ATLANTA – The Nationals have worked diligently with Josiah Gray on his mechanics since the end of last year.

In 2022, the right-hander’s first full season in the bigs, he gave up a major league-worst 38 home runs and a National League-worst 66 walks en route to a 5.02 ERA and 1.359 WHIP.

The team wanted their young starter to finish his pitches straighter toward the plate instead of flying open toward the first base line. And for the most part this year, he’s much improved.

After his rough season debut against the Braves, in which he gave up five runs on three home runs, Gray went through an eight-start stretch of giving up just 11 earned runs and two homers over 47 ⅔ innings for a 2.08 ERA and struck out more than double the amount of batters he walked.

But over his last six starts, including the five innings he completed in last night’s 3-2 loss to the Braves, some old habits are starting to creep back. Gray walked four Friday night, the fifth time in his last six starts he’s surrendered three or more free passes. He now has a 1.470 WHIP over that stretch.

ATLANTA – The Nats are in the middle of a brutal stretch. Tonight began the fifth of six straight series in which they are facing division leaders, defending pennant winners and reigning world champions.

No one is going to feel sorry for them. But this 3-2 loss to the Braves in front of 40,297 at Truist Park felt pretty painful, with a one-run lead turning into a one-run deficit in the bottom of the eighth.

“Tough loss," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "We played well 'til the bottom of the eighth. As I always say, when you give good teams extra outs, they're gonna get you. And that's what we did in the bottom of the eighth.”

With the Nationals six outs away from a series-opening victory, Kyle Finnegan ran into some tough luck in the bottom of the eighth as the Braves scored two runs (one earned) to take the lead and extend Atlanta’s streak of five straight come-from-behind victories and six straight wins overall.

Finnegan took a liner from Sean Murphy off the lower half of his body for a leadoff infield single. Then another single by Eddie Rosario just got past Luis García and the batter advanced to second on an error by Lane Thomas in right field to put two in scoring position.

ATLANTA – Before their finale against the Diamondbacks was postponed due to poor air quality yesterday, the Nationals announced they were sending Victor Robles to Triple-A Rochester on a rehab assignment.

Robles has been sidelined since he hurt his back by sliding into second base in Arizona on May 6. Up until recently, he had been very limited in what rehab work he could actually do. But has he started to improve, he was able to do more and more physical activity and is now ready to play in games.

“Victor will play tonight in Rochester and we'll see how he gets through it,” manager Davey Martinez said during his media session before tonight’s series opener against the Braves. “He'll probably get maybe four, maybe five innings. So we'll see how he gets through it.”

Robles is hitting third and playing center field for the Red Wings tonight in Worcester.

Needing a bounceback season, the 26-year-old was off to a solid start to the season before his injury. In 31 games, he was hitting .292 with a .388 on-base percentage and .748 OPS. He scored 13 runs, hit four doubles, one triple and eight RBIs and stole a team-high eight bases while walking at the highest rate of his career (9.4 percent).

ATLANTA – The Nationals have escaped the haze that engulfed the Washington, D.C. area and forced a postponement of yesterday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks. Now they find themselves outside downtown Atlanta to take on the Braves for three games, their first against the division leaders since the opening series of the season.

The Nationals enter this weekend having lost seven out of their last nine. For what it’s worth, the Braves also struggled to end May, going through a stretch of losing seven of 11, before turning it around to win six of their last seven, including a three-game sweep of the Mets here this week.

With yesterday’s postponement, Davey Martinez gave his starters an extra day of rest, with Josiah Gray now starting tonight’s opener. The right-hander’s 3.09 ERA is the lowest in the rotation, but he has struggled as of late. He did not complete six innings in any of his last three starts, giving up seven runs over 14 ⅓ innings (4.40 ERA) in the process.

Gray’s worst outing of the year came against these very Braves in his first start, in the Nats’ second game of the season. He gave up five runs and three home runs – including one each to the first two batters he faced – over seven innings while taking a 7-1 loss. In his career, he is 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA and 1.037 WHIP over five starts against Atlanta. He has, though, pitched well here at Truist Park, going 1-0 and allowing just one earned run in 10 innings over two starts.

