert Ruiz, away last summer and also boasts one of the best lineups in the major leagues.

But that’s what manager Davey Martinez is going to ask of the young right-hander as the Nationals face the Dodgers in the second game of a three-game series on South Capitol Street.

Gray and Ruiz, of course, were the top two prospects included in the four-player package sent from Los Angeles to Washington in exchange for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner last summer. That deal comes full circle this week in the Dodgers’ first trip to D.C. since the blockbuster trade.

On the hill at the start of the game will be Gray, with Ruiz behind the plate and batting second for the third straight game. Batting third in top of the first inning will be Turner, in the Dodgers’ gray uniform.

Ruiz and Turner had their time to soak in the moment of playing their former clubs yesterday. Gray gets his chance tonight, with Martinez hoping he stays focused.

The reunion tour continues tonight at Nats Park when the Nationals and Dodgers play the second game of this three-game set.

Monday night saw Trea Turner and Daniel Hudson return to D.C. for the first time since last summer’s selloff (although Hudson didn’t enter the game). Tonight, it will be Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz’s turn to face off against their former team together. While Gray takes the mound for the first time against the Dodgers, Ruiz went 0-for-4 last night in his first action against L.A.

Gray went 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.500 WHIP in eight innings over two appearances (one start) with the Dodgers last year before getting shipped off to Washington as part of the four-player package in exchange for Max Scherzer and Turner. In 20 career starts with the Nats, he’s 6-5 with a 4.92 ERA and 1.311 WHIP, including 4-3 with a 4.36 ERA and 1.269 WHIP in eight starts this season.

The Dodgers will counter with right-hander Walker Buehler, who is now tied with teammate Tyler Anderson (and six others, including Scherzer) in the league lead with five wins after the left-hander’s dominant performance on South Capitol Street last night. Buehler has the 11th-best ERA in the National League at 2.89 and is 1-1 with a 2.33 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Nats.

César Hernández is back in the leadoff spot after Lane Thomas led off last night. Thomas is in center field and batting eighth. We will check on Victor Robles after he came out of the Monday's game with a calf cramp.

You’ll see a familiar face in the MASN booth tonight, as Ryan Zimmerman will join Bob Carpenter, Kevin Frandsen and Dan Kolko for tonight’s broadcast. Pregame coverage starts with “Nats Xtra” at 6:30 p.m., followed by a scheduled first pitch at 7:05 p.m., all on MASN2.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 60 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right-center field

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

RHP Josiah Gray

DODGERS
RF Mookie Betts
1B Freddie Freeman
SS Trea Turner
C Will Smith
2B Max Muncy
3B Justin Turner
DH Edwin Ríos
CF Chris Taylor
LF Gavin Lux

RHP Walker Buehler

As the latest tribute video for a pair of key members of the 2019 World Series team wrapped up just prior to Monday night’s game at Nationals Park, the crowd of 22,423 applauded and Trea Turner and Daniel Hudson each waved back in appreciation to the fans.

It was a nice moment, but hardly anything that gave anyone in the park goosebumps.

Nor was the moment a short while later when Turner stepped to the plate to bat for the first time as a visiting player in his former home ballpark. Some in the crowd stood and applauded. Some remained seated and barely moved a muscle.

The ovation, if you want to call it that, wasn’t loud enough or sustained enough to provoke Turner to step out of the box and tip his helmet to everyone.

Not that fans here don’t like Turner. Not that he left the team on bad terms. Quite the contrary. He always expressed an interest in staying here long term, but when the Nationals front office decided to sell last July, Turner was lumped in with Max Scherzer and traded to the Dodgers for four prospects.

Trea Turner sat in the third base dugout at Nationals Park, a visiting player here for the first time, and considered how few former teammates of his still call the first base dugout home.

“You look at the box score, and you see so many different names that I never played with,” the Dodgers shortstop said this afternoon. “A lot has changed, but that’s what happens in the business of baseball. There is turnover, and there’s guys trying to prove themselves and earn their spot, and that’s what’s going on over there.”

That is indeed what’s going on over there, the championship Nationals franchise Turner used to play for now a shell of its old self, with a handful of young players joining a bunch of placeholder veterans in slogging their way through a miserable opening two months to a rebuilding season.

Over on Turner’s new side, the Dodgers remain stacked with the most star-studded roster in the majors, going all-in once again in pursuit of another World Series title two years after they ended a 32-year championship drought.

The disparity could not have been more striking than it was during tonight’s series opener, which saw the Dodgers rock Joan Adon and Austin Voth for nine combined runs while the Nationals couldn’t so much as produce a single baserunner against Tyler Anderson until the sixth inning during a 10-1 steamrolling.

For the second straight day, the Nationals have someone new batting in a key spot at the top of their lineup.

Following Sunday’s decision to move Keibert Ruiz up to the No. 2 position in Milwaukee, manager Davey Martinez decided to bump Lane Thomas up to the leadoff role for tonight’s series opener against the Dodgers.

It’s only the second time this season Thomas has hit leadoff for the Nationals, but it’s hardly foreign territory for him. He started 39 games in the No. 1 position after his acquisition last summer from the Cardinals and produced an eye-opening .852 OPS from that spot.

Martinez had been thinking about giving Thomas another chance to bat leadoff against left-handers, and with Tyler Anderson starting tonight for Los Angeles, the manager felt this was the right moment to try it out.

“He’s swinging the bat well,” Martinez said of Thomas, who went 5-for-12 with two doubles, a triple and a homer over the weekend against the Brewers. “He hits lefties really well. For me, it’s just trying to get him up there against this lefty. … It’s something I thought about last night after looking at everything. I feel very comfortable with him leading off. He did it last year and did well. So with him and moving Keibert up to two, let’s see what happens.”

Reunion Month continues for the Nationals this weekend. Already in May they’ve faced Anthony Rendon and Dusty Baker for the first time as opponents, and now they’ll be facing Trea Turner and Daniel Hudson over the next three days with their new club.

Turner, as you’d expect, is smack dab in the middle of the Dodgers lineup, batting third behind Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. (Avert your eyes if seeing a 1-2-3 like that makes you shudder.) Hudson, meanwhile, continues to pitch well, with a 2.57 ERA and 0.857 WHIP in 14 appearances out of the bullpen, with two saves to his name as well. Both members of the 2019 World Series roster should receive a lot of love from the Nationals Park crowd all weekend.

As for the home team, Davey Martinez is sticking with most of the lineup that scored eight runs Sunday in Milwaukee, with Keibert Ruiz (facing the Dodgers for the first time) again batting second and Juan Soto batting third. Nelson Cruz returns after departing Sunday’s game with a sprained right ankle.

The one significant change is atop the order, with Lane Thomas batting leadoff and César Hernández bumped down to the No. 8 spot. Thomas, as noted in this morning’s blog post, had a really nice weekend in Milwaukee, and it sounds like he could get more opportunities to hit leadoff moving forward, especially against left-handers like Los Angeles’ Tyler Anderson.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB Network (outside D.C. and L.A. markets), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Rain arriving, 68 degrees, wind 7 mph in from left field