As we get closer to the end of the season, it’s that time of year when the Nationals will bring up some new players to give them an extended chance at the major league level to evaluate for 2025.

Today is one of those days where a new, young player is getting his shot.

Before tonight’s game against the Angels, the Nats recalled infielder José Tena from Triple-A Rochester 12 days after he was acquired as one of the three players included in the Lane Thomas trade with the Guardians.

The 23-year-old native of the Dominican Republic entered the Nats system with some big-league experience, hitting .200 with a .520 OPS in 21 games with Cleveland over the last two seasons. But he went straight to Rochester only to force his way back to the bigs.

In 10 games with the Red Wings, five of Tena’s seven hits went for extra bases with four doubles and a home run.

Twelve seconds. It took all of one dozen seconds for the air to be sucked out of Nationals Park this muggy Monday evening, the time between Patrick Corbin’s first pitch to Tyler Fitzgerald and his second pitch to the Giants leadoff man.

The first one was innocuous enough, a 91 mph sinker that caught the outer edge of the strike zone to give Corbin the early advantage. Then came the second one, another 91 mph sinker, this one over the plate and at the knees.

Fitzgerald took a mighty whack at it, the crack of the bat echoing throughout the ballpark, the ball soaring 416 feet to left field for a game-opening homer that set the tone for what would end up a 4-1 loss by the Nationals that felt like it was decided 12 seconds in.

What already loomed as a tough matchup on paper – Logan Webb vs. a groundball-hitting Nats lineup, Corbin on the heels of a disastrous start in Arizona, with a depleted bullpen behind him – only grew more daunting when the Nationals’ beleaguered left-hander dug his team into an immediate 1-0 hole.

"First batter of the game, if that happens, there's a lot of game left," Corbin said of Fitzgerald, who has 11 homers in his last 17 games. "Sometimes it takes you a pitch or two to locate your fastball. It's just unfortunate that he hit that one out of the ballpark."

Joey Gallo is finally ready to start playing in games again. Minor league games, to be sure, but games nonetheless.

Gallo, out nearly two months with a strained left hamstring, is set to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Rochester, which could put the big slugger on track to rejoin the Nationals’ major league roster next week.

The 30-year-old is expected to play five innings at first base Tuesday when the Red Wings open a six-game road trip in Buffalo. He’ll then serve as designated hitter Wednesday, then play right field Thursday.

With the Nationals needing outfield help after the trades of Lane Thomas and Jesse Winker, and with Juan Yepez having hit well since taking over at first base last month, Gallo could wind up seeing more time in right field once he returns from the injured list.

“We’ll see how things go,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I love him playing first base; he’s done really well over there. But there will be some times when I might have to put him right field, so I want him to get some reps out there.”

James Wood is an imposing force on a baseball field. The sport’s top prospect stands at 6-foot-7 and 237 pounds in the batter’s box with the ability to hit both righties and lefties to all fields and flex his natural power to hit the ball hard and far.

That much we know for sure over his first 27 major league games. What we haven’t really been able to get a good grasp on is how well he can play the outfield, specifically left field, where he’s lined up in every one of his games with the Nationals since his debut on July 1.

Although he played all three outfield spots while coming up in the minor leagues, he hasn't looked entirely comfortable out in left over the first month of his major league career. He entered last night’s opener against the Brewers with a 0.4 Offensive Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference, but with a minus-0.4 Defensive WAR. He also had minus-3 Defensive Runs Saved, a minus-2.5 Ultimate Zone Rating and minus-4 Outs Above Average in left field, per FanGraphs.

He has shown flashes, for sure, using his large frame and unique athleticism to run down fly balls and throw darts back to the infield. But the lanky 21-year-old hasn’t always been as smooth as some expected. At least not in the way he seems to glide around the bases effortlessly.

“I've just been working with (outfield coordinator Gerardo) Parra a lot. He's been helping me a lot out there,” Wood said. “But yeah, just trying to go more aggressive to the ball and just being ready to make a play every pitch.”

After a rough start to the season on South Capitol Street, the Nationals have actually played better at home than on the road recently. Their .460 winning percentage at Nationals Park outpaces their .441 mark on the road. That bodes well for the remainder of the year, during which the Nats play 31 of their final 53 games at home.

