The Nationals are using a long-awaited off-day to skip over Patrick Corbin’s next turn in the rotation.

Corbin, who last pitched Wednesday against the Mets, was lined up to make his next start Monday. With the Nats set to enjoy their first day off since May 23, he would normally be on the mound Tuesday for the team’s series opener in Detroit.

But the Nationals’ announced rotation for that series against the Tigers has Mitchell Parker on Tuesday, followed by Jake Irvin and MacKenzie Gore. They haven’t announced their rotation plans beyond that, but Davey Martinez suggested this morning Corbin will start Saturday against the Marlins, which means he would be pitching on nine days’ rest instead of the usual four.

“Just to give him a little bit of a breather,” Martinez said. “We take care of all our young guys, but we’ve got to take care of our veteran guys, too.”

The Nats have often used scheduled days off to adjust their rotation order, but that’s usually an attempt to give young starters extra rest, managing their workload over the course of a long season. In this case, the move likely has more to do with Corbin’s continued struggles than anything else.

The Nationals have been building a lot on the field over the past couple of years. The rebuilding process to return to a highly competitive level is never easy. They have made significant strides, while currently looking at one of their more successful seasons in a while.

But what they are building off the field may be just as important as the on-field results.

General manager Mike Rizzo has put together a nucleus of young players tasked with carrying this team back to the top of the baseball world. Manager Davey Martinez has been tasked with getting all of those young pieces to mesh.

Unfortunately, two of those young pieces have been sidelined for most of this year: Josiah Gray, who landed on the 15-day injured list after just two starts, and Cade Cavalli, who is still on his way back from last year’s Tommy John surgery.

Yes, their progress on the mound has slowed. But their development as teammates, key individuals in the clubhouse and pieces of this franchise’s future has actually grown.

Looking to snap a four-game losing streak, the Nationals found themselves in a similar situation as they were last night against the Braves: Holding a two-run lead with their starter pitching a shutout.

Last night, it was Mitchell Parker taking a no-hit bid into the sixth. He then gave up a two-run home run to tie the game in the seventh. The Nats would go on to lose 5-2.

Tonight, it was Jake Irvin, who was also taking the mound against the Braves for the second time in a week, dominating the opposing lineup with a two-run lead. And thanks to a bounceback night by Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan's 17th save, he was victorious over Atlanta.

The Nationals beat the Braves 2-1 in front of an announced sellout crowd of 39,175, many of whom are probably sticking around for the Flo Rida postgame concert at Nats Park.

“He was good," manager Davey Martinez said of his starting pitcher. "Another guy to face the Braves this last week. Goes out and pitches really well against them again. That's a tough team, as we all know. They get hit, so what our two starters did these first two games was pretty impressive. It really was. He kept us in a ballgame. We faced a tough pitcher. We just got enough runs. Sometimes just one more than the other guys helps, right? So I'm proud of the guys. They fought all game, we hung and then Finney came in and closed the door.”

Confirmed: Josiah Gray will begin his long-awaited rehab assignment on Sunday with Single-A Fredericksburg.

After being cleared earlier this week to pitch in a competitive game for the first time in almost two months, the Nationals have finally locked down the date and time for the right-hander to retake the hill.

The FredNats take on the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox) at Virginia Credit Union Stadium at 1:35 p.m. Gray will look to complete about three innings.

“We're looking for three ups, 50-55 pitches,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame media session. “If we get through that, that would be a good day for him. Then what we want to do is bring him back here after that. Let him go through his workouts here. And if everything goes well, the next one will probably be in Harrisburg. And then we'll go from there.”

Gray landed on the 15-day injured list on April 9 (retroactive to April 6) with a right elbow/forearm flexor strain. He had only made two starts to that point, giving up 15 hits, 13 runs and five walks with nine strikeouts over 8 ⅓ innings.

The Nationals’ offensive identity this season was established early in April. Knowing they weren’t likely to hit for much power, they decided their best chance at scoring runs was to get on base and then use their speed abilities to get around the bases as quickly as possible.

Two months later, the Nats lead the majors with 95 stolen bases, with four individuals already in double digits and three others with eight steals.

But they’re also getting thrown out a decent amount, especially in recent games. The Nationals have been caught stealing 24 times in total, third-most in the majors. And they’ve been caught 10 times in their last 14 games, a particularly rough stretch that has at times cost them.

