The Nationals received good news on two of their top pitching prospects this afternoon that involved both of them throwing a baseball in different ways.

After having been shut down for two weeks with right shoulder inflammation, Cade Cavalli was cleared to pick up a ball and resume throwing by team doctors and the medical staff.

His follow-up exam yesterday revealed that he was healthy enough to play a game of catch today at Nationals Park.

“Very good. He's actually playing catch as we speak,” manager Davey Martinez said of Cavalli’s follow-up exam and resumption of throwing. “It went really well. Inflammation’s gone. He said he feels great. Doctor evaluated him. Our medical staff put him through the gamut yesterday and today, so he's out there playing catch. So we'll see how he feels. This is great news for us. But with that being said, we still got quite a bit of ways (to go). But it's nice to see him out there throwing again.”

Cavalli was shut down after reporting unusual soreness in his right shoulder after his Aug. 26 major league debut. It was alarming news for the Nats after their top pitching prospect had finally earned the opportunity to debut in the bigs. At the time, the belief was that Cavalli would be done for the year out of extreme precaution and with only a month left in the season.

The Battle of the Beltways was split last year, with the Nationals and Orioles sweeping three-game series on their respective home fields. A Nationals win tonight would ensure a season split for the second year in a row.

The two rivals split two games in June at Camden Yards. The Orioles won the first game of this two-game set in D.C. last night. The Nationals hope Patrick Corbin and a resurgent offense can earn the split tonight. 

Corbin was charged with three runs and seven hits with six strikeouts over four innings in a rain-shortened loss to the Orioles on June 22. He also gave up home runs to Austin Hays (who ended up hitting for the cycle in a game that was called after just six innings) and Anthony Santander. In his career, Corbin is 1-4 with a 5.50 ERA in seven appearances (six starts) against Baltimore.

Tyler Wells makes his 22nd start of the season tonight, but just his second since coming off the injured list last week with a left oblique strain. The right-hander completed only two innings on 34 pitches against the Blue Jays in his return. In that June 22 matchup against Corbin, Wells tossed five scoreless innings with four walks and four strikeouts.

While Wells continues to stretch out, old friend Austin Voth is expected to back him up as a long reliever out of the bullpen. The Nats designated Voth for assignment on May 31 and the Orioles selected him off waivers on June 7. In 19 relief appearances with the Nats, Voth had a 10.13 ERA and 2.143 WHIP. In 18 games (14 starts) with the Orioles, Voth has a 2.82 ERA and 1.209 WHIP.

WASHINGTON – The Orioles will attempt to complete their two-game sweep of the Nationals tonight after losing back-to-back series. They’re five games behind the Rays and Mariners for the last wild card.

Their 74 wins are the most for any team in the modern era (since 1900) after losing at least 110 games the previous season.

Cedric Mullins and Rougned Odor are on the bench against left-hander Patrick Corbin.

Austin Hays is leading off and playing left field. Ryan McKenna is in center field and batting seventh.

Jesús Aguilar is batting sixth as the designated hitter.

The way they jumped out to an early lead, this felt like a night that would see the Nationals keep putting runners on base and keep threatening to add to that lead. Turns out they wouldn’t score again, and the one time they seriously threatened, their rookie shortstop ran himself out of the inning.

This 4-3 loss to the Orioles was frustrating, though for different reasons than many previous losses were. There was no bullpen meltdown. There was no critical defensive mistake. There was no disastrous outing by the starting pitcher.

Instead, this one-run loss saw the Nationals lineup go cold after the third inning, then botch its last best chance to tie the game when CJ Abrams tried to advance to third base on a ground ball right in front of him to kill a sixth-inning rally.

"He's young and wanting to get to third base, knew he had to get to third base," manager Davey Martinez said. "But that situation, you've got to see the ball through. You've got to get back to second and see what happens. It's just a young mistake. He knew right away: He should've gone back."

