PHILADELPHIA – It was only 15 pitches, all fastballs, thrown with care off the bullpen mound at Citizens Bank Park this afternoon. But for Sean Doolittle, it was the most significant step yet in his attempted return from a sprained elbow ligament.

And the fact he came out of today’s session feeling strong physically was reason enough for Doolittle to remain optimistic about the rest of his long rehab process.

“The first one, you really just want to come out of it feeling OK,” the Nationals reliever said. “It’s a little bit like spring training. I haven’t thrown off a mound in three months. … I was really happy with how my body was moving. The execution was a little rusty, for sure. But the ball was coming out of my hand good. All around, pretty good.”

Since landing on the injured list in mid-April after only five appearances to begin the season, Doolittle has been waiting to get back to this point again. He knew at the time the partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament could eventually require Tommy John surgery, but his decision to get a platelet-rich plasma injection and then slowly build his arm back up after a requisite period of rest seems to have worked to this point.

There are still several more significant steps for Doolittle to take. He’s scheduled to throw another bullpen session either Sunday or Monday, still sticking with fastballs only, before adding off-speed pitches his next session after that. At some point after that, he’ll be cleared to face live hitters again, then go a minor league rehab assignment.

PHILADELPHIA – Though he was able to pinch-hit late in Monday’s loss to the Marlins and bring the Nationals Park crowd to its feet just by drawing a four-pitch walk, Juan Soto is not ready to return to the lineup quite yet.

Soto, who has been dealing with a tight left calf muscle since Sunday, still hasn’t been cleared to run. So he’s sitting out tonight’s series opener against the Phillies, with the possibility again he’ll come off the bench at some point if the situation calls for it.

“After talking to him last night, he felt better but it’s still sore,” manager Davey Martinez said. “So I didn’t want to chance it. We’ll let him try to get better. We’ll see where he’s at. I know he’s going to take some swings later on, and we’ll see what’s going on. But I just wanted to give him another day, and hopefully tomorrow he can get back. We’ll do some running drills with him and see how he feels.”

Despite some initial fear the injury was serious, Soto was relieved to learn Sunday night an MRI showed no strain of the muscle. He figured it would be a day-to-day process to return to play, but after taking swings in the cage during Monday’s game he confirmed he felt well enough to pinch-hit.

The crowd roared with anticipation as Soto emerged from the dugout to pinch-hit for Victor Robles with two on and one out in the eighth inning of a 1-1 game. He then drew a four-pitch walk off Zach Pop, shuffling after a couple pitches and staring down the Marlins reliever following ball four.

The Nationals pitching staff has stabilized somewhat over the last two weeks, thanks to mostly quality performances from starters and thus fewer innings asked of the bullpen. But if and when more reinforcements are needed, several pitchers are inching closer to return from injury.

Aníbal Sánchez is scheduled to make his second rehab start for Triple-A Rochester tonight in the Red Wings’ series finale against Worcester. The 38-year-old right-hander last pitched Tuesday, lasting only 2 2/3 innings while throwing 61 pitches (only 34 strikes).

The Nationals, obviously, want to see more efficiency from Sánchez, who has been out since opening day with a cervical nerve impingement in his neck, allowing him to go deeper in the game. They’re targeting four innings for him.

“He says he’s going to go more,” manager Davey Martinez said with a look of skepticism in his eye. “We’ll see.”

As with Sánchez, the Nats want to see better results from Josh Rogers when he makes his second rehab start for Rochester later this week on the road at Lehigh Valley. The lefty, out since June 3 with an impingement in his shoulder, was roughed up for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings Thursday, serving up three homers.

BALTIMORE – Though none of them are ready to return yet, several rehabbing Nationals pitchers are moving closer to rejoining the active roster, a potential boon for an overworked staff this summer.

Mason Thompson began a rehab assignment for Triple-A Rochester today and tossed a scoreless inning, with a strikeout during the frame. The right-hander, out since mid-April with a biceps strain, is scheduled to make several more minor league appearances to build his arm up but could be added to the bullpen as soon as he reaches that point.

Sean Doolittle, meanwhile, has been throwing from 120 feet, a significant progression as he attempts to return from an elbow sprain suffered in late April after making only five appearances. The veteran lefty seems to be benefitting from the effects of a platelet-rich plasma injection he received last month, though he still needs to throw off a mound before knowing he’s on the full road to recovery.

“He says he feels really good,” manager Davey Martinez said today, “which is great.”