That drop in success rate, from 85 percent through their first 47 games to 64 percent during these last 14 games, coincides with the team’s scoring output dropping from 4.1 runs to 3.8 runs per game. Manager Davey Martinez sees a correlation.

“I think we’re trying to push the envelope a little too much because we’re not scoring any runs, and that happens because as a team we start pressing and trying to make things happen,” he said. “I think we’ll get back to (stealing successfully) as soon as our guys start swinging the bats better. The success rate will definitely go up.”

The Nationals came home Sunday evening rightfully feeling good about themselves after a winning road trip against a pair of contenders. Next up: a three-game series against a Mets team in disarray in advance of its weekend trip to London to face the Phillies.

What ensued: A three-game sweep at the hands of that supposedly unraveling Mets club that featured two ugly pitching performances, an injury to one of the team’s best starters to date and precious little production from a lineup that has been the roster’s weak link for two months now.

Consider today’s 9-1 shellacking before the fans who waited out a rain delay a new low point to the season. Patrick Corbin was rocked once again. The Nationals lineup looked helpless against Luis Severino. And by day’s end, it was Davey Martinez’s bunch that looked ready to leave town, not the guys heading to England.

"Rough series," Martinez said. "But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We've got another tough team coming in (the Braves this weekend). We've got to be ready to play tomorrow."

Outscored 23-11 during the sweep, the Nats held a lead after only one of the 27 innings they played. They saw MacKenzie Gore get roughed up for six runs in 4 1/3 innings Monday. They made David Peterson throw only 81 pitches in 6 2/3 innings Tuesday. And today they suffered the worst of both worlds, with Corbin shelled for six runs in 5 1/3 innings while the lineup made Severino throw only 72 pitches through seven scoreless innings before finally plating a run in the eighth.

Josiah Gray is ready to pitch in a competitive game again.

Gray, who has spent nearly two months on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain in his forearm, has been cleared to begin a minor league rehab assignment. The exact date and location hasn’t been finalized yet, but manager Davey Martinez suggested it’s most likely to come Sunday at Single-A Fredericksburg.

“I would like to send him to the closest affiliate for now, because I want him to come back here after he pitches,” Martinez said. “So if Fredericksburg is home, that’s probably where he’ll go.”

The Fred Nats indeed are home Sunday afternoon against Kannapolis, so that appears to be the answer.

Gray landed on the IL on April 9 after two rough starts to his season. He slowly built his arm back up and in recent weeks pitched in three simulated games against teammates. The last of those came Tuesday when the right-hander threw 65 pitches over three innings.

DJ Herz’s major league debut wasn’t the fairytale Mitchell Parker experienced two months ago at Dodger Stadium. Neither was it the nightmare suffered by countless other Nationals rookies over the last decade.

Herz wasn’t great in his first career start. Neither was he bad. The rookie left-hander pitched with some confidence, escaped a couple of early jams, then began to succumb as his evening progressed.

In the end, Herz allowed two runs while he was in the game, plus another two that were charged to him after he departed in the top of the fifth. And because his teammates did very little at the plate themselves, he wound up charged with the loss as the Nationals fell 6-3 to the Mets.

"He was a little nervous," manager Davey Martinez said. "He was sweating like crazy out there. But you know what, in big moments he kind of settled down and threw strikes and looked really good."

The Nats hoped for something more akin to Parker’s sparkling April debut in Los Angeles, when the unheralded rookie left-hander struck out Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani, went five strong innings and became the franchise’s first starting pitcher to win his major league debut since Stephen Strasburg.

Trevor Williams will be shut down from throwing for two weeks after an MRI revealed a flexor muscle strain in the right-hander’s forearm. How much time the Nationals veteran starter will need to return after that remains an open question.

“There’s positive news from it: Everything structurally looks good. It’s just going to take some time,” Williams said this afternoon. “That’s the positive news. I wish it was just one start that I was skipping to be able to let my body recover. But unfortunately, it’s not that way.”

The Nats placed Williams on the 15-day injured list today, calling up left-hander DJ Herz from Triple-A Rochester to make his major league debut tonight against the Mets. The IL move is backdated to June 1, so Williams technically will be available to return as soon as June 16. But there doesn’t appear to be any reason to believe he’ll actually be ready that soon.