Abrams, whose play of late has mostly been sensational, led off the inning with a double to the gap in left-center, knocking Baltimore starter Dean Kremer from the game. But when reliever Dillon Tate immediately got Israel Pineda to hit a sharp grounder to short, Abams took off for third, an ill-advised gamble.

With a victory this afternoon, the Nationals would win the first series against the Athletics played in D.C. since 2005 and the first ever at Nats Park. And they would win this matchup between two teams with two of the worst records in baseball. A matchup that is now meaningless with next year’s MLB Draft lottery. 

After Aníbal Sánchez earned his first win of the season last night, Paolo Espino will look to do the same today. Entering his first career start against the Athletics, Espino is 0-6 with a 4.35 ERA in 34 appearances (14 starts) this year. He made two relief appearances against the A’s in 2017 as a member of the Rangers. 

Espino will be pitching on normal rest after making his last start on Saturday, thanks to Monday’s off-day. Cade Cavalli was supposed to make his second major league start this afternoon, but landed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Cory Abbott was recalled yesterday to take the top prospect’s spot on the roster and will be available out of the bullpen.

The Athletics will get to see one of their own top prospects make his major league debut in Ken Waldichuk. The 24-year-old lefty is Oakland’s No. 3 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, and was the centerpiece of a four-player package the A’s received from the Yankees in exchange for Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino before the deadline. Waldichuk posted a 2.84 ERA, 1.158 WHIP and 137 strikeouts in 95 innings over his 21 starts between Double-A and Triple-A in the Yankees and A’s systems.

Major league rosters expand to 28 players today. Catcher Tres Barrera and right-hander Mason Thompson have been recalled from Triple-A Rochester.

Luis García has excelled at his new position in the field. How will he handle a new position in the Nationals lineup?

García finds himself batting cleanup tonight for the first time in his career, penciled in by manager Davey Martinez as his No. 4 hitter for the Nats’ series opener against the Orioles.

It’s both a reflection of García's performance at the plate and the state of the rest of the lineup, which has seen Nelson Cruz struggle mightily and get bumped out of the cleanup spot, plus Keibert Ruiz land on the injured list likely for the remainder of the season.

“I wanted to try to break up our lineup with some of those righties and get him in there,” Martinez said. “He matches up well with (Orioles starter Dean Kremer) in there today. I thought we’ll give it a shot, see how he reacts to it. When he hits the ball, he hits it hard. I like the way he’s swinging the bat. So we’re going to put him at cleanup and see how he does.”

García has enjoyed a sustained stretch of success at the plate, batting .312 with four doubles, two homers, nine RBIs and an .809 OPS over his last 14 games. That coincides with his return from a minor groin strain and his move from shortstop to second base following CJ Abrams’ arrival from the Padres.

And we’re back at Nationals Park for the first time in 12 days. The Nats return to town following a long, three-city road trip that included series wins at New York and St. Louis but then a sweep in Philadelphia, which left a sour taste in everyone’s mouths. Now they begin a five-game homestand against the Orioles and Marlins as the final 21-game stretch of the season arrives.

The two interleague rivals split their two-game series at Camden Yards in June, one of those a rain-shorted loss. At that point, the Orioles were just starting to push their way into the American League postseason picture. They remain in the mix now, but they’ve taken a few steps back in the last week and enter this week 5 1/2 games behind the Rays for the final wild card berth.

Cory Abbott makes the start tonight as the Nationals give Josiah Gray and Paolo Espino extra rest before their next starts. The right-hander has done a solid-if-unspectacular job as a swingman, bouncing between the rotation and the bullpen. We’ll see how he does tonight against an emerging Baltimore lineup.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 76 degrees, wind 7 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
CF Lane Thomas
RF Joey Meneses
1B Luke Voit
2B Luis García
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
C Israel Pineda
3B Ildemaro Vargas

The Washington Nationals are back in D.C. for a five-game homestand that opens with two games of the Beltway Series vs. the Baltimore Orioles, followed by a three-game set against the Miami Marlins. Single-game tickets start at just $9. Fans interested in purchasing tickets should visit nationals.com/Tickets.