Aníbal Sánchez and Josh Rogers are now in West Palm Beach, Fla., throwing to live hitters. Sánchez, out since opening day with a nerve impingement in his neck, pitched two innings for the organization’s Rookie-level club and could head out to join one of the higher-level minor league affiliates soon to build up his pitch count before potentially coming off the 60-day injured list.

You’ll have to excuse Sean Doolittle if he seems a little amped over something as trivial as playing catch as a major league pitcher. For a guy who had to go on the 10-day injured list after a strong start to the season and then went months without picking up a baseball, the left-hander had a lot of energy and a lot to say about his ongoing rehab process.

“We're in my second week of playing catch. ... Up to 75 feet right now. And just building back up,” Doolittle said in front of his locker in the Nationals clubhouse Friday afternoon. “I can't remember the last time I took two months off from throwing. But the elbow and the forearm have been feeling really good. All of the strength work has gone really well and now is the fun part. Getting to throw and play catch again, knock that rust off. We don't have a timetable or anything. But it's been going really well.”

Doolittle landed on the 10-day IL with a left elbow sprain on April 20, the day after he recorded two outs in relief of Josiah Gray during the Nationals’ 6-1 win over the Diamondbacks in the matinee of a D.C. doubleheader. A little over two weeks later, he was moved to the 60-day IL after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection that would keep him out for a longer period of time.

He had to stop throwing for what turned out to be about two months. He wasn’t allowed to do what he’s literally paid to do.

After starting the season with 5 1/3 scoreless innings, a 0.188 WHIP and six strikeouts to no walks over six appearances, was that particularly frustrating for him?

After a long 10-game road trip across three cities, the Nationals are finally home in D.C., ready to start an 11-game homestand over the next 10 days.

“Yeah, it's awesome,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame session in the press conference room at Nationals Park. “I mean, it was a long road trip. It really was. But glad to be home.”

Although the location has changed, the Nationals lineup for their series opener against the Brewers remains mostly the same, with Nelson Cruz starting again as the designated hitter after being a late scratch from last night’s finale in Miami with tightness in his back.

“Cruz is back in there,” Martinez said. “His back was stiff yesterday. So he called this morning, I talked to him this morning. He said he feels a lot better. ... Says he feels good. So he's back in there.”

The 41-year-old has dealt with a handful of nagging issues that have caused him to be scratched from lineups this season. He was also removed from the lineup before an April 12 game in Atlanta with groin tightness, and he was scratched from a May 16 game in Miami with an illness.

DENVER – The Nationals transferred Sean Doolittle to the 60-day injured list this afternoon, revealing the left-hander recently received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow, which will prevent him from throwing for another six weeks. They then used that new opening on the 40-man roster to claim right-hander Cory Abbott from the Giants and immediately option him to Triple-A Rochester.

The move of Doolittle from the 10-day to the 60-day IL ensures he’ll be out until at least late June, but last week’s PRP injection ensured it would probably take that long for him to recover anyway.

“He opted to do that, get it over with, get it done right away,” manager Davey Martinez said before tonight’s game against the Rockies. “Now he’s just going to rehab. He said he feels really good, which is great. We’re just going to rehab him and get him back.”

Doolittle was off to a red-hot start in April after rejoining the Nationals on a one-year, $1.5 million contract this spring. He did not allow a run over his first six relief appearances and only allowed a batter to reach base for the first time in his most recent outing.

But the 35-year-old experienced pain in his elbow during that last appearance and informed club officials. He promptly was placed on the 10-day IL, with hopes he’d be OK to resume throwing after rest and rehab for a couple weeks. All the while, though, he admitted he knew there remained the possibility the sprain was more serious and could require a significant amount of time off or even major surgery.

SAN FRANCISCO – Though Sean Doolittle and Hunter Harvey will be eligible to come off the 10-day injured list this weekend, both relievers remain in Washington as the Nationals open a nine-game West Coast tonight, neither having been cleared to resume throwing yet.

Doolittle (left elbow sprain) went on the IL on April 20, which means he’s eligible to return Saturday. That, of course, won’t happen. The veteran left-hander is working daily at Nationals Park with a physical therapist, trying to get his arm ready to throw again.

The same applies to Harvey (right pronator strain), who went on the IL on April 21 and is eligible to return Sunday. He likewise is working with the physical therapist in D.C., though the right-hander has been itching to start throwing as soon as possible.

Harvey, whose career is littered with injuries both to his arm and nearly every other part of his body, does appear to be closer to picking up a ball again than Doolittle.

“I know that Harvey’s itching to throw already, but we’ve got to be very careful because of his history,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Doolittle, I don’t think he’s going to be ready probably until we get back (from the road trip).”