The Braves are sending 20-year-old right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver to the mound for his first major league start. The Braves' No. 4 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, Smith-Shawver impressed in his big league debut, pitching 2 ⅓ scoreless innings with three strikeouts Sunday against the Diamondbacks. He had a 1.09 ERA, 0.939 WHIP, 12.3 strikeout-per-nine rate and 3.75 strikeout-per-walk rate over seven starts between High-A and Triple-A to begin this season on the Braves farm.

Victor Robles is ready to start playing in games again. Another week or so and he should be ready to play for the Nationals again.

Robles will join Triple-A Rochester on a rehab assignment Friday, the final step in the outfielder’s recovery from a back injury that has sidelined him more than a month.

“Hopefully everything goes well and we get him back here soon,” manager Davey Martinez said.

Robles departed Thursday and is expected to play four innings for Rochester, which is on the road at Worcester, on Friday. Given the amount of time he has missed, he will likely build up his workload over several days and could spend a full week on the rehab assignment before the Nats decide to activate him off the 10-day IL.

“He’s got to go out there and play, start getting some at-bats,” Martinez said. “I want to see him do everything that he normally does. If he gets an opportunity to steal some bases, take the extra bases, play good defense, all that stuff.”

With smoke from Canadian wild fires getting worse in the region, Major League Baseball postponed today’s scheduled series finale between the Nationals and Diamondbacks, citing the health risks current conditions pose for players, fans and stadium workers alike.

The teams were able to play Tuesday and Wednesday night as planned under a hazy sky that wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in Philadelphia and New York, where games were postponed Wednesday. They were supposed to finish the three-game series at 1:05 p.m., but the air quality is considerably worse today, with Washington officially categorized as “Code Purple.”

The decision whether to play or not was made by MLB, with consultation with both teams and the MLB Players Association, and was announced about 90 minutes before first pitch.

“This postponement was determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and the two impacted clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in Washington, D.C.,” the league said in a press release.

This was to be the last time the Nationals and Diamondbacks faced each other this season, but Arizona will now be forced to come back to Washington for a June 22 makeup game at 1:05 p.m., a common off-day for both teams. The Nats begin a West Coast trip to San Diego and Seattle the following day. The D-backs will make a side trip to D.C. in between series at Milwaukee and San Francisco.

Perhaps if other things had progressed in a different manner the rest of the night, Lane Thomas’ throw in the top of the fifth Wednesday would’ve carried more weight. In the end, the play had no bearing on the outcome of the Nationals’ game, a 6-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.

That doesn’t mean it didn’t feel significant in the moment, though. Or that it wasn’t noticed by everyone at Nationals Park.

When Corbin Carroll lined a hit to right to open the top of the fifth, Arizona looked like it was poised to start another rally against Patrick Corbin and perhaps cash in this time after being shut out since taking a quick 3-0 lead in the first. And when Thomas couldn’t cleanly field the ball on a hop, Carroll looked like he was destined for a leadoff double.

Until Thomas retrieved the ball and fired it toward second base, where CJ Abrams made a nice scoop and applied the tag to Carroll in time for the out.

It was a big play in what was a 3-2 game at that moment. And it was only the latest by Thomas, who has really come to his own in right field this season.

They got a quality start out of Patrick Corbin despite another roughshod first inning that set an ominous tone for the evening. They kept it close for most of the proceedings, remaining within one clutch hit of tying the game or taking the lead. Until the bullpen failed to keep it close late in its latest subpar showing.

And so the Nationals found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, done in by one of their weaker offensive performances in a while, the three-run hole Corbin dug them into from the outset and the three tack-on runs Carl Edwards Jr. and Jordan Weems surrendered late.

Make it seven losses in nine games for a Nats club that was feeling pretty good about its ability to compete and play .500 ball for more than a month not that long ago but has since regressed while facing stiffer competition.

They aren’t facing the Tigers and Royals anymore. The Nationals have now dropped three straight series to superior opponents, first the Dodgers, then the Phillies and now the Diamondbacks, who will be looking for a three-game sweep Thursday afternoon.

Then comes a road trip to Atlanta and Houston that could threaten to derail much of the forward momentum the Nats had built through most of May. They're a season-worst 11 games under .500, hoping not to keep plummeting. 