The season’s 11th homestand features Hispanic Heritage and Roberto Clemente Day; kids Nationals Screech Handmade by Robots ™ Vinyl Figure giveaways; the season’s final Pups in the Park game; City Connect uniforms; Girl Scout Day; Value Day; Signature Sunday; Kids Run the Bases; and more.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 13 vs. BALTIMORE ORIOLES (7:05 PM)

·        Beltway Series presented by Inova

o   The Nationals will host their neighbors from the north as part of the annual Beltway Series presented by Inova when the Baltimore Orioles visit Nationals Park for a two-game set.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – James Wood grew up about an hour away from Nationals Park in Olney, Md. He attended Nationals games while starting his high school career as a two-sport athlete at St. John’s College High School in D.C. before transferring to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., to focus on baseball.

When the Padres drafted him in the second round of last summer’s MLB Draft, he moved even further away from his hometown. But a little over a year later at this summer’s trade deadline, Wood found himself on his way back to his original neck of the woods as part of the five-prospect package the Padres put together to acquire Juan Soto and Josh Bell from the Nationals.

Wood entered the Nats system and was assigned to low Single-A Fredericksburg, which operates about an hour and half south of D.C. and places him back in a familiar region. And familiar traffic issues.

“It's nice. I'm like, what, I'm gonna say like an hour and 30 minutes (from home),” Wood said outside the FredNats clubhouse in left field at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. “I mean it really just depends on traffic. Like it could be an hour and 20 (minutes) to two hours. But just being able to really go home, if I need something from home, be able to stop by on off-day, just having my family here just about every game, it's real nice. So, I'm glad to be back home, glad to be close to family, close to home, all that stuff.”

Some players need an adjustment period when traded from one organization to another. Rarely do young prospects land near the city in which they grew up.

PHILADELPHIA – For the past three weeks, the Nationals had been playing a much more watchable brand of baseball, made possible in large part by a vast improvement in the field.

Having spent the vast majority of the season trotting out the majors’ worst defense, the Nats have seen that problem area morph into a real strength since the arrival of 21-year-old shortstop CJ Abrams, which allowed Luis García to move to his more natural position at second base, while journeyman Ildemaro Vargas became a rock-solid addition at third base.

Then came tonight’s 8-5 loss at Citizens Bank Park, in which the Nationals reverted back to all their worst habits from this now 91-loss season, from poor starting pitching to a lack of sustained offense to unsightly defense.

The defensive miscues stood out more than anything else, because this team had looked so impressive in the field during their recent upswing. Officially, the Nats were charged with two errors (one by Vargas, one by César Hernández) but that doesn’t come close to telling the full story.

"Our infield didn't throw the ball well today," manager Davey Martinez said. "But they've been playing really well, so I'm just going to chalk it up to one of those nights, and come back tomorrow."

PHILADELPHIA – Patrick Corbin and Noah Syndergaard, at their best, were high-strikeout pitchers. Double-digit totals were regular occurrences for both starters, back when Corbin was leading the Nationals and Syndergaard was leading the Mets deep into Octobers of yesteryear.

That’s not who either guy is right now, Corbin because he’s devolved into a shell of his former self, Syndergaard because he missed considerable time with major arm injuries.

So when they faced off tonight at Citizens Bank Park, the fast-paced ballgame that ensued featured precious few strikeouts, zero walks by either starter and a whole lot of early contact by both lineups.

The Phillies managed to make more out of their contact than the Nationals did, emerging with a 5-3 victory that left Corbin to suffer his 18th loss of the season.

Corbin, who allowed five runs and a whopping 12 hits over 6 2/3 innings despite throwing only 69 pitches, is the majors’ first 18-game loser since Chris Archer and James Shields each lost 19 in 2016. Barring a change in the Nats’ rotation plans, he’s on track to make four more starts this year as he attempts to avoid becoming the sport’s first 20-game loser in nearly two decades.