Tonight started their longest homestand of the season, a 10-game stretch against the Brewers, Giants and Angels. To get to benchmarks of an improving season – such as a better overall record (71-91) and better home record (34-47) than last year – having a strong homestand over these next 10 days would go a long way.

But in the opener against the Brewers, who they took two of three against in Milwaukee right before the All-Star break, the Nats came up short to lose their fifth straight game by a score of 8-3 in front of 22,132 fans in D.C.

Jake Irvin appeared to be the right man to send to the mound to begin this three-game set. Although he struggled to end the first half, including being charged with seven runs (six earned) in four innings against these very Brewers at American Family Field, the rest during the break seemed to benefit him entering the second half. He allowed only four runs with 12 strikeouts over 12 ⅓ innings against the Reds and Cardinals, with the Nats winning both of those games.

However, Irvin wasn’t as efficient tonight, leading to an exit with two outs in the sixth due to a high pitch count.

The time has come and passed to trade Joey Gallo, who the Nationals signed to a one-year, $5 million contract before spring training in hopes the veteran slugger could be a chip by the deadline. Now the club is just hoping he can return to the field soon for the final stretch run of the season.

Gallo, 30, has been on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain since June 12. Although the former All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner was only batting .164 with a .606 OPS, five home runs, 11 RBIs and 71 strikeouts to 21 walks, the Nats would like him back as soon as possible to lengthen their lineup and play defense at multiple positions.

Although there were no real injury updates from manager Davey Martinez ahead of Friday’s opener against the Brewers, the closest thing was that Gallo hopefully could start a minor league rehab assignment as soon as next week.

“There's really nothing. Still nothing, no change. Everybody's still the same,” Martinez said of the team’s injury report to start his pregame session with the media. “I'm hoping, honestly, that Joey Gallo this weekend makes some progress and he'll go out on a rehab assignment sometime early next week. So right now that'll be the only change.”

While the slugger struggled at the plate, Gallo was playing solid defense for the Nats at first base, with 6 Defensive Runs Saved in 316 ⅓ innings. He also won both of his Gold Gloves earlier in his career while playing the outfield, so the Nats may have him play more out there over these next two months. Although Dylan Crews’ anticipated major league debut during that time would probably limit opportunities there.

PHOENIX – As he sat in his office this afternoon, a frantic and often emotional trade deadline period having finally been completed with four veterans dealt away, Davey Martinez took a deep breath and tried to turn the page.

"It’s over," the Nationals manager said. "Let’s go play baseball."

It was a nice thought, and surely for the 26 remaining players and the coaching staff, the idea of a ballgame to prepare for had to be refreshing. Until that ballgame began and disaster ensued.

Patrick Corbin, one of only two remaining players on the active roster due to become a free agent at season’s end along with reliever Jacob Barnes, took the mound for the 22nd time this season, the 160th time since signing a six-year, $140 million contract in 2019, and proceeded to do something no pitcher in Nationals history had ever done.

During the first three innings of what wound up a 17-0 spanking at the hands of the Diamondbacks, Corbin surrendered 11 runs. It’s not only the most runs he’s allowed in his career, it’s the most runs any pitcher has allowed in club history.

PHOENIX – A week of trade deadline frenzy reached its final hour this evening, the Nationals having previously dealt three key players and now waiting to see if there would be any last-minute takers for their two remaining available relievers.

In the end, they did find a deal they liked for Dylan Floro. They did not find one to their liking for Kyle Finnegan.

Floro was traded to the Diamondbacks for Triple-A corner infielder Andrés Chaparro during the final minutes leading up to the 6 p.m. Eastern deadline, giving the veteran right-hander a chance to move to the other clubhouse at Chase Field and potentially face his former team tonight. Finnegan, on the other hand, stays put and will remain the Nats closer for the remainder of this season while remaining under club control for 2025 as well.

"I'm happy to be a National, and we can put this behind us and focus on winning games," said Finnegan, who for the third straight summer heard his name come up in trade deadline rumors but never was dealt. "I was at peace with whatever happened. But I'm happy to be here."

Having already traded Hunter Harvey to the Royals prior to the All-Star break, then Jesse Winker to the Mets and Lane Thomas to the Guardians over the last three days, the Nationals reached deadline day with only two expected trade candidates in Finnegan and Floro.

PHOENIX – The news was only minutes old, and Davey Martinez was still trying to process it and express his thanks to Lane Thomas while also trying to figure out what to do with his lineup for a game that was set to begin in less than three hours.

