Upon returning to the dugout following his three-run homer Wednesday night, Luis García Jr. approached his manager with a wide smile.

“Before the at-bat, he had mentioned to me to look for a ball up,” García said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “And the pitch that I hit out was actually up. So I came back and told him: ‘It was right where you said.’”

It was both the latest example of García’s breakthrough season on the field and the relationship he and Davey Martinez have developed over years, helping make this breakthrough season possible.

No player on the Nationals roster received as much criticism from Martinez this spring as García, who after a disappointing 2023 was told it was time to either step up or risk losing his job. At the time, there was reasoned speculation Trey Lipscomb might soon supplant him at second base.

Five months later, García has a stranglehold on the job and has shown no signs of letting it go. The 24-year-old enters today’s series finale against the Rockies with a .294 batting average (sixth in the National League), 22 doubles, 15 homers, 62 RBIs, 19 stolen bases and a .794 OPS that leads all eligible regulars on the Nats.

It’s another surprisingly gorgeous August day here in the nation’s capital, where the home team has a shot at a series win if it can beat the Rockies again this afternoon. The Nationals won Wednesday night in convincing fashion, thanks to an effective and efficient start from Mitchell Parker and a consistent offensive attack highlighted by Luis García Jr.’s three-run homer.

Can Patrick Corbin duplicate Parker’s seven innings of one-run ball? That might be a bit too much to ask out of the veteran left-hander, who for the sixth straight start will be taking the mound in search of his 100th career win. (He entered the season with 97, by the way.) Corbin did enjoy back-to-back quality starts a month ago against the Reds and Padres. In four starts since then, he sports a 10.38 ERA, with 21 runs allowed in only 17 1/3 innings.

The Nats did a nice job at the plate Wednesday night against Rockies right-hander Tanner Gordon. They’ll try to keep that up today against right-hander Cal Quantrill, who did toss a quality start against them two months ago at Coors Field. Quantrill has struggled since then, though, with a 7.23 ERA over his last eight games, with 10 homers surrendered in that time.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 77 degrees, wind 7 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
RF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García Jr.
3B José Tena
DH Juan Yepez
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young

Mitchell Parker has endured through three disastrous starts in the last five weeks, once failing to get out of the first inning, once failing to get out of the third inning and most recently getting torched by the Phillies for nine runs.

Those outings could’ve completely spoiled the left-hander’s rookie season, left him spiraling out of control or perhaps even facing a demotion to Triple-A Rochester. Instead, Parker has found a way to shrug them off and right his ship before it goes too wayward.

And with seven sparkling innings tonight to lead the Nationals to an easy 6-1 victory over the Rockies, he enjoyed perhaps his best display of resiliency yet.

"This is who we saw earlier," manager Davey Martinez said. "This is who he can be."

Parker cruised through Colorado’s lineup tonight, needing only 83 pitches to complete seven innings for the fourth time in his 23 big league starts. The 24-year-old remains a work-in-progress, and his 4.26 ERA suggests there’s still plenty of room for improvement (and especially consistency).

When the Nationals traded Hunter Harvey to the Royals, there was concern about replacing such an important member of the bullpen. When they traded Dylan Floro to the Diamondbacks, the challenge of getting the ball to closer Kyle Finnegan became even more daunting. And when Derek Law landed on the injured list, the situation looked downright bleak.

Now consider how well the Nats bullpen has actually performed despite those seemingly killer losses: Over the last two weeks, the remaining group owns a 1.95 ERA, tops in the majors.

It’s true. The team might be 5-9 during that span, but rarely has it been the bullpen’s fault, with only two of the losses charged to relievers. All this in spite of the fact manager Davey Martinez has been forced to adjust roles on the fly, often using inexperienced arms in situations of consequence out of necessity.

“All of these guys, they’ve just got to be ready,” Martinez said. “Mainly right now, it’s matchups and how we see fit.”

For much of the season’s first half, Martinez’s mid-to-late-game strategy was fairly simple. Finnegan was the closer, with Harvey the setup man. Floro usually pitched the seventh inning, unless the opponents had several left-handed hitters due up, in which case Robert Garcia would get the assignment. Law would be used prior to that point, often entering in the sixth or even fifth inning if needed.

The Nationals have scored 14 runs over their last six games. It will not surprise you to learn they’ve gone 1-5 in those games. Scoring runs is good. Not scoring runs is bad. It would really help their chances tonight if they could score some runs.