The Nationals, for the second straight day, designated a struggling reliever for assignment, with Erasmo Ramírez suffering that fate this afternoon in the wake of a particularly ragged appearance during Tuesday’s loss to the Diamondbacks, and Cory Abbott recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his spot.

Ramírez joined fellow right-hander Andrés Machado, who was designated for assignment Tuesday, in getting dropped from the active roster. Machado officially cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Rochester today. Because he had already been through that process over the winter, he had the option to declare himself a free agent but instead chose to remain in the organization.

Ramírez will face a similar decision in the next few days. The 33-year-old got the news after retiring only two of the six batters he faced in the top of the sixth Tuesday night, having hit the first batter he faced on the first pitch he threw, nearly hitting the next batter on his next pitch and then committing a balk when he turned to make a pickoff attempt to first base but never threw the ball because nobody was covering.

That outing left Ramírez with an unsightly 6.33 ERA and 1.556 WHIP in 23 games this season, a dramatic drop in effectiveness from the previous year. In 60 games in 2022, Ramírez produced a 2.92 ERA and 1.077 WHIP, earning the team’s Pitcher of the Year Award for his performance.

“It’s tough. Erasmo meant a lot to this team, and to me,” manager Davey Martinez said. “This guy worked really hard to get back to the big leagues and had an unbelievable year last year. This year, he just couldn’t find himself.”

It’s another hazy afternoon in the nation’s capital, with smoke from wildfires in Quebec hovering over the region again. It’s not as bad here as it is in New York, and for now tonight’s game is on as planned. But stay tuned in case things take a turn for the worse.

It’s “UK-US Friendship Day” at Nationals Park, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scheduled to attend what I can only assume will be the first Major League Baseball game he’s ever seen in person.

The Nationals are trying to snap a three-game losing streak, and to do that they’ll need a better all-around pitching performance, beginning with starter Patrick Corbin, who faces his former team. Corbin’s last outing came one week ago at Dodger Stadium, where he trailed 3-0 after three batters, but ultimately made it through five innings allowing only one more (unearned) run. The Nats would really like a more effective, and longer, start from the lefty tonight.

The bullpen has another new face. For the second straight day, the Nationals designated a struggling reliever for assignment, with Erasmo Ramírez the victim this time following a ragged appearance Tuesday night. Cory Abbott was recalled from Triple-A Rochester, where he was originally scheduled to start tonight. If Corbin doesn’t go deep and Davey Martinez needs multiple innings from a reliever, Abbott is probably the guy.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Hazy, 77 degrees, wind 7 mph left field to right field

The sting of the Nationals’ 10-5 loss to the Diamondbacks still loomed over the entire home clubhouse Tuesday night, but Stone Garrett couldn’t help but light up when asked about the grand slam he clubbed way back in the first inning off a team and a pitcher he knew all too well.

“It felt freaking good,” the 27-year-old said, his smile growing wide. “That’s my best friend pitching. And your old team. Keibert (Ruiz) just hit two home runs off his old team (last week at Dodger Stadium), so it feels good. Revenge game.”

Designated for assignment by Arizona last November, then signed by the Nats two weeks later, Garrett already faced his former team last month at Chase Field. And he already faced Tommy Henry, the 25-year-old left-hander who became one of his closest friends and a regular roommate through their respective treks up the organizational ladder.

This, though, meant far more. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Garrett launched a changeup from his good buddy deep to left, the ball clearing the fence for the first grand slam of his career and the first grand slam by any Nationals player at home since Yan Gomes on June 15, 2021.

“It felt like a good pitch,” Henry told reporters in the visitors’ clubhouse. “Yeah, it’s unfortunate it was him. It’s unfortunate in any circumstance, but unfortunate it was him because I probably won’t hear the end of it now.”

For the second straight game, Davey Martinez pulled a struggling starter in the middle innings and entrusted a struggling reliever to keep a close game against a quality opponent close.

And for the second straight game, that struggling reliever not only couldn’t keep the game close, he couldn’t even keep it close enough for his Nationals teammates to have a realistic shot at coming back by night’s end.