"It's tough, but I've still got 25 guys out there to get ready to play Arizona," the Nationals manager said shortly after 4 p.m. "They've been playing really well. We've got to be upbeat. It's part of the game. I can only control what I can control, and that's to get these guys ready to play."

The Nats were ready to play tonight, no doubt. They stormed out of the gates to score five runs in the top of the first, then opened up a six-run lead in the top of the sixth and carried a four-run lead into the bottom of the ninth. At which point disaster struck.

Kyle Finnegan, the subject of plenty of trade rumors himself, blew that four-run lead in the ninth and took a shocking 9-8 loss. The All-Star closer retired only one of the six batters he faced, giving up homers to Ketel Marte and ultimately a walk-off homer to Corbin Carroll that left Chase Field shaking and the visitors slumping their way back to the dugout.

"In this game, no lead is ever safe, no team is ever out of it," Finnegan said. "You've got three outs to get to win the game, and they're not going to concede the game. They're not going to give away at-bats. They're trying to win the game. And I think they just took really quality at-bats, and I wasn't able to make good enough pitches to get them out."

PHOENIX – Lane Thomas joined the Nationals on the day the organization began to tear down its championship roster and start a massive roster rebuild. Three years later, with the franchise believing its much closer to winning again, he’s heading to another organization right in the thick of a pennant race.

The Nats traded Thomas to the Guardians this afternoon for three prospects, including highly touted 19-year-old left-hander Alex Clemmey, opting to deal one of their coveted regulars who still had another season of club control about 24 hours before Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Along with Clemmey, Cleveland’s 2023 second-round pick and current No. 7 prospect, the Nationals receive 19-year-old infielder Rafael Ramirez Jr. and 23-year-old infielder Jose Tena, who has big league experience and joins the 40-man roster.

It’s a significant haul for the 28-year-old Thomas, who got off to a slow start this season but entered the day batting .253 with eight homers, 40 RBIs, 28 stolen bases and a .738 OPS in 77 games. The outfielder spent the last few days trying to block out trade rumors but wasn’t caught completely off-guard when he was called into manager Davey Martinez’s office at Chase Field about three hours before tonight’s series opener against the Diamondbacks.

“It’s always a little bit of a shock, even when you know they’re looking to do something like that,” Thomas said. “I’ve been in this situation before, so I feel like that makes it a little bit easier. My wife has dealt with it, too. I think we’re ready to go help another team.”

After never happening in the team’s 18-year existence since relocating to Washington, D.C., in 2005, the Nationals have now been no-hit twice in less than a calendar year.

Two weeks from the one-year anniversary of Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter against the Nats at Citizens Bank Park, Dylan Cease repeated the feat for the Padres in a 3-0 win in front of 20,755 fans, who saw history while sticking out a 1-hour, 16-minute rain delay at Nationals Park.

After being outscored 16-3 through the first two games this week, the Nats had the challenge of facing Cease for the second time this season. He held the Nats scoreless over seven innings of one-run, one-walk ball while striking out 10 on June 26

Entering today riding a 13-inning scoreless streak, the right-hander extended it to 22 frames by no-hitting the Nationals. It was the first no-hitter of his career and second in Padres franchise history after Joe Musgrove's no-hit the Rangers on April 9, 2021.

Cease kept the Nats off-balance with a great mix of his slider and triple-digit fastball. He got a total of 18 swings and misses with 11 coming against the slider, which he threw 53 percent of the time. And because of the Nats’ aggressive approach, his pitch count remained relatively low throughout the start for his second dominant outing against Washington in a month.

Josiah Gray underwent Tommy John surgery, plus an additional procedure to further stabilize his right elbow, officially ending his 2024 season and guaranteeing the Nationals’ Opening Day starter will miss the majority of the 2025 season as well.

Gray, who learned last week he had a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, flew to Dallas to be operated on today by orthopedist Keith Meister, who left open the possibility of performing only the less invasive internal brace procedure.

In the end, Meister determined the tear to be significant enough to warrant the full ligament replacement surgery named for the famed left-hander whose career was saved by the then-experimental procedure in the 1970s, plus the internal brace procedure, which reinforces the new elbow ligament.

Typical recovery time for Tommy John surgery is 12-to-18 months, so even in a best-case scenario, Gray would only be ready to return late in the 2025 season.