The Nats will be facing a Rockies starter who has made only six big league appearances before, four of them losses, none of them wins. Right-hander Tanner Gordon is 0-4 with a 7.00 ERA, having allowed 40 batters to reach base in 27 innings, giving up seven homers in the process. A sixth-round pick of the Braves in the 2019 Draft, he throws a low-90s fastball, a slider and a changeup. This is someone the Nationals should believe they can hit tonight.

Mitchell Parker, meanwhile, starts for the home team. The rookie left-hander put together back-to-back quality starts against the Brewers and Angels, then got absolutely roughed up by the Phillies for nine runs in three-plus innings last week. That one start raised his ERA from 3.83 to 4.44. He really needs to get himself back on track tonight.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly clear, 73 degrees, wind 9 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
RF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García Jr.
3B José Tena
DH Andrés Chaparro 
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young

Watching the Nationals slog their way through Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to the Rockies, and contemplating a lineup that has been held to a grand total of 14 runs over its last six games (five of them losses), it was hard not to look forward and ask the question surely on everyone’s minds right now.

When is the rest of the calvary coming?

The Nats have been fielding a lineup for a while that does feature several potential young building blocks: James Wood, CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr., Keibert Ruiz, Jacob Young. The rest of the lineup, though, continues to feature placeholders, some of whom could theoretically be part of the long-term plan, though the odds are still against that actually coming to fruition.

So it’s not wrong to end each night looking not only at the major league box score, but at the Triple-A Rochester box score to check in on the big-name prospects who are still waiting for the call. Most notably, Dylan Crews and Brady House.

Crews is one of the top rated prospects in the sport, the second overall pick in last summer’s draft considered one of the surest bets in recent history. While the two players drafted directly before (Paul Skenes) and after (Wyatt Langford) have been big leaguers for months now, Crews remains a minor leaguer. One with good-but-not-great numbers.

Not that the Nationals have fielded an imposing lineup often this season, but the group Davey Martinez currently has at his disposal isn’t exactly going to leave opposing pitchers quaking in their boots.

Tonight’s batting order against the Rockies included a leadoff hitter with a career .696 OPS, a 7-8-9 triumvirate with a combined four homers this year and a No. 3 hitter who has been in the majors for all of one week and wasn’t a highly rated prospect at the time of his promotion.

So, as uninspired as the Nats’ 3-1 loss this evening was, it could not have taken very many by surprise. What, exactly, was this particular lineup expected to produce beyond CJ Abrams’ solo homer in the sixth?

The Nationals didn’t produce anything else of consequence against Rockies starter Austin Gomber or the two relievers who followed. And in the process, they wasted another solid outing by DJ Herz, who overcame an unsightly top of the first to actually put together one of his best starts in a while.

"We try to get guys in a position for them to be successful, because they've done it in the minor leagues," said Martinez, who had Alex Call leading off, Andrés Chaparro batting third and a 7-8-9 of Riley Adams, José Tena and Jacob Young. "Up here, it's a little different. I think it's more or less trying to get experience on the pitcher, the guys they're facing. Perfect example today: This guy threw three breaking balls in a row. A lot of guys didn't think he would do it, when a lot of times he did do it. ...

It’s been more than two months since Joey Gallo last played for the Nationals, a significant hamstring strain having brought his season to an immediate halt on July 11 in Detroit. The team’s lineup that evening included a host of names no longer affiliated with the organization: Lane Thomas, Jesse Winker, Eddie Rosario, Nick Senzel.

Finally activated off the 10-day injured list today, Gallo is healthy but not in the Nats lineup for tonight’s series opener against the Rockies. The lineup instead includes a host of names playing at Triple-A two months ago: James Wood, Juan Yepez, Alex Call, Andrés Chaparro, José Tena.

“It’s funny, because when I was down there, a lot of these guys I met down there. And now they’re up here,” Gallo said “I actually know everybody really, really well. I don’t know if it’s a good thing that I know everybody, because I was hurt. But it’s cool. It’s a new clubhouse, but it’s the guys I already knew and was hanging out with down there.”

Gallo spent the last two weeks at Rochester on an extended rehab assignment, during which he hit three homers, drove in eight runs, walked 11 times, struck out 12 times and saw action both at first base and in right field.

The extra work, he believes, was necessary after the long layoff.