PHILADELPHIA – Keibert Ruiz’s season has likely come to an abrupt end after the Nationals placed their young catcher on the injured list with a testicular contusion that forced him to remain in a St. Louis hospital overnight after he was struck by a foul ball during the team’s series finale against the Cardinals.

Ruiz was discharged and was flying to Philadelphia late this afternoon to rejoin the Nationals, who formally placed him on the 10-day IL prior to tonight’s game against the Phillies. Manager Davey Martinez, though, said Ruiz has been instructed not to partake in any strenuous activities for three weeks, which leaves him almost no chance of making it back before the season ends in 26 days.

“We hope that he just continues to get better,” Martinez said. “We’ll see how he’s doing. But with everything going on, the doctors said he’s not able to do anything strenuous for three weeks. So we’re just going to take it day by day and take it from there.”

Martinez generally was encouraged about Ruiz’s progress in the last day and didn’t sound overly concerned about his long-term well-being. Assuming his season is over, the 24-year-old will finish with a .251 batting average, 22 doubles, seven homers, 36 RBIs and a .673 OPS across 433 plate appearances.

Ruiz enters the day having caught 106 games, second only to the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto this season. He has thrown out 18 basestealers while also picking off four runners, giving him 22 total runners thrown out (again, second only to Realmuto among all major league catchers).

PHILADELPHIA – The first two legs of the Nationals’ three-city road trip went about as well as anyone could’ve reasonably expected, and that’s even with Wednesday night’s disastrous bottom of the ninth in St. Louis. They still managed to win two of three against the Mets, then split a four-game series with the Cardinals. Now they arrive at Citizens Bank Park for a three-game weekend set with the Phillies, who aren’t in first place of their division the way the other two teams were, but are very much in the thick of the wild card race.

As expected, the Nats did make roster moves before tonight’s game, with Keibert Ruiz landing on the 10-day injured list with a testicular contusion after his scary incident with a foul ball Thursday afternoon. To fill his spot, 22-year-old catching prospect Israel Pineda had his contract selected from Triple-A Rochester, getting his first promotion to the big leagues. Jordan Weems was also recalled from Rochester, while Jake McGee was designated for assignment.

The Nationals have been scoring runs during their recent upswing, and they’ll try to continue that tonight against veteran Noah Syndergaard, who gave up four runs on 11 hits when they met each other here last month. Also remember: Syndergaard has long been one of the worst pitchers in baseball at holding runners on base, so look for the Nats to run when they have the opportunity.

Patrick Corbin, meanwhile, returns to the site of one of his worst starts of the year, one of two in which he didn’t complete the first inning. He’s been much better since, and tonight he looks for his third straight win against a Phillies lineup that surprisingly doesn’t include Bryce Harper (who has struggled since coming off the IL).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly clear, 79 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

The Washington Nationals announced the following roster moves on Friday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements.

• Selected the contract of catcher Israel Pineda from Triple-A Rochester
• Recalled right-handed pitcher Jordan Weems from Triple-A Rochester
• Placed catcher Keibert Ruiz on the 10-day Injured List with a testicular contusion
• Designated left-handed pitcher Jake McGee for assignment

Pineda, 22, hit .258 with 20 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs, 71 RBI, 36 walks, three stolen bases and 49 runs scored in 99 games between High-A Wilmington, Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester. He ranked among Nationals Minor Leaguers in RBI (2^nd, 71), home runs (5^th, 16), slugging percentage (5^th, .458), extra-base hits (6^th, 38) and OPS (8^th, .783) this season.

Washington’s No. 23 prospect by Baseball America and No. 26 per MLBPipeline.com, Pineda has recorded a .429 slugging percentage with 31 doubles, two triples and 30 home runs in 175 games since the start of the 2021 season.