“He’s going to miss time, as we all know,” said manager Davey Martinez after announcing the news following tonight’s 12-3 loss to the Padres. “But he’s doing well. He feels good about it. … He’s got a long road, he knows that. But knowing him, he’s going to work really hard to get back.”

As much as young starting pitching carried the Nationals through the first half of the season, everyone involved has known all along there were no guarantees that group of unproven arms would continue to perform at such a high level through the second half of the season.

This is especially true for the least-experienced members of the group: Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz, neither of whom opened the year in the big leagues but quickly burst onto the scene to make names for themselves.

Upon seeing Herz begin to struggle earlier this month, the Nats decided to demote him to Triple-A and give him an extended All-Star break to rest his arm and mind. He returned Tuesday night and impressed over five innings against the Padres.

The club might be tempted to do something similar with Parker after he got ransacked tonight by San Diego during an ugly, 12-3 loss that ended with utilityman Ildemaro Vargas firing up a crowd of 23,323 with a scoreless top of the ninth featuring a plethora of eephus pitches.

The Nationals are now 0-5 against the Padres this season, 47-50 against everyone else.

After a weekend sweep of the Reds that included a series of notable rallies and some long-awaited power displays from a lineup that desperately needed it, the Nationals returned tonight to face the Padres hoping for at least some carryover effect.

Instead, they got the exact opposite. During the course of a lackluster 4-0 loss, they did very little at the plate, squandering the scoring opportunities they had and rarely hitting the ball with any real authority.

Thus did the Nats lose for the first time since the All-Star break, missing a chance to sustain some positive momentum with a tepid showing at the plate against an unheralded opposing pitcher.

Randy Vasquez, a 25-year-old right-hander who has given up a bunch of hits – especially homers – this season, combined with three San Diego relievers to shut out the Nationals on only 102 pitches.

"We hit some balls hard, but we just couldn't get any good swings off," manager Davey Martinez said. "We swung the bats today, but we really didn't work good at-bats."

The Nationals used the days before and after the All-Star break to carry an extra reliever. Turns out they only used him once before sending him back to the minors.

Eduardo Salazar, who impressed in his July 14 outing against the Brewers, was optioned to Triple-A Rochester this afternoon, a move necessitated by the return of DJ Herz, who starts tonight’s series opener against the Padres.

Salazar, who posted eye-popping numbers in nine games with Rochester after the Nationals claimed him off waivers from the Mariners last month, was called up for the final two days before the All-Star break when the club could afford to carry a ninth reliever. He pitched two innings in the first half finale in Milwaukee, striking out four batters with a sharp-breaking slider, though he also issued two walks in that game.

The Nats kept the nine-man bullpen for last weekend’s series but never summoned Salazar while sweeping the Reds. So the 26-year-old now heads back to Triple-A, where he’ll hope to make an impression again and earn his way back to the majors.

“I think we will see more eventually,” manager Davey Martinez said. “The thing about it that’s tough is, one, he’s got options. Two, he’s a depth piece for us. But he threw the ball really well. So I’m sure we’ll see more of Salazar.”

The formula that won Saturday night’s game wasn’t going to be plausible today. The Nationals simply couldn’t afford another ultra-abbreviated outing from their starter, putting even more strain on an already strained bullpen.

So Jake Irvin did his part, rediscovering the form that made him one of the league’s breakout pitchers in the first half of the season. And then James Wood made sure that pitching performance would count with one huge late swing.

Wood’s three-run homer off reliever Justin Wilson turned a tie game in the bottom of the eighth into a 5-2 Nats victory and a three-game sweep of the Reds to kick off the season’s second half in decidedly upbeat fashion.

"We're right there with them," Wood said of a Nationals team that has won five of six and currently sits four games out of a wide-open Wild Card race. "We're trying to make a push, too."

Wood stepped to the plate with two out and two on in the eighth, Cincinnati manager David Bell summoning Wilson specifically to face him. The rookie had batted against the veteran left-hander Saturday night, grounding out on the fifth pitch of that at-bat. He wasted no time today, aggressively going after Wilson’s first-pitch fastball and driving it 404 feet to left for his second career homer.

The second half schedule afforded the Nationals the option of waiting a while before using their fifth starter. They’ve decided, though, to go ahead and use him now.