Williams said he felt fine during his last start Thursday in Atlanta, when he held the Braves to one run over 5 2/3 innings, throwing 95 pitches (his second-highest total of the season). But when he went to play catch the next day in Cleveland, he said his arm didn’t respond the way it usually does. And when the discomfort lingered through the weekend, the Nationals had him get an MRI to determine if there was an injury.

That MRI showed no issues with Williams’ elbow ligament or tendons, so the injury is purely muscular. Manager Davey Martinez called that diagnosis “best-case scenario.”

CLEVELAND – The schedule has not been kind to the Nationals through the season’s first two months, from far more games on the road (35) than at home (23) to a current stretch of 17 consecutive games without a scheduled day off to a number of series against some of the top contenders in both leagues.

How have the Nats handled it all? Maybe they haven’t thrived, but they’ve more than held their own under the circumstances.

With a 5-2 victory over the Guardians today, the Nationals secured a winning road trip at 4-3. They started the week taking three of four in Atlanta. They preceded that with a series win over the American Leauge West-leading Mariners, leaving them 6-4 so far during this particularly grueling stretch heading into a seven-game homestand against the Mets and Braves.

They may have lost this weekend series to Cleveland, currently in first place in the AL Central. But they admittedly gave away Saturday’s game with several defensive and baserunning gaffes. And then they bounced back and won today’s finale despite a depleted lineup missing both CJ Abrams and Jacob Young, thanks to one big early outburst and another strong pitching performance led by Jake Irvin.

"I think to win the majority of games on a road trip, against two teams that have played really well so far this year, I think it's a win in everyone's mind," outfielder Lane Thomas said. "I think we left some stuff on the table the first two games here, but they played well. I think we definitely could've made the first game closer and maybe been in contention yesterday. But it's a tough league, and we play a lot of games for a reason. Going forward, I think we have a chance to beat a lot more good teams."

CLEVELAND – The Nationals swapped out backup catchers this morning, optioning Riley Adams to Triple-A and recalling Drew Millas from Rochester, hoping the latter can provide a more potent bat in the big leagues while the former tries to rediscover his swing (while also getting playing time at another position) in the minors.

Adams got off to a hot start to the season and filled in admirably when starting catcher Keibert Ruiz dealt with a bad case of the flu, batting .293 with six extra-base hits and an .863 OPS through his first 12 games.

But he’s been in a prolonged slump since then, batting just .132 with one double and 16 strikeouts over his last 13 games. He hit a low point Saturday afternoon, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and letting a bounced pitch from Mitchell Parker get past him and roll all the way to the first base dugout as the Guardians’ José Ramírez scored all the way from second for what proved to be the decisive run in a 3-2 loss.

The Nationals hope more consistent playing time at Triple-A will give Adams a better chance of rediscovering his swing.

“It was a timing thing. He’s just got to get himself ready earlier,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It’s hard to do when you’re not playing every day. So getting him at-bats every day, and getting him locked in again, definitely will help him.”

CLEVELAND – Over the course of this afternoon’s game at Progressive Field, the Nationals allowed two runs to score on a popup, allowed another to score all the way from second base on a wild pitch, had one of their own runners tagged out after rounding third base too far, had another picked off first base even when he wasn’t being held on, saw their manager get ejected, saw their shortstop get scratched shortly before first pitch due to injury and saw their center fielder depart later due to injury.

It was, by any measure, an ugly performance from the visitors, the kind of performance they couldn’t afford against one of the majors’ hottest teams.

And yet, somehow the Nats still found themselves with a chance to beat the Guardians, if only they could come through with one modest rally before game’s end. Alas, they could not. And so this went down as a 3-2 loss, and certainly one of the weirder and more frustrating losses of the season.

"You feel like we lost that game more than they won it," catcher Riley Adams said.

Already playing without shortstop CJ Abrams, who was scratched less than an hour before first pitch due to a jammed left shoulder suffered Friday night, the Nationals also lost center fielder Jacob Young to a swollen right hand he first noticed after making a long throw to third base in the seventh inning.

CLEVELAND – The Nationals clubhouse was mostly empty three hours before tonight’s series opener at Progressive Field, only a few players lounging around and chatting while the rest waited to take a late bus to the ballpark following an exceptionally late night of travel.