Jake Irvin was tonight’s fading starter, and Erasmo Ramirez was tonight’s struggling reliever. They bore a striking resemblance to Trevor Williams and Andrés Machado from two days prior in a loss to the Phillies. In this case, the opponent was the Diamondbacks, who took full advantage of the Nats’ pitching woes during a 10-5 victory that further underscored some major problems for the home club.

"Walks," an unusually and visibly aggravated Martinez lamented. "We're walking too many guys. Hitting batters. Falling behind. Pitching 2-0, 1-0, 3-1. You're not going to win very many games like that. We've got to clean that up."

The Nationals have now lost six of their last eight, and a recurring theme throughout this stretch has been ragged relief pitching, whether in the middle or late innings. The situation already was dire entering the day, with the Nats owning the National League’s worst bullpen ERA (4.73) and WHIP (1.433), and things only got worse.

The Nationals made the first of what could be several moves in coming days to address a bullpen that has become the roster’s weakest link, designating Andrés Machado for assignment and recalling Jordan Weems from Triple-A Rochester.

Machado, who was tagged for four runs and gave up a pair of killer homers during Sunday’s loss to the Phillies, was out of options and couldn’t be demoted to the minor leagues without first clearing waivers. The Nationals will wait to see if the 30-year-old clears, but because he already went through this process last winter he’ll have the right to refuse an outright assignment to Triple-A and could elect to become a free agent instead.

A somewhat consistently effective bullpen arm for the Nationals in 2021-22, Machado had a 3.41 ERA and 1.326 WHIP across 91 appearances. But after opening this season in Rochester and making his return to the majors in late April, he struggled. In 14 games, he finished with an 8.47 ERA and 1.765 WHIP.

“It’s a tough move,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I really like Machado, and he’s got good stuff. It’s just his location was not good, and he was getting hit really hard.”

A Nats bullpen that performed well in 2022 and entered this season as a perceived strength has instead turned into a major cause for concern. The group enters tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks with a National League-worst 4.73 ERA and 1.433 WHIP.

The Nationals and Diamondbacks engaged in a highly entertaining series one month ago in Phoenix, the D-backs ultimately winning two of the three games (though one only after storming back to win in the bottom of the ninth). Now the surprise National League West leaders come to D.C. for a three-game series against a Nats club that continues to compete but would like to emerge victorious a few more times against quality opponents.

Jake Irvin gets the start, the seventh of his young career. The rookie right-hander showed some glimpses of improvement last time out against the Dodgers but still wound up allowing four runs in five innings to that potent lineup. The Nationals could sure use a solid start out of Irvin, whose spot in the rotation isn’t necessarily on thin ice, but it isn’t exactly solid either.

The Nats face yet another left-hander in Tommy Henry, who held them to two runs in six innings last month at Chase Field, both runs scoring on a Keibert Ruiz double. As noted here before, these guys have fared much better against lefties this season than righties, so here’s a chance to keep that trend going and provide Irvin with some run support.

As expected, there’s a bullpen roster move today: Andrés Machado was indeed designated for assignment following Sunday’s rough outing. Right-hander Jordan Weems was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his spot. So the Nats remain without any left-handed relievers for now.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Hazy, 80 degrees, wind 13 mph out to right field

The notion that Stephen Strasburg might still come back to pitch for the Nationals again, sadly, seemed to pass months ago.

When manager Davey Martinez revealed on the first day of spring training Strasburg was unable to complete an offseason bullpen session without a recurrence of the nerve pain that has plagued him for several years, the writing was on the wall.

And when general manager Mike Rizzo said on Opening Day the 34-year-old needed to rehab his injury “if nothing more, just to play with his children, get back to regular life,” it underscored the severity of the situation, far beyond anything that takes place on a baseball field.

Strasburg has not appeared at Nationals Park this season during the hours leading up to, during or after a home game. His locker remains where it has always been, his jersey and belongings neatly arranged, essentially untouched. Teammates he barely knows walk past it every day, with little reason to think about the pitcher whose name hangs above it.

Strasburg isn’t currently participating in any rehabilitation activities, as The Washington Post reported over the weekend. He resides on the 60-day injured list, technically still a part of the team but not on anybody’s immediate radar.

