It hadn’t happened in 43 games, 43 long games without a member of the Nationals rotation leaving the ballpark with a win added to his season total. It had long since surpassed the 1949 Senators (35 games) as the longest such winless streak in modern major league history, and though there had been several reasons beyond the rotation for this, it still was the ultimate indignity for this group of starters and the organization as a whole through a miserable summer.

So when it finally ended today, when Patrick Corbin was credited with the win in a 3-2 victory over the Reds, it may not have been cause for wild celebration inside the home clubhouse. But it sure wasn’t something to ignore altogether.

"We were fully aware in here what was going on," said Kyle Finnegan, who finished it off with a perfect top of the ninth. "I think the bullpen had lost a few of those along the way. I know there was one that Paolo (Espino) had that I gave up the lead, and I wound up stealing the win from him that game. To get Pat that win today and put an end to that was awesome."

With six innings of two-run ball – only one of those runs earned – Corbin put forth his best start in a while. And thanks to a couple of clutch hits in the fourth and fifth innings from his teammates, the Nationals bullpen found itself in position to actually close this thing out over the final three innings.

Hunter Harvey retired three of four batters faced in the seventh. Carl Edwards Jr. retired the side in the eighth. And Finnegan retired the side in the ninth with no drama to notch his eighth save.

SEATTLE – Aside from one game at Triple-A right after last summer’s trade, Riley Adams had spent his entire time in the Nationals organization in the majors, finishing out the final two months of the 2021 season in D.C. and then spending the first three months of this season here. So when he was summoned into manager Davey Martinez’s office July 1 and informed he was being demoted to Rochester, the 26-year-old catcher was somewhat taken aback.

Adams, though, decided to try to make the most of a bad situation. In the major leagues, he was starting one or two games a week as Keibert Ruiz’s backup. In the minors, he would start four times a week as the Red Wings’ No. 1 catcher.

“You never want to get sent down. It’s not the best feeling,” he said. “But I saw it as an opportunity to go down there and get at-bats and get as many reps as possible. I tried to take advantage as much as I could. I’m just happy to be back now.”

Adams was back in the Nationals’ clubhouse Tuesday, called back up prior to their series opener against the Mariners, with Tres Barrera optioned to Rochester in a swap of catchers.

Playing time will be more limited now, but manager Davey Martinez did throw Adams right into the lineup Tuesday, with left-hander Robbie Ray on the mound for Seattle and Erick Fedde (who had just made a rehab start for Rochester) making his first start off the injured list. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts but did help guide Fedde through five strong innings in his return to the mound.

SEATTLE – Needing to clear a spot on their pitching staff for returning starter Erick Fedde, the Nationals opted to shift Cory Abbott to the bullpen and designate Tyler Clippard for assignment, likely ending the popular veteran’s second stint with the organization on a sour note.

Clippard could potentially return to Triple-A Rochester if he clears waivers, but manager Davey Martinez suggested the move was made in part to give the 37-year-old more time to catch on with another franchise and finish out the season.

The Nationals’ all-time leader in appearances with 418, Clippard returned to the organization this spring more than seven years after he last pitched for them. A stalwart of their bullpen from 2008-14, he went on to have a long career as one of baseball’s most reliable and durable relievers while pitching for 10 different teams.

The Nats hoped to rekindle some old magic and enjoy a feel-good story when they signed Clippard to a minor league deal in March, but it didn’t come close to working out as hoped. After spending three months performing well at Rochester, he finally was called up in mid-July but made only one appearance before landing on the injured list with a groin strain. He returned healthy two weeks ago but was scored upon in two of his three outings while seeing very little action.

Clippard pitched a scoreless inning during Saturday’s 2-1 loss in San Diego, and that proved to be his final appearance before he was informed of the news today in Seattle.

SEATTLE – The last time the Nationals played here at what’s now known as T-Mobile Park was Aug. 31, 2014. They suffered a 5-3 loss to the Mariners, with Tanner Roark taking the loss and Fernando Rodney recording the save. The only other time the Nats played here prior to that was in June 2008, a series in which Kory Casto hit his only major league home run and Tyler Clippard recorded his first win for the organization, back when he was a starter.

So, yeah, it’s been a while. And sadly, tonight’s return to Seattle also coincides with the end of Clippard’s current stint with the Nationals, and possibly the end of his career. Needing to remove a pitcher from their roster and clear a spot for Erick Fedde, the club decided to designate the 37-year-old Clippard for assignment.