A 7:20 p.m. getaway night game in Atlanta was bad enough. Then a lengthy delay with the team’s charter plane meant the Nats didn’t finally check into their Cleveland hotel until nearly 5 a.m.

Suffice it to say, Davey Martinez canceled batting practice and told everyone to report to the park later than usual, hoping they would get some much needed rest in the meantime.

“We pushed the buses back a little bit, but these guys are all getting ready,” Martinez said during his 5 p.m. pregame session with reporters. “A lot of them are already in the cage. We’ll have our (pre-series scouting) meetings and try to get ready to go.”

The Nationals weren’t pleased with the scheduling of their four-game series against the Braves, which began with a 4:10 p.m. Memorial Day affair but then concluded with three straight 7:20 p.m. starts. This also comes during a tough stretch of 17 consecutive scheduled game days, with their next day off still a ways away on June 10.

ATLANTA – As Eddie Rosario walked to the plate for the first time on Monday, Braves catcher Sean Murphy moved from his normal position behind it to in front of it, unofficially pausing the game. He knew what was about to happen.

The public address announcer introduced Rosario as the Nationals’ fourth batter in the first inning and the crowd of 38,858 fans stood up and applauded, an unusual thing to do for an opposing player. But Rosario wasn’t any ordinary opposing player.

The 32-year-old outfielder, who played three seasons with the Braves while winning the 2021 World Series and being named the National League Championship Series MVP along the way, tried to let the ovation pass. But the applause grew louder.

Finally, Rosario stepped out of the box, took off his helmet, waved it to the crowd and patted his heart in appreciation. He also acknowledged his former teammates and coaches who had joined the moment from the home dugout and playing field.

Then he hit the third pitch he saw from Charlie Morton down the left field line for an RBI double, giving his new team an early lead over his former squad.

ATLANTA – The Nationals won two of the first three games against the Braves with some big hits and great pitching. They haven’t always gotten home runs, but they got one from CJ Abrams on Monday and one from Lane Thomas on Wednesday. They haven’t always seen their starter go deep in the game, but Mitchell Parker, Jake Irvin and MacKenzie Gore combined for 17 ⅔ innings.

With a chance to win the four-game series, the Nationals went back to the recipe for success that has helped them win most of their games thus far this season. And it was some good cooking that resulted in a 3-1 victory in front of 37,784 fans, who also watched the Nats win the set.

As it has for the past week, it started on the mound. The Nationals stuck to their plan that has proven to be very successful with Trevor Williams, who completed 5 ⅔ innings of one-run ball with four hits, two walks and two strikeouts on 95 pitches, 56 strikes.

“Going into the fourth game of a series, you get a good feel for what the lineup is going to do," Williams said after the game. "And all the guys the last three days gave tremendous outings. So for them to do what they did, we were able to execute our game plan for the most part. It was a well-fought win for us. Thankful for the guys behind me that they were able to make some plays and we were able to execute some pitches and get us out of some jams.”

The only run scored on him came in the third when Jarred Kelenic hit a triple to left that Eddie Rosario missed while sliding, and then Michael Harris II scored him with a sacrifice fly on the first pitch.

ATLANTA – Josiah Gray threw another live bullpen session today, one more step closer to returning from the 15-day injured list.

Gray landed on the IL with a right elbow/forearm flexor strain after just two starts in which he allowed 13 runs in 8 ⅓ innings. But after a long and patient rehab process, he finally returned to a mound to face live hitters for the first time on Saturday at Nationals Park.

He only threw 23 pitches, plus 27 warmup pitches, that first time. He got up to 76 today, including his warmups, at Truist Park while mixing in his off-speed stuff more.

“It was good. Better,” said manager Davey Martinez, who watched Gray alongside pitching coach Jim Hickey. “He threw a total of 76 pitches. And he threw the ball well. His breaking ball was sharp. A lot better today than it was the other day. Fastball was coming out pretty good. So he's doing good. He's in a good place right now. We'll continue to build him up and then we'll see where we go from there. I think he'll have one more live and then we'll make a decision and what we're going to do next.”

Likely to stay on a normal five-day rotation, the 26-year-old’s next live BP will come next week back in D.C. after the Nationals return from Cleveland.

ATLANTA – The Nationals have always focused on starting pitching. They boasted some of the best rotations between 2012-19, en route to winning four division titles, a National League Wild Card berth and a World Series championship.