The last week was not especially kind to the Nationals, who went 2-4 on their road trip to Baltimore and Philadelphia, at times looking overmatched by two of the best teams in baseball. The good news: They’re back home and facing a team with a worse record in the Rockies. At 46-79, Colorado is tied with Miami for the worst record in the National League, with only the wretched White Sox even worse than them across the majors.

The Nats still need to play well the next three days, of course, and they’ll hope DJ Herz can keep up what he’s been doing the last few weeks on the mound. After a midseason hiccup, Herz has gotten back on track, with a 3.04 ERA over his last five starts, including a quality start last week at Camden Yards. He struggled a bit at Coors Field earlier this summer, though, lasting just 3 2/3 innings in the thin mountain air.

The Nationals did not see Austin Gomber in that late-June series in Colorado. The left-hander enters with a 4.82 ERA and 24 homers allowed in 125 innings but did produce quality starts in two of his last three outings. The Nats have a big bat back in the lineup, with Joey Gallo finally activated off the 10-day injured list after a two-week rehab stint at Triple-A Rochester. He replaces Travis Blankenhorn, who was optioned to Triple-A.

The Nats also activated Robert Garcia off the bereavement list and optioned Orlando Ribalta to Rochester, giving them three lefties in the bullpen for the first time this season.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 73 degrees, wind 11 mph in from left field

Travis Sykora was a big 19-year-old kid who had just graduated high school when the Nationals selected him with their third-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. The 6-foot-6, 232-pound right-hander was the best high school arm coming out of the state of Texas and one of the best prep pitchers in the whole country.

So when he fell to them at No. 71 overall, the Nats felt like they were getting a first-round talent
with their third pick. Combine that with No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews and second-rounder Yohandy Morales, and the Nats like to think they came away with three first-round selections in last year’s draft.

Now at 20 years old, he’s in his first full professional season at Single-A Fredericksburg and adjusting well.

“It’s been going great,” Sykora said. “Just to be here, after the draft, I was always excited to be here to start my pro career. So to get it going, it’s been great. I feel good. I’ve been pitching pretty decently. So everything’s been great.”

Pretty decently is selling Sykora very short. He’s pitching like a first-round pick while blowing away hitters in Single-A ball.

The Nationals’ goal for the last six weeks of the season is clear: Stick with the youth movement and see what pieces they have for next season.

The young regulars, of course, will continue to get a majority of the playing time. CJ Abrams, James Wood, Keibert Ruiz, Luis García Jr. and Jacob Young are important pieces moving forward. Newcomers Juan Yepez, Andrés Chaparro and José Tena will also get reps.

So where does that leave Nasim Nuñez?

The 23-year-old infielder, who the Nationals selected with the fifth pick of last year’s Rule 5 Draft, has been with the team all season. As part of his Rule 5 status, he has to remain on the major league roster all season or else be offered back to his original club, the Marlins.

But Nuñez has only played in 31 games this season, mostly as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement. He has only made six starts and played four complete games.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals needed a win today. Entering this finale against the Phillies, they were losers of four straight and five of their last six. They were also in danger of suffering their eighth sweep of the season, fifth on the road.

It took a total team effort to finally get that elusive win. But they got it as the Nationals escaped Citizens Bank Park with a 6-4 victory in front of 40,677 fans, thanks to Jacob Young’s late sacrifice fly and James Wood’s first pulled home run.

“We put together some good at-bats late," said manager Davey Martinez after the win. "Jacob battling to get a sac fly. And then freakin' Wood crushing a ball. Everybody talks about, 'Pull the ball.' He pulled that one. That's what he can do. He stayed on the ball really well, got his hands through and he smoked it.”

Facing left-handed reliever Matt Strahm, the Nationals loaded the bases in the eighth with a single to left, walk and bunt single. With one out, Young stepped to the plate and surprisingly didn’t square around for the safety squeeze.

Instead, the center fielder swung away and made enough contact on a sinker high above the zone to score the go-ahead run.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals need to get their offense going in Sunday’s finale against the Phillies. Over the first three games of this four-game series, they’ve been outscored 21-6 and outhit 37-21.

As has been the case for most of this season, the offense goes as CJ Abrams goes. And right now, the young shortstop is struggling at the plate.