Fedde, who had been on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation, starts tonight. And he’ll be working with a new batterymate in Riley Adams, who officially was recalled from Triple-A to take the spot that opened up when Tres Barrera was optioned to Rochester.

Adams will bat seventh against Seattle lefty (and one-time Nationals prospect) Robbie Ray. The rest of Davey Martinez’s lineup includes Alex Call leading off, Joey Meneses batting second, Luke Voit returning from back spasms to bat third and Lane Thomas batting fifth on his 27th birthday. (He’ll have to keep waiting for that first opportunity to bat third in the starting lineup.)

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SEATTLE MARINERS
Where: T-Mobile Park
Gametime: 10:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 76 degrees, wind 6 mph in from left field

SEATTLE – Lane Thomas has been in the Nationals’ lineup each of the last eight games. During which time he’s started in each of the three outfield positions. And held five different spots in the batting order.

Yep, Thomas batted fourth and started in right field Aug. 14 against the Padres. He batted eighth and started in center field Aug. 15 against the Cubs (shifting to right field in the ninth inning). He batted fifth and started in left field Aug. 16 against the Cubs (shifting to center field in the eighth inning). He batted first and started in center field Aug. 17 against the Cubs. He batted eighth and started in center field Aug. 18 against the Padres (shifting to right field in the ninth inning). He batted first and started in right field Aug. 19 against the Padres. He batted seventh and started in right field Aug. 20 against the Padres. And he batted fifth and started in right field Aug. 21 against the Padres (shifting to center field in the ninth inning).

And that’s just Thomas’ itinerary from the last eight days. Look back at the whole season, and you’ll see he’s batted in all nine spots for manager Davey Martinez at least once.

“We actually looked it up in the cage the other day: I’ve literally hit everywhere in the lineup this year,” he said. “I didn’t start a game hitting third, but I came in for (Yadiel Hernandez). But I’ve hit in every single spot in the lineup.”

Sure enough, only three weeks ago Thomas did replace Hernandez (who was batting third) late for defense during the Nationals’ Aug. 2 win over the Mets. He even singled in his one and only at-bat that night.

Believe it or not, the Nationals only have 52 games left this season. We have hit the home stretch of the summer.

Obviously, this franchise is going in a different direction than it has in the past. Selling your best players in back-to-back trade deadlines will do that.

But with sell-offs come exciting prospects and opportunities for young players to play for a spot on the roster for the remainder of the season and in the future.

Guys are going to get the chance to play and the Nationals will be watching.

“Yeah, I want to see these guys,” manager Davey Martinez said before yesterday’s finale in Philadelphia. “I want to see as many guys as I can play. Like I said, we're building for the future. But that being said, you're also trying to compete today. So I want to see these guys go out there and compete, and see which guys go out there and battle and play the game. It's a time where it's frustrating because we're not winning games. But it's also a time that we can learn a lot about the guys that we have moving forward.”

For the fourth time in six games, Ehire Adrianza finds himself in the Nationals lineup tonight. And for the third time, he’s starting at third base in place of Maikel Franco.

If that development seems to have come out of nowhere, well, that’s true.

Adrianza started only 10 games at third base in his first six weeks since coming off the injured list, in addition to three games at second base, two in left field and one at shortstop. Now, though, he’s getting regular action, mostly at the hot corner.

What’s the impetus for that?

“I’ve just honestly been playing matchups with him,” manager Davey Martinez said before tonight’s series opener against the Cardinals. “He missed a lot (of time), as you know. I’m trying to keep him going. When you get hurt and miss that much time during the season, it takes you a little bit to get going. I think over the last few days, he’s been hitting the ball a lot better. So I didn’t want him to lose that by sitting him for a week or something. So I’ve been playing him quite a bit. Franco’s been playing quite a bit. They’ve just been sharing time.”

As he stood inside the clubhouse at Nationals Park last week, seeing a few unfamiliar but mostly familiar faces, Tres Barrera felt like he was home.

“This is what you work for,” the 27-year-old catcher said. “This is where you want to be.”

Barrera hadn’t been in D.C. yet this season, not necessarily through any fault of his own but rather because of the organization’s increased catching depth acquired over the last calendar year. After spending a large chunk of the summer of 2021 in the big leagues, he was bumped down to Triple-A Rochester following the acquisitions and promotions of Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams, leaving him the third wheel on a roster that only had room for two catchers.