Now after a few lean years, they’re starting to see a new generation emerge as one of the best rotations in baseball. And over the last week, manager Davey Martinez, pitching coach Jim Hickey and pitching strategist Sean Doolittle have their young rotation on an impressive stretch.

Following last night’s 7-2 win over the Braves, Nationals starters have pitched to a 2.36 ERA (11 earned runs in 42 innings) with 52 strikeouts and just five walks over the last seven games.

During that stretch, Jake Irvin has allowed two runs and two walks with 16 strikeouts in 12 ⅓ innings over his last two starts. MacKenzie Gore has allowed three runs (two earned) and one walk with 18 strikeouts in 12 ⅓ innings over his last two starts. Mitchell Parker gave up three runs and no walks with six strikeouts over six innings on Monday. Trevor Williams gave up one run and no walks with eight strikeouts in five innings on Saturday. And even Patrick Corbin turned in a quality start Sunday, giving up four runs (three earned) and two walks with four strikeouts in six innings.

“They're pitching really well,” Martinez said. “They’ve got the fastball. We always talk about how McKenzie's stuff is really good. They're utilizing his fastball, but they're also mixing in the breaking balls when they need to, and they've been effective. And they're getting better at being efficient. That's what I love about him. Hickey talks about that every day with these guys, understanding what you can do in certain situations. They're buying in and doing well.”

ATLANTA – Davey Martinez cautioned his team about the challenges facing a new pitcher ahead of tonight’s game against the Braves.

Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach made his major league debut for the home team three years after being drafted, having Tommy John surgery and making only 24 minor league starts between last year and the start of this season, topping out at Double-A two weeks ago.

Was the plan to be more patient or aggressive against the rookie?

“You could look at it both ways,” Martinez said before the game. “Like I said, you want to get strikes. We got a young team that is very aggressive and they love to swing. But you gotta get him in the zone. … The key is to work some at-bats, see some pitches, see what he's got and then go from there.”

For the first half of the game, the Nats couldn’t decide if they wanted to be patient or aggressive against Schwellenbach. Some guys battled long at-bats, while others took hacks early. Either way, it led to poor results, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving four runners on base into the fifth inning.

ATLANTA – The Nationals have another tough pitching matchup in tonight’s game against the Braves. Not because it’s another established major leaguer like Charlie Morton or Max Fried. But because it’s a 23-year-old making his first major league start.

Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach had his contract selected to the Braves roster this morning to make his debut tonight. It’s not the first time the Nats have faced a young pitcher making his debut, but it still proves to be difficult when there’s only so much to scout beforehand.

“He's new. He's an up-and-coming young prospect,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame media session on how his team is preparing to face Schwellenbach. “So we did our due diligence, watched a bunch of videos. But our guys get to face him for the first time. So for me, as a young player, as a team facing a new guy, you should be a little excited. The big thing is we gotta get him in the strike zone. He might have a little nerves. But get him in the strike zone and swing at good pitches.”

Schwellenbach, the Braves’ No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline, provides an especially difficult challenge because he doesn’t have a lot of film to study. A second-round draft pick out of Nebraska in 2021, he had Tommy John surgery immediately after the draft and started his minor league career last year, making 16 starts between Single-A and High-A.

He started this season at High-A Rome for eight starts before being promoted two weeks ago to Double-A Mississippi, where he struck out 51 batters in 45 innings and did not allow a run over 13 innings.

ATLANTA – The final score wasn’t what they wanted, but the Nationals loved what they saw from Jake Irvin in last night’s 2-0 loss to the Braves.

The 27-year-old did his part by keeping the Nats in the game with six shutout innings and a career-high 10 strikeouts. A dominant performance against one of the more potent offenses in the major leagues, even without the reigning National League MVP, Ronald Acuña Jr.

Irvin’s 10 strikeouts came on a steady mix of four-seam fastballs and curveballs. Two of those punchouts stood out.

In the fifth inning, after erasing a leadoff walk with a double play, Irvin got ahead of No. 7 hitter Jarred Kelenic 0-2. But his next three pitches – all curveballs – were sprayed outside of the strike zone to run the count full. After a fastball was fouled off, Irvin finally got Kelenic to whiff at a perfectly placed curveball in the bottom of the zone.

A big out for Irvin, who actually yelled into his glove in frustration before walking back to the visitor’s dugout.