It was an eventful week for the Nationals. It started in Los Angeles with three competitive games at Dodger Stadium, capped by an impressive, five-homer performance in a series-closing victory. It ended in D.C. with three competitive games at Nationals Park, capped by an unfortunate, five-homer performance by the Phillies in a series-closing victory.

Now, with an off-day heading into another home series against the Diamondbacks, let's take a moment to discuss everything that has happened, on and off the field of late. (And, yes, that includes the Stephen Strasburg situation, if you're interested.)

Submit your questions in the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning for my responses ...

The entire weekend seemed to have been building up to this moment, with Kyle Schwarber stepping to the plate for the Phillies in a big spot in a close ballgame and Davey Martinez left to decide which of his Nationals pitchers to entrust against the veteran slugger.

Martinez’s options with two on and two out in the top of the sixth this afternoon were Trevor Williams, who had already thrown 101 pitches and was attempting to complete six innings for only the third time in 12 starts this year, or a member of his bullpen.

It should’ve been an easy call. Just walk toward the mound, stick out your left arm and tap it a couple times with your right hand.

The problem: The Nationals don’t have any left-handers in their eight-man bullpen. They haven’t had one since April 30, when Anthony Banda (owner of a 6.43 ERA) was designated for assignment.

Martinez has been left to tempt fate for the last five weeks, hoping his various right-handers can get the job done against the league’s best lefty sluggers. Sometimes, it’s worked out fine. Today, it turned into disaster.

CJ Abrams is starting to get more regular days off as Nationals manager Davey Martinez tries to give his young shortstop more opportunities to rest his body and mind in his first full big league season.

Abrams, who started 31 of the Nats’ first 32 games this season, is not in the lineup for today’s series finale against the Phillies. It’s the fifth time he hasn’t started in the team’s last 27 games. It’s also the second straight Sunday he’s had off.

“Just kind of let him relax a little bit,” Martinez said.

It’s been an eventful stretch for Abrams, who played a key role in recent road wins in Kansas City and Los Angeles but also committed three errors in his last five games, a couple of them particularly costly ones.

With the team off Monday, this gives Abrams a chance for an extended rest before he returns to the lineup Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks.

Saturday’s 4-2 loss was disappointing, sure, but it wasn’t embarrassing. The Nationals just didn’t hit as much as the Phillies did, so they lost the game. And they still have a chance to win the series and enter the week tied with the defending National League champs in the standings. Who wouldn’t have taken that scenario if presented with it from the outset?

The Nats will hope to get their bats back on track while facing Ranger Suárez, a potentially advantageous matchup. They’ve hit left-handers well all season and enter today’s game with an impressive .292/.358/.426 slash line, that .784 OPS good enough to rank eighth in the majors against southpaws. Suárez, who season debut was delayed by an elbow strain, enters with a 7.13 ERA and 1.642 WHIP in four starts, though his last one (two runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Mets) was good.

Trevor Williams gets the ball for the Nationals, looking to rebound from his weirdest start of the season, one in which he carried a shutout into the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium but then surrendered six runs, all of them unearned. He’ll have to keep Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Nick Castellanos in the yard today, maybe helped out by an unusually cool, northerly breeze that will be blowing in from left field.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 71 degrees, wind 7 mph in from left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Stone Garrett
1B Dominic Smith
SS Ildemaro Vargas
C Riley Adams
CF Alex Call

MacKenzie Gore is working on a lot of things in his first season with the Nationals. He’s only 24 years old and now only has 28 games of major league experience under his belt.

One thing the left-hander really wants to improve on is getting left-handed batters out.

“I should get left-handers out,” Gore said after yesterday’s 4-2 loss to the Phillies. “Left-handers don't like hitting left-handed pitching.”

So far in his young career, Gore is a reverse-splits pitcher. Coming into yesterday’s start, he had surrendered a .293/.429/.453 slash line with a .881 OPS and 1.23 strikeout-per-walk rate against left-handed batters. He had given up a slash line of .235/.312/.370 with a .683 OPS and 2.92 K/BB rate to righties.

Is he surprised that he had reverse splits?