Ruiz is the unquestioned No. 1 guy behind the plate, now and presumably for many years to come. Adams quickly assumed the No. 2 role after his acquisition from the Blue Jays last July. That left Barrera on the outside looking in, even though his performance at the big league level suggested he was worthy of staying.

In 30 games with the Nats last season, 27 of them starts, Barrera hit a solid .264 with an impressive .374 on-base percentage, two homers, 10 RBIs and a .758 OPS. He caught only one of 20 basestealers, but still managed to produce 0.5 WAR (per Baseball-Reference’s formula).

The Nationals made adjustments to their bullpen and their catching corps in advance of tonight’s series opener against the Marlins, activating Mason Thompson off the 60-day injured list, designating Sam Clay for assignment, calling up Tres Barrera from Triple-A and optioning Riley Adams to Rochester.

The bullpen moves bring Thompson back to the big leagues nearly three months after he went down with a right biceps strain only two appearances into the season. The right-hander recently began a rehab assignment and made six total appearances between the rookie Florida Complex League and Triple-A, allowing one run in 6 2/3 innings, striking out 11 without issuing any walks.

Thompson gives manager Davey Martinez another potential setup option to take some of the workload off Carl Edwards Jr. and Kyle Finnegan, who each made four appearances in six days over the last week and each was scored upon during Wednesday’s 8-7 loss to the Pirates.

Clay also pitched Wednesday, his first appearance since getting called back up from Rochester. The left-hander, though, issued a walk and then hit a batter, finally recording an out on a sacrifice bunt before he was pulled by Martinez.

Clay still had minor league options, but the Nationals elected to designate him for assignment, opening a necessary spot on the 40-man roster for Thompson’s return from the 60-day IL. Signed away from the Twins prior to the 2021 season, Clay wound up making 64 total appearances for the Nats, with a 6.02 ERA and 1.682 WHIP.

MIAMI – This was never going to be Strasmas II, and anyone who went into tonight’s game believing it might hasn’t been paying close enough attention. He wasn’t going to strike out 14. He wasn’t going to approach anything close to triple digits on the radar gun. He wasn’t going to wow the baseball world with pitching dominance.

No, when Stephen Strasburg took the mound tonight for the 247th time in a career that began with such a flourish 12 years and 1 day earlier, there was only one goal in everyone’s mind: Come out of this one healthy.

In that regard, the initial read of the right-hander’s first start of 2022 was a positive one for the Nationals, even if the final outcome was a 7-4 loss to complete a three-game sweep at the hands of the Marlins.

"It felt good, and I'm excited to learn from it and get back out there for my next one," he said, adding: "All in all, it's a place to start and try to build off it."

Sure, a better result would’ve been nice. Nobody wanted to see Strasburg give up seven runs in 4 2/3 innings or hand the ball over to Davey Martinez after serving up a towering homer instead of after recording a big out. But the 33-year-old’s final line in his long-awaited return from thoracic outlet surgery was never going to be the defining point of his start.

MIAMI – Needing to clear a spot on the active roster for Stephen Strasburg in advance of his return to the mound tonight, the Nationals optioned Sam Clay to Triple-A, sending the reliever back to Rochester only one day after he was called up.

Clay wound up not appearing in a game during this brief stint after pitching in five games in April during his previous time with the major league club.

The move leaves the Nationals without a left-hander in their bullpen, unless they intend to use Evan Lee in that role again. The rookie, who made his big league debut last week in New York with a 3 2/3-inning start, tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief during Tuesday night’s loss to the Marlins.

With Joan Adon demoted to Triple-A following a ragged outing Tuesday, the Nats will need a fifth starter Sunday against the Brewers. Lee appears to be the most likely candidate for that assignment, unless he’s needed in relief before then.

“We’ll see how the game goes,” manager Davey Martinez said. “If we need him today, he’s readily available. If we don’t and we can stay away from him, then we can do something else come that day we need a starter. But he’s here, we ask him every day how he’s doing, he says he feels great. … Today he’s going to go throw, we’ll see how he feels. If he’s available and we need him, he’ll pitch today. If we can stay away from him, then he’ll possibly start in the next few days.”

They say you can start drawing legitimate conclusions about a ballclub on Memorial Day, with nearly one-third of a season’s worth of data available by then. So as we commemorate this holiday weekend, here’s one thing we can say with some certainty about the 2022 Nationals: When they win, they score a bunch of runs.