“He's been in a little bit of a funk, hitting-wise,” manager Davey Martinez said of Abrams during his pregame session with the media. “I really believe he's trying to do too much, I really do. So we gotta get him to calm down a little bit. And like I said, he's really good when he's another guy who stays left-center, right-center, and not try to do a whole lot.”

Since his participation in his first All-Star Game, Abrams is slashing .165/.234/.268 with a .502 OPS, 12 runs, four doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs, seven stolen bases, five walks and 22 strikeouts. He entered the break with a .268 average. He enters today with a .246 average.

Abrams is also striking out 20.6 percent of the time in the second half.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals need one today. Ideally, it would be a total team effort: Strong starting pitching, a lot of run support and a shutdown bullpen. But honestly, it doesn’t matter how they get it. They just need to win.

Luckily, the guy that gives them the best chance to do that is taking the mound this afternoon. Jake Irvin makes his 26th start in search of his team-high 10th win of the season. He’s coming off six strong innings against the Orioles on Tuesday, during which he only allowed two runs. But now he’ll face a Phillies team that he’s 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA against.

The Phillies are sending Taijuan Walker to the mound for the finale. The veteran right-hander is 3-4 with a 5.68 ERA and 1.509 WHIP in 11 starts this year. He hasn’t completed six innings since May and has allowed three or more runs in four of his last five starts.

If there ever was a time to score some runs this weekend, it’s now.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of scattered thunderstorms, 81 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

PHILADELPHIA – MacKenzie Gore needed some sign of encouragement in his 25th start. If he wasn’t already, the young left-hander was nearing a point of his season spiraling out of control.

Gore was fantastic through the first two months of his second campaign with the Nationals. Through his first 11 starts, he was 4-4 with a 2.91 ERA, numbers worthy of his first All-Star selection.

But as the calendar flipped to June, his results turned south. Over his last 13 starts, Gore is 3-6 with a 6.02 ERA to raise his season ERA to 4.50 entering tonight’s outing against the Phillies.

For five innings, Gore’s results were much better. But as it has too often lately, one bad inning derailed the whole outing leading to a Nationals loss, this time by a score of 5-1 in front of 43,356 fans at Citizens Bank Park.

Whatever Gore worked on with the Nats coaching staff during Wednesday’s bullpen session, it was working through five frames. Gore relied heavily on his four-seam fastball, throwing it half of the time, and then used a steady mix of his slider, changeup and curveball to get through five innings with one run and four hits.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals figured they were going to need bullpen help after seven relievers combined to cover almost 10 innings over the last two games. They just didn’t figure an injury would also creep up on one of their most trusted relief pitchers.

Right-hander Derek Law landed on the 15-day injured list this afternoon with a right elbow flexor strain, while left-hander Robert Garcia was placed on the bereavement list. To fill their spots in the ‘pen, the Nats selected the contract of left-hander Joe La Sorsa and recalled right-hander Joan Adon from Triple-A Rochester.

Law’s injury comes after he pitched an important scoreless eighth inning last night on 12 pitches to give the Nats a chance to rally in the ninth. The right-hander said he was supposed to go back out for the ninth of a newly tied game, but he and the Nationals decided it wasn’t a good idea with his elbow bothering him, leading to closer Kyle Finnegan coming in and surrendering the game-winning run without recording an out.

“Well, personally, I don't think it's really an injury. I feel pretty good,” Law said by his locker in the Nats clubhouse before tonight’s game. “Like today, I feel like I could throw. It's just kind of when I get up to the max-effort level for the last two weeks, I kinda have been grinding through it.

“The elbow has just been kind of barking. I think it's the flexor area. Honestly, it kind of came up during that rain game. When I was throwing, it was just soaking wet. I kind of felt something in there and I was just battling through it for a little bit. And finally, it just caught up yesterday. I was supposed to go back out for that ninth and I came in, not that there was no way I could do it, but I just didn't think it was the right decision to go back out there and do that. So I think just a little time off. Sadly, it has to be 15 days. I think I probably only need five or six, maybe seven. But I'll take my time, get right and be back in September.”

PHILADELPHIA – After winning three of their last four heading into Wednesday’s finale against the Orioles, the Nationals have now dropped three straight games. Following Thursday’s blowout loss to the Phillies, there were some encouraging signs last night before Trea Turner walked it off in the bottom of the ninth. And now there are question marks heading into tonight’s game.

Will the starting pitcher get deeper into the game? Will the offense score in the early innings? What is the state of the bullpen after covering nearly 10 innings over the last two nights?

