The Washington Nationals reinstated right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg from the 15-day disabled list on Sunday and placed right-handed pitcher Joe Ross on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.
Strasburg, who will start for Washington on Sunday afternoon vs. Cincinnati, returns to the Nationals' active roster after missing 17 games with an upper back strain. The right-hander...
Joe Ross had trouble getting outs in the first inning in Saturday's start against the Reds.
The Nationals right-hander allowed four runs in the first three frames against the Mets over six innings in his last start June 27. The Nats rallied for an 11-4 win.
Saturday, the Reds slapped three hits and scored three runs in the first inning, highlighted by an Adam Duvall two-run double.
In the second, Zack Cozart added an RBI double to make it 4-0 Reds. The Reds already have four runs and six hits...
The Washington Nationals have agreed to terms with 19 international free agents: right-handed pitcher Johan Adon, right-handed pitcher Thony Amoroso, infielder Yasel Antuna, right-handed pitcher Carlos Cuello, outfielder David Escobar, shotstop Luis Garcia, right-handed pitcher Niomar Gomez, right-handed pitcher Rafael Melendez, outfielder Ricardo Mendez, catcher Kelvin Pacheco, right-handed pitcher Eric Pena, outfielder Landerson Pena, catcher Wilmer Perez, catcher Israel Pineda, infielder...
Manager Dusty Baker was asked prior to Saturday's matchup with the Reds who will be his starting pitcher for Sunday's series finale.
Right-hander Stephen Strasburg has missed a pair of starts after injuring his back prior to a start in Los Angeles on June 16. Top prospect Lucas Giolito started Tuesday's game and pitched four scoreless innings.
"It's not up to me," Baker said. "It's up to how Stras feels. Right now he's feeling pretty good. Probably be a decision tomorrow."
"It might...
And so the baseball season is now half-complete. (Or is it half-unfinished?)
Whatever your perspective, this much you must admit: The Nationals are pretty good. After last night's dramatic, 14-inning victory over the Reds, they now boast a 49-32 record. That's the third-best record in the National League, the fifth-best in the majors. And it's good enough for a six-game lead in the division.
It's also the equivalent of a 98-win pace, which few could find fault with, even the most...
Welcome to the second half of the season. The Nationals lost seven in a row last week. They now have won six in a row.
I know, that's kind of hard to believe.
So, tonight's game affords the club an opportunity to win their seventh in a row, which would tie their season-high streak. They enjoyed a seven-game run from April 10-16.
The Nats have outscored opponents 39-14 during this recent stretch.
Right-hander Joe Ross (7-4, 3.30 ERA) gets the call tonight for the Nats, his first ever...
Veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo made his second rehab start with the rookie-level Gulf Coast Nationals today and it was a solid improvement over his first game back.
Arroyo is rehabbing from inflamed tendons in his right shoulder. The 39-year-old signed with the Nationals as a minor league free agent on January 26.
He last pitched in the majors in 2014 with Arizona. Arroyo underwent Tommy John surgery July 15, 2014.
On June 26, Arroyo pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on 10 hits...
Six full seasons in the major leagues has left Ben Revere with some important perspective on the sport he plays for a living.
"Baseball sucks," the veteran outfielder said. "It absolutely sucks. You ask Jayson Werth - he's been in the game 100 years - and he says it sucks. But it really does. It's frustrating.
"I've had games where I hit four missiles, or four hard-hit balls right at people, and your average goes down. Then there will be games where I hit four bloopers, break my bat...
The Nationals announced the signing of pitcher Dane Dunning, the second of their two first-round picks, the final significant member of this year's draft class that had yet to come to terms.
Dunning received a $2 million signing bonus, according to a club source, which is just below slot value for the 29th selection in this year's draft.
A 6-foot-4 right-hander from the University of Florida, Dunning held off signing until now in part because he was still pitching for the Gators in the...
They played until it was too late for fireworks and too late for many fans to catch the Metro home. But those who stuck it out at Nationals Park at least got to see the home team win in dramatic fashion.
Ben Revere launched a double off the wall in right-center with two outs in the bottom of the 14th inning, scoring Danny Espinosa from second base and giving the Nationals a 3-2 victory over the Reds in a game that took 4 hours, 30 minutes to complete. And that was after a 35-minute rain delay...