The Nats don’t have a great lineup. They don’t hit for power. They don’t consistently cross the plate night in and night out.

But when they do cross the plate, they do it in droves. And today’s 13-7 victory over the Rockies in the opener of a split doubleheader was merely the latest evidence of it.

The Nationals, who now have their first three-game winning streak of the year, have won only 11 of their last 34 games overall. But in those 11 wins, they’ve scored an average of 8.8 runs, blasting the competition and rarely needing to sweat those victories out.

And would you believe they're one of only four teams in the majors (joining the Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals) to score 10 or more runs six times this season?

Five scoreless innings by Patrick Corbin is nothing to scoff at these days. The Nationals are counting any encouraging results by the long-slumping lefty as major positives, and for the third straight start this evening Corbin was quite encouraging.

Davey Martinez also doesn’t want to jeopardize those encouraging results going down the drain in one bad sequence. So when Corbin departed tonight’s game against the Mets at the end of the fifth, zeros on the scoreboard but four walks and 86 pitches on his register, the Nats manager decided not to press his luck.

"Man, he had a lot of high-leverage innings there. He got into a lot of jams," Martinez said. "And he threw the ball well. He just walked a lot of guys. I talked to him in the fifth inning, and he was honest: He got a little fatigued. Reason being, he threw (86) pitches in five innings. He worked through a lot of different situations."

So out came Corbin and in came Carl Edwards Jr. to make his first appearance for the Nationals. Summoned from Triple-A Rochester earlier in the afternoon after allowing only one run on three hits over 14 1/3 innings, the 30-year-old reliever was now being entrusted to protect a two-run lead in a big league game.

By the time Edwards departed, that two-run lead had morphed into a one-run deficit. The right-hander surrendered two singles, a walk and then a two-run double to Jeff McNeil that proved the difference in what wound up a 4-2 loss to New York.

The Nationals are finally back home after a long West Coast trip that included some legitimate highs and some awful lows, all of it coming together for a 4-5 record. Now they need to see if they can start playing better at home, which has been quite a challenge in 2022.

Last time we saw them in D.C., the Nats were closing out a 10-game homestand with an eight-game losing streak. Overall, they’re a wretched 3-11 at Nationals Park this season. And the challenge doesn’t get any easier this week when the Mets and Astros come to town.

This is already New York’s second trip here. The first one, if you’ll recall, didn’t go well. The Mets won the first three games of the season-opening series before the Nationals rallied late to win the finale. The opener saw Patrick Corbin take the first of his five losses, though the lefty did toss four scoreless innings before falling apart in the fifth and allowing two runs.

Corbin has looked much better of late, pitching well in three of his last four starts, including a complete-game loss to the Rockies at Coors Field six days ago. Perhaps not coincidentally, Riley Adams was behind the plate for all three of those strong starts. So even though he started Sunday in Anaheim, Adams will start tonight and work with Corbin again.

The lineup will try to produce some runs against Mets starter Carlos Carrasco, who held them to one run and two hits in 5 2/3 innings during that early April series here. (UPDATE: The Nats made a late lineup change, scratching Alcides Escobar for unspecified reasons. Dee Strange-Gordon will now start at shortstop and bat seventh.)

DENVER – There may be no more tried-and-true axiom in baseball than the one that stipulates a team’s No. 2 catcher will almost always start a day game after a night game. Managers don’t want to run their starting catchers into the ground, so they summon their backups to work anytime there’s a quick turnaround from one game to the next.

And for the better part of the season’s first month, that’s exactly how Davey Martinez has used Riley Adams. Five of Adams’ first seven starts behind the plate came in day games that followed night games. The lone exceptions: April 9 (a Saturday night game) against the Mets and April 19 (the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Diamondbacks).

Then on Wednesday night came a new twist: Adams started a night game following another night game, in advance of a day game. Why? Because Patrick Corbin was pitching, and right now it seems that will dictate Adams’ playing schedule more than anything else.

“They work well together,” manager Davey Martinez said prior to Wednesday’s game. “Patrick feels comfortable throwing to him, and he’s actually done well catching him. So another good opportunity for them to work together. And if it does work out well, we may have to leave him catching Corbin, if Corbin feels comfortable throwing to him, which I know he does. We’ll see how that plays out, but I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

After Corbin went eight innings allowing three earned runs and throwing only 94 pitches Wednesday night against the Rockies, Martinez may have no choice but to keep pairing up the two batterymates.