MacKenzie Gore’s struggles over the last 2 ½ months have been well-documented and disappointing. The only positive sign lately is that the five runs he gave up against the Angels on Sunday were all unearned. The Nationals worked on some things with the young left-hander in his bullpen session on Wednesday in Baltimore. Hopefully that translates into better results tonight, otherwise the Nats may have a serious problem on their hands.

Offensively, the Nats will look to get some early production off Cristopher Sánchez, the only southpaw starter they will face this weekend. Sánchez is 8-8 with a 3.63 ERA and 1.325 WHIP. An All-Star this year, he does an excellent job of keeping the ball in the yard with his 0.3 home runs allowed per nine innings leading the major leagues. He started the only game the Nats have won against the Phillies this year on April 7, when he gave up three runs in 4 ⅓ innings. But he came back on May 18 to hold them to two runs over seven innings.

Tonight’s game is listed as starting at 6:05 p.m., but the actual start time is closer to 6:30 p.m. The Phillies are hosting a pregame ceremony for an enshrinement into their Wall of Fame and listed an earlier start time to get more people into the stadium for it. MASN’s “Nats Xtra” pregame show starts at 6 p.m. on MASN2 and will take you up to first pitch, whenever it is. And yes, the Nats were here last year for the same ceremony.

PHILADELPHIA – When the Nationals were asked earlier this year what more did James Wood have to prove in the minor leagues to earn his first promotion to the majors, the answer was always the same: They wanted him to hit left-handed pitching better.

Well, Wood did just that in his 52 games with Triple-A Rochester. In 53 plate appearances against lefties, Wood went 15-for-46 with a double, five home runs (half his total), 12 RBIs and seven walks. That added up to a .326/.415/.674 slash line and 1.089 OPS.

He was ready for his call-up.

Then the question was whether or not he could continue that pace. Would the improvements he made translate to the big league level? Or would major league southpaws prove to still be tough for the 21-year-old top prospect?

Forty games and 169 plate appearances into his major league career, we may have our answer.

PHILADELPHIA – No matter what the Nationals did on the mound tonight, they had to get more production at the plate. Even on a good pitching night, three runs is usually not enough to beat this daunting Phillies lineup that scored 13 last night.

The Phillies entered tonight averaging 7.0 runs per game over 47 games against the Nats since the nightcap of a doubleheader on July 29, 2021. So without an absolute gem from the Nats pitching staff, the offense would need to score a lot more.

After suffering through six strong innings from Zack Wheeler last night, the Nats had the pleasure of facing Aaron Nola in the second game of this four-game set. Although they had more chances against this veteran right-hander and their own pitchers did a much better job containing the Phillies hitters, the results looked similar. That was until the ninth inning, when the Nats rallied to score two runs to tie the game.

That rally was in vain, though, because the Phillies scored the walk-off run in the bottom of the ninth to win 3-2 and send the boisterous crowd of 41,067 home happy.

Facing closer Kyle Finnegan, Brandon Marsh, who came in as a defensive replacement in the top of the ninth, hit a deep single to right field. But Alex Call’s throwing error allowed him to reach second easily. Then pinch-hitter Cal Stevenson put down a perfect bunt that wasn’t fielded by Finnegan nor third baseman José Tena due to some miscommunication in a loud Citizens Bank Park.

PHILADELPHIA – With Alex Call’s resurgence at the plate since his call-up from Triple-A Rochester, Nationals manager Davey Martinez has toyed with the idea of platooning him and CJ Abrams in the leadoff spot.

The right-handed Call would lead off against left-handed starting pitchers and the lefty Abrams would lead off against righties.

But tonight, Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola provides the rare exception to that rule. Call will lead off with Abrams hitting second as Martinez tries to exploit Nola’s breaking ball: a knuckle curve he throws 31.8 percent of the time.

“Nola has been tough,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “He's got the good breaking ball. Alex works good at-bats. See if we can get him on base for the other guys up there. But this is just one of those rarities. I do like Alex against lefties up there. But this is one guy that I really feel like the righties could have a little bit better chance just because of that big breaking ball and big changeup he has.”

Nola is 11-6 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.147 WHIP in 24 starts. But he has almost even batting average splits against righties and lefties. In fact, right-handed hitters are getting on-base at a slightly better rate (.288) than left-handers (.284).