Pineda signed with the Nationals on July 2, 2016 out of Maracay, Venezuela. With his debut, he will become the third member of Washington’s 2016 international class to appear in the Major Leagues, joining right-handed pitcher Joan Adon and infielder Luis García.

Weems, 29, returns for his third stint with the Nationals after tossing 10.0 scoreless innings and going 5-for-5 in save opportunities across his last eight games with Triple-A Rochester. He allowed just two hits (.067 opp. AVG) with 10 strikeouts and four walks over this stretch.

ST. LOUIS – Alex Call returned to his hotel room late Wednesday night and couldn’t help but think about it.

A short while earlier, Call had found himself right in the middle of the play that decided the Nationals’ game against the Cardinals. Having pinch-run for Riley Adams in the top of the eighth, he was now in left field during a harrowing bottom of the ninth that saw Kyle Finnegan turn a comfortable four-run lead into a one-run nailbiter with two outs. And when Tommy Edman smoked Finnegan’s 31st pitch of the inning on a straight line over Call’s head, the rookie outfielder realized he was the Nats’ last hope to win the game.

Call ran back towards the fence, and as the ball was beginning to come down past him, he leaped and stuck his glove out in an attempt to make what would’ve been the Nationals’ greatest game-ending catch since Steven Souza Jr. saved Jordan Zimmermann’s no-hitter on the final day of the 2014 regular season.

But though he got his glove on the ball, Call could not do anything more than deflect it to the ground, where it fell harmlessly as the tying and winning runs scored for the Cardinals.

Nobody was blaming Call for not making a highlight-reel catch afterward, but that doesn’t mean the 27-year-old was at peace with the outcome.

ST. LOUIS – When a familiar situation presented itself this afternoon at Busch Stadium, his team holding a late lead against the Cardinals, Davey Martinez opted to once again entrust that lead to Kyle Finnegan.

The only difference: This time, Finnegan got the ball for the bottom of the eighth, not the bottom of the ninth.

Actually, there was another difference: This time, Finnegan retired the side, then watched as his teammates blew the game wide open in the top of the ninth en route to a most impressive 11-6 victory for the Nationals less than 24 hours removed from a heart-wrenching loss in which Finnegan blew a four-run lead in the ninth.

There was no drama this time. (Well, the Cardinals did score two runs in the bottom of the ninth off Jake McGee and threaten to make this interesting before Carl Edwards Jr. cleaned up the mess.) Instead, there was a clean inning of setup work for Finnegan, and a whole lot of offense from the Nationals, who left town with heads held high after earning a four-game series split against the NL Central-leading Cardinals.

"I can't say enough about how these guys are playing," Martinez said. "I said these guys play hard for 27 outs. Today's the perfect example of them getting after it again, scoring a bunch of runs and playing good baseball."

ST LOUIS – The Nationals were one out away Wednesday night of victory, of securing at least a four-game split here at Busch Stadium and of clinching a winning road trip against two division leaders. And then … well, you know what happened in the bottom of the ninth.

They still have an opportunity today, however, to achieve all of the above and head home 4-3 against the Mets and Cardinals, which would be no small achievement. They’ll attempt to do so in an early matinee, with a 12:15 p.m. local first pitch on a bright, warm September afternoon here.

Josiah Gray gets the start, and he’ll need to be better than he was in New York, when he allowed six runs to the Mets. These final starts of Gray’s season are important. He really wants to finish on a high note and go into 2023 feeling good about his place near the top of the Nats rotation. To do that, he’s going to have to pitch well against some good lineups still on the schedule, including the Cardinals lineup he’ll face today.

The Nationals, who were completely shut down by left-hander Jordan Montgomery until the seventh inning Wednesday night, now go up against the wily old veteran right-hander, Adam Wainwright, who today pairs up with Yadier Molina for the 324th time as a major league battery, tying the all-time record. Notable switch to Davey Martinez’s lineup: Nelson Cruz has been bumped down to the No. 6 spot after struggling out of the cleanup position.