The Nats will send that yet-to-be-announced starter to the mound Tuesday against the Padres in what is actually the team’s fourth game coming out of the All-Star break. That pushes left-hander Mitchell Parker back to Wednesday’s game, with Patrick Corbin (who started Friday night’s second half opener) pitching Thursday’s series finale against San Diego.

The presence of an off-day on the schedule this week gave the Nationals some room to maneuver if they wished. They don’t actually need a fifth starter until Saturday’s game in St. Louis, the eighth game coming out of the break.

But rather than offer all of the extra rest to one pitcher, the club decided to give others (especially Parker) an extra day before taking the mound.

“Exactly, that’s what it boils down to,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We want to try to give these guys as much rest as we possibly can. Some of these guys are going to pitch a lot more than they have in the past, so we’re trying to just stretch this out a little bit.”

Cade Cavalli hoped all along to make his return from Tommy John surgery in June. And if not June, at least by July. But as the clock continues to tick and the right-hander still finds himself waiting to restart the latest phase of his extensive rehab program, it has become clear the Nationals are only going to be able to get a handful of big league starts out of their 2020 first-round pick before season’s end.

Cavalli, who had elbow ligament replacement surgery in March 2023, has made only three official minor league rehab starts, none since June 21 for Single-A Wilmington. In the month since that outing – he tossed three scoreless, hitless innings – he has been sidetracked both by the flu and a period in which he experienced “dead arm” when he threw.

The dead arm period, which manager Davey Martinez revealed for the first time today, prompted the Nats to further delay Cavalli’s throwing progression.

“We just wanted to keep him down, and honestly slow him down a little bit,” Martinez said. “He had that dead arm for a little while. And him being sick, we just didn’t want to push him. … It’s one of those things, he’s so young and he’s a big part of our future. We want to make sure we do everything right for the kid. We talked to him. He was in agreement. He wanted to take a little bit of a break, and then we’ll go from there.”

Cavalli, who turns 26 next month, remains in D.C. with the Nationals. He’s scheduled to go to West Palm Beach, Fla., next week and start his progression all over again, throwing off flat ground, then off a mound, then against live hitters before he goes on another rehab assignment.

The Nationals seemed refreshed coming back from the All-Star break. Although they had just received the news that Josiah Gray will need elbow surgery to end his season, the team was in high spirits in the clubhouse before the second-half opener against the Reds, especially with first-round pick Seaver King and third-rounder Kevin Bazzell officially signing their contracts and spending time with the team.

After ending the first half by losing six of their last eight games, the Nats were looking to start the second half on the right foot. They were able to do so by putting their offensive struggles behind them and exploding for an 8-5 win over the Reds in front of a sellout crowd of 38,402, most of whom were sticking around for the Carly Rae Jepsen postgame concert.

The first challenge for the bats out of the break was Frankie Montas, who spun six shutout innings against them for a win on Opening Day. But this was a very different Nats lineup than the one the veteran right-hander faced in Cincinnati back in March.

Joey Meneses, Joey Gallo and Eddie Rosario were not on the lineup card. James Wood, Juan Yepez and Trey Lipscomb were. And the new faces certainly made a difference.

Wood got things going after Jesse Winker walked and Yepez singled ahead of him in the fourth. The rookie pulled an inside cutter from Montas to drive in two runs with a single to right and give the Nats a 2-1 lead. The second run scored without a play at the plate because Rece Hinds' throw home hit the 6-foot-7 outfielder in the back at first base, bringing some laughs from Wood and the Nats dugout.

The Nationals returned from the All-Star break in high spirits. Everyone seemed to enjoy the much-needed week off after a brutal stretch to end the first half of the season.

But the vibes in the clubhouse took a turn when the team received some unfortunate, though not totally unexpected, news: Josiah Gray has a partial tear of his right UCL and will require elbow surgery, ending his season and delaying his start to next year.

The right-hander experienced elbow discomfort during his last rehab start on June 30 with Triple-A Rochester, so the Nationals shut him down and scheduled an MRI and a consultation with specialist Keith Meister during the All-Star break.

The results were what they feared the most.

“It got looked at by Dr. Meister over the All-Star break and we found a little partial tear in UCL. So we're gonna opt for elbow surgery here,” Gray said in front of his locker in the Nats clubhouse before the second-half opener against the Reds. “It's gonna, obviously, end the year for me. I got a long road ahead, but that was kind of what the doctor saw and we got that opinion from him and we're kind of going to hit the ground running.”