Progress for Stephen Strasburg these days is incremental. Much as everyone would love to know when the right-hander is finally going to make his season debut for the Nationals, nobody really knows the answer yet.

The road to recovery from thoracic outlet surgery, which Strasburg had in late July, is not as clearly defined as the rehab calendar for other more common procedures like Tommy John surgery or to repair a torn rotator cuff.

At this point, any steps are positive steps for Strasburg, who is about to take another important one: After a successful session throwing off a mound today in West Palm Beach, Fla., he is ready to start facing live hitters again.

Strasburg threw 37 pitches during today’s session. Joe Ross, on the same schedule as he returns from early March surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow, threw roughly 45 pitches during his session and now is ready to face live hitters as well.

“Both felt good after they threw,” manager Davey Martinez said. “The next plan will be again to get them out there and going to say they’re going to face live hitters. We’ll see how that goes. But they both said they felt good after their bullpens.”

Davey Martinez knew this might happen. He’d been through a condensed, three-week spring training in 1995 following the end of the players’ strike, and he remembered the physical damage that caused, on pitchers in particular, once the season began later than originally planned.

So the last thing Martinez is right now is surprised. He had a hunch some pitchers wouldn’t be ready for the regular season grind after the short camp. And wouldn’t you know what happened?

First it was right-hander Mason Thompson, who landed on the 10-day injured list April 10 with biceps tendinitis. Then came the back-to-back blows this week: Sean Doolittle, who sprained his left elbow ligament, followed by Hunter Harvey, who has a pronator strain in his right forearm.

“When I went through this as a player in ’95, (for) a lot of these pitchers, April was pretty strenuous,” Martinez said. “I don’t know if it’s anything related to the short spring training, but you’ve got to look at (that), trying to ramp these guys up. That being said, this is the reason we tried to have so many different options, in case something like this would happen.”

Thompson pitched twice in the season’s first three days before he was placed on the IL. Doolittle pitched in six of the Nats’ first 12 games before telling club officials about the elbow pain that was growing worse. And Harvey, who pitched four times in 10 days after he was called up from Triple-A Rochester, reported physical issues following Wednesday night’s game. By Thursday afternoon, he joined the others on the IL.

The day began with news of Sean Doolittle landing on the 10-day injured list with an elbow sprain, a development that on its own could’ve been enough to ruin the Nationals’ entire day.

Who knew it would be only the first in a series of calamities over the course of eight hours that ended with an 11-2 debacle of a loss to the Diamondbacks in which Erick Fedde recorded only 10 outs, Josh Bell departed with tightness in his left knee and a pregame demonstration of the U.S. Army parachute team prompted an emergency evacuation of the U.S. Capitol grounds.

Suffice it to say, it was not a particularly positive Wednesday night at the ballpark, wiping out plenty of the good vibes that emerged during Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep of Arizona.

"It felt like a cursed day, for sure, in that sense," Fedde said. "We're all trying to get our feet under us, and sometimes it's harder some days than others. I think we're all just trying to get through this first month and survive at this point."

This game represented a complete reversal of fortunes for both clubs. After holding the Diamondbacks to one total run across 18 innings of baseball the previous day, the Nationals pitching staff gave up a boatload of them tonight, with Fedde setting the tone during a start that lasted only 3 1/3 innings.

Sean Doolittle first felt something in his elbow during the seventh inning Sunday in Pittsburgh. It was sore, but nothing he hadn’t dealt with before. Then he warmed up Tuesday afternoon in the bullpen at Nationals Park, and it was worse. Still, he thought he could deal with it, so he pitched the top of the sixth in relief of Josiah Gray, retiring two of three batters faced but notably with his fastball velocity down a couple ticks.

By the time he returned to the dugout following that nine-pitch appearance, Doolittle realized he needed to speak up. He told the Nationals medical staff, which ordered an MRI. He left the team prior to the nightcap of the doubleheader against the Diamondbacks, and by night’s end the results were in: He has a sprained elbow ligament and has been placed on the 10-day injured list.

What exactly that means isn’t fully known yet. Doolittle said the MRI results are being sent to other doctors for further examination. He admits a ligament sprain can in some cases require major surgery. But that’s not part of the immediate plan for him. He’ll first attempt to rehab the injury and hope he can return to pitch in relatively short order.

“We don’t have a timetable. I know that sounds like I’m talking around it and talking in generalities, but we’ve got to let it tell us what’s going on,” the left-hander said. “So we’re going to throw ourselves into that process right now, starting today. I actually started last night. By the end of that 10 days, we’ll start throwing again, see where we’re at and go from there.”