Update: The Nats have a late lineup change: Victor Robles was scratched with a stiff neck. Alex Call replaces him batting ninth and playing left field. Lane Thomas is now in center field.

ST LOUIS – Had the Nationals hung on to win Wednesday night, instead of watching as Kyle Finnegan blew a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, the story of that victory might well have focused on Erasmo Ramirez, who quietly strung together 2 2/3 perfect innings of relief to keep the game close and put his teammates in position to rally in the top of the eighth.

In a way, it’s actually fitting that Ramirez’s performance was lost in the shuffle at night’s end. Because it feels like his entire season has gone under the radar when it has deserved far more attention.

Entering today’s series finale against the Cardinals, Ramirez sports a sparkling 2.84 ERA and 1.082 WHIP. The only major league reliever with at least 70 innings pitched and a lower ERA is the Angels’ Jaime Barria (2.60). Only Barria (0.991) and the Orioles’ Keegan Akin (1.009) own a lower WHIP.

“He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do, and then some,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s been a quiet leader in the bullpen, as well. He’s helped out a lot of guys. But he’s a bulldog. He takes the ball every day; if need be, multiple innings. We asked him to start one day, he had no problems with that. So he does whatever we’ve asked him to do, and he’s been great.”

Indeed, Ramirez has pitched in just about every possible scenario he could this season. He was an emergency starter June 13 and July 17 against the Braves, each time churning out three innings before giving way to another reliever. He’s pitched as many as 3 1/3 innings in long relief, then entered to record two outs with runners in base in the seventh inning of a close game. He’s been credited with four wins and three holds, though he has yet to secure a save.

ST. LOUIS – When he took the mound for the bottom of the seventh Monday afternoon, Mason Thompson was focused solely on completing that inning. When he proceeded to retire the side on eight pitches, his mind turned to the possibility of returning for the bottom of the eighth. And when he proceeded to get through that inning on 13 pitches, he realized he might just get the opportunity to go back out there for the bottom of the ninth.

And when he proceeded to retire the side again on 11 pitches, Thompson not only found himself in the center of the diamond for a game-ending celebration, but having also recorded the first save of his big league career because he completed three innings of relief to seal his team’s win, even if it was by more than three runs.

“It definitely wasn’t something that I woke up and expected to do today, but it was pretty awesome,” the 24-year-old right-hander said. “I knew after that second one, maybe I’d get a chance to run out there for a third. I was glad that they were able to let me do that. It was pretty awesome.”

Three-inning saves, a staple of the 1970s and ’80s, aren’t particularly common these days. Thompson became only the seventh Nationals reliever to do it in club history, and the list is pretty eccentric: Steven Shell (2008), Tom Gorzelanny (2012), Ross Detwiler (2014), A.J. Cole (2015), Kyle McGowin (2019) and Javy Guerra (2019).

Thompson, though, may be the type of pitcher who has the opportunity to do this more than once. Club officials seem to believe his future is as a multi-inning reliever.

ST. LOUIS – His first at-bat produced in the first triple of his career. His second produced one of the hardest exit velocities of his career. His third produced an infield single in which he could show off his elite speed. His fourth produced the first three-hit game of his career.

And when he singled again in his fifth and final at-bat Monday at Busch Stadium, CJ Abrams had himself the first four-hit game of his career, capping off a fantastic afternoon at the plate by the Nationals’ rookie shortstop.

“Every time I’m at the plate, I’m getting more and more comfortable,” he said.

There’s no disputing that. After a sluggish start to his time in D.C., Abrams is beginning to look like the highly skilled hitter and defender the Nats believed they were getting from the Padres all along in last month’s Juan Soto trade.

With only six hits in his first 44 at-bats, Abrams at times looked overwhelmed by big league pitching. Through it all, manager Davey Martinez insisted it was only a matter of time before the 21-year-old started to apply what he was being coached and saw the results to match.