One night after their 13-run explosion, the Nationals find themselves in a bit more of a pitchers' duel so far tonight against the Reds.
Tanner Roark and Anthony DeSclafani each have allowed just one run through the game's first four innings, avoiding the kind of crooked-number frames that defined Thursday night's 13-4 Nats rout.
The Nationals struck first, manufacturing a run in the bottom of the first via Ben Revere's leadoff single, Bryce Harper's base hit to right-center and Daniel...
The Nationals are a day closer to Sunday's game, but they are no closer to naming their starting pitcher for that afternoon's series finale against the Reds.
Stephen Strasburg continues to progress well from the upper back strain that prevented him from making his last two starts, and the right-hander has expressed his desire to take the mound. The club, though, has yet to decide whether to give the ball to Strasburg or to take the more cautious route and give rookie Lucas Giolito his second...
It's hard to believe, but we've reached the halfway point of the season. Yes, tonight is Game 81 for the Nationals. So how have they done to date? Well, if they can beat the Reds again tonight, they'll sit at 49-32. Do the math, that's a 98-win pace. Hard to complain much about that, right?
Bryce Harper and Ben Revere are back in the lineup after getting last night off, but Wilson Ramos gets to sit this one out, with Jose Lobaton behind the plate catching Tanner Roark.
Keep in mind the...
The Washington Nationals have agreed to terms with first-round selection (No. 29 overall), right-handed pitcher Dane Dunning, and 12th-round pick (No. 364 overall) left-handed pitcher Hayden Howard. Nationals president of baseball operations & general manager Mike Rizzo and assistant general manager & vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline made the joint announcement.
A 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior, Dunning went 6-3 with two saves and a 2.29 ERA (20 ER/78.2 IP) in 33 games (five...
Danny Espinosa was the story of last night's blowout win, not to mention the story of June for the Nationals, given his incredible resurgence at the plate that might well have saved his job.
There were a couple other teammates, though, who came through during this 13-4 win over the Reds at a time when each desperately needed that kind of positive performance: Ryan Zimmerman and Gio Gonzalez.
Zimmerman got the Nationals' hitting party started with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first,...
Danny Espinosa had been down this path before, sporting a sub-.200 batting average and hearing calls from various directions for someone else to take his job. And his response - sulking, overworking, overthinking - all too often only made things worse.
This time around, when he found himself hitting .199 on June 1 and hearing the calls for the Nationals to summon top prospect Trea Turner to replace him at shortstop, Espinosa fought the temptation and made a tough choice which wound up paying...
If anyone was worried the Nationals, after the highs of a three-game sweep over the rival Mets, might suffer from some form of letdown against the Reds, they needed watch only one inning of baseball to have those fears assuaged.
The Nationals jumped out to an early lead behind Ryan Zimmerman's three-run homer in the bottom of the first, then rode Danny Espinosa's historic pair of homers in the third and fourth innings en route to a 13-4 thrashing of an overwhelmed Cincinnati club.
Winners of...
Throughout his season-long struggles, and especially this month, it seems like Ryan Zimmerman perpetually has found himself behind in the count, often 0-2, before making an out.
So when Zimmerman finally found himself in an advantageous situation tonight - ahead in the count, 2-0, with two on in the bottom of the first - he made sure to make the most of it.
And when Danny Espinosa found himself at the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, he did the same thing he's been doing...
The Nationals still haven't decided if Stephen Strasburg will return from the disabled list this weekend, but Dusty Baker seems to prefer taking the cautious route with his rehabbing right-hander.
Strasburg, who is eligible to come off the DL on Friday, continues to prepare as though he may start Sunday's series finale against the Reds. Rookie Lucas Giolito, though, also is preparing for the same assignment, with the club holding off for now choosing between the two.
Both Strasburg and...
After a highly publicized, highly significant series against the division rival Mets that resulted in a sweep, the Nationals now find themselves hosting one of baseball's worst teams this season for the next four nights: the Cincinnati Reds.
That, of course, doesn't guarantee anything. The Nats lost two of three at Great American Ball Park last month, and nearly lost the third game before eking out a 10-9 victory. But they'll need to find the same intensity they brought to the Mets series...