Even if this proves to be a best-case scenario and Doolittle is able to resume throwing with no issues in the next couple weeks, today’s news is a significant blow to the Nationals and to the 35-year-old reliever, who five outings into his return to D.C. looked to be enjoying a career resurgence.

A day-night doubleheader is no easy challenge for a major league manager, certainly not when it comes two weeks into a season in which no starting pitcher has completed six innings and no days off had been savored until Monday night’s scheduled series opener was rained out.

The Nationals, though, did just about everything they could this afternoon during a 6-1 victory over the Diamondbacks to make life easy on Davey Martinez.

They got a strong outing from Josiah Gray (one run in 5 1/3 innings). They got a key rally to take the lead. They got good work from a couple of their top relievers. And then they tacked on three late insurance runs, allowing closer Tanner Rainey to take a seat and Austin Voth to pitch the ninth instead.

Too bad more fans weren’t here to witness it. The announced paid attendance of 9,261 officially was the smallest in Nationals history (excluding 2021 games with COVID-19 capacity restrictions), though that number doesn’t include anyone who purchased a ticket to Monday night’s originally scheduled game and already exchanged it for a future game. (The previous low in club history was 10,999 on Sept. 20, 2010 against the Astros.)

Tiny gathering or not, those who did brave 47-degree temperatures and a strong wind out of the northwest were treated to a quality performance from the home team, which opened this 10-game homestand on a positive note.

Ask Sean Doolittle if there’s one thing he can point to above all else to explain his dramatic return to form this season, and the answer might catch you off-guard.

“To be honest, I think it’s my brain,” the Nationals reliever said over the weekend in Pittsburgh.

Wait, even when trying to explain how his velocity has increased?

“Yeah,” he insisted. “Because I think over the last couple years, when you’re not throwing with confidence and you’re thinking: ‘Where do my hands need to be? Or where does my front side need to be when I break my hands? Or how am I moving?’ Your body can’t do a thing like that and compete at the same time. You can’t move quickly. You’re not going to have the same conviction behind the ball. That’s what I meant when I said it’s about confidence.”

Whatever the reason, the difference in results is impossible to ignore. Five appearances into the season, Doolittle has yet to allow a batter to reach base. He has faced 14 of them. He has retired 14 of them (six via strikeout). He has thrown only 46 pitches in total, 35 of them strikes.

ATLANTA – There are more than 5 1/2 months of baseball left to be played in 2022, and there’s still every reason to believe when this season is complete the Braves will be right there among the National League’s best while the rebuilding Nationals are looking up at a number of other clubs.

One series in mid-April does not change the outlook of either team’s chances this year. That doesn’t, however, mean the Nats can’t leave town this evening and fly to Pittsburgh feeling awfully good about themselves for what they just accomplished.

Shaking off a blowout loss Tuesday night, they bounced right back and won today’s finale 3-1, capturing the three-game series against the defending World Series champions and in the process establishing the formula for success they’ll try to mimic as much as possible over these next 5 1/2 months.

“I feel like it’s a confidence boost, right?” reliever Steve Cishek said. “You got a young team, and you take out the defending champs? I mean, their lineup is incredible. We threw the ball really well the first game and today. That’s a huge confidence boost for the young guys.”

The Nationals got a strong outing today from one of their young starters, with Josiah Gray tossing five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit. They got some early offense from an opportunistic lineup that jumped on Braves ace Max Fried. And then Davey Martinez handed over the final four innings to his four best relievers: Kyle Finnegan, Sean Doolittle, Cishek and Tanner Rainey.

Since making the decision to sign last month, Sean Doolittle had been imagining what his first relief appearance back with the Nationals would be like.

But was this the scenario he envisioned, replacing ejected teammate Steve Cishek moments after both benches and bullpens emptied in the top of the fifth Friday night?

“Uh, no. I don’t know if you could envision that scenario,” the left-hander said with a laugh Saturday as he recalled the scene. “That was crazy.”

That’s an understatement. Doolittle was already warming in the bullpen when Cishek entered to face Francisco Lindor. He watched from afar as Cishek’s second pitch came up and in and struck Lindor near the face, then as the Mets dugout spilled onto the field in anger and the Nationals dugout followed suit.

The next thing he knew, Doolittle and his bullpen mates were running all the way in to join the not-really-a-brawl. Then as tempers were calming down, bullpen coach Ricky Bones told him to get back to the bullpen ASAP because he might need to enter to pitch if Cishek was getting ejected.