The idea was first broached late last summer, after the Nationals acquired Riley Adams from the Blue Jays and wondered if it might make sense to have him start learning how to play first base.

It continued in earnest this spring, with infield coaches Gary DiSarcina and Tim Bogar working with Adams at first base (when he wasn’t busy with his myriad catching responsibilities) and picked up as the regular season commenced, with Adams joining Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz taking grounders almost daily at the position.

And yet, as of 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the Nats did not have any immediate plans to actually play Adams at first base in a game. It would only happen, Davey Martinez insisted, in case of emergency.

“I talked to DiSarcina and Bogie, they still want some more time to work with him,” the manager said prior to Sunday’s series finale against the Giants. “So he’s going to work over there just in case something does happen.”

Well, at precisely 1:37 p.m., something did happen. Two pitches into the game, third baseman Lucius Fox tried to make his way back to the dugout but made it only near the pitcher’s mound before he had to bend over and vomit on the infield grass. Fox eventually was helped off the field as Maikel Franco shifted to third base. And because Josh Bell already was sidelined with a tight hamstring and Victor Robles was nursing a sore groin muscle, Adams wound up taking the field wearing a first baseman’s mitt for the first time in a major league game.

When looking for omens of what’s to come the rest of the afternoon at the ballpark, this one was impossible to miss.

Two pitches into today’s series finale at Nationals Park, third baseman Lucius Fox inexplicably began jogging from his position toward the home dugout in apparent distress. He made it only a few feet to the right of the pitcher’s mound before he realized he had no choice but to bend over and vomit right there on the infield grass in front of 26,003 fans watching in person and countless more watching on TV.

"Apparently he had a bit of a stomach flu," manager Davey Martinez said. "I guess it's going around. They gave him fluids before the game. He said he was good. He did everything. And then, as you could see, it wasn't good."

Two pitches after that, with the remnants of Fox’s pregame meal still visible near the mound and backup catcher Riley Adams now playing first base for the first time in his career, Joan Adon served up a leadoff homer to Joc Pederson.

Bench coach Tim Bogar "approached me right after the national anthem that Lucius wasn't feeling too hot," Adams said. "He told me pretty last-second there was a good chance I might sneak in there. And obviously it was one or two pitches in, and I had to go in."

Josh Bell isn’t in the Nationals’ lineup for today’s series finale against the Giants, but the slugger’s right hamstring injury doesn’t appear to be serious enough to keep him out for long.

Manager Davey Martinez said the MRI taken of Bell’s hamstring after he departed Saturday’s game was “pretty clean.” The club decided not to start him today – giving him two full days off because the Nats don’t play Monday – but he was planning to attempt to run pregame to test his leg and could therefore be available off the bench to pinch-hit if needed.

Even if Bell is available, the Nationals bench is woefully thin at the moment. He joins backup catcher Riley Adams and outfielder Victor Robles as the only non-starting position players on the roster this afternoon, with the team preferring to stick with a 16-man pitching staff for now.

There was some thought to calling up another position player from Triple-A Rochester before today’s game, but the team opted not to do that yet, based on Bell’s encouraging prognosis.

“We did think about bringing up somebody else,” Martinez said. “But after talking to Bell yesterday, we feel like if he’s even eligible to pinch-hit – which I think he will be – we could use him to pinch-hit later in the game. Right now, we’re just going to hold off and see how he feels.”

Let’s keep the ball rolling and play some more baseball!

The Nationals and Diamondbacks will shortly take the field again on South Capitol Street for tonight’s nightcap after Washington won the first game of today’s split doubleheader 6-1.

Joan Adon, on normal rest, is hoping his third time's the charm as he takes the mound tonight. The right-handed rookie is 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA over his first two starts of the season. In nine innings, he’s given up 13 hits, 10 runs, three home runs and seven walks (to just eight strikeouts) while hitting one batter and throwing three wild pitches.

Manager Davey Martinez elected to stick with Adon in this spot in an attempt to not put too much pressure on the already taxed bullpen in today’s twinbill. Martinez only used four relievers in the opener, so he should have plenty of options for the nightcap. The Nats will need another starter this weekend, but they will address that later in the week.

Left-hander Francisco Pérez has been designated as the 29th man to give the ‘pen some help for tonight’s game. He is only available for the nightcap because a 29th player is only eligible for both games of a doubleheader if both teams agree to it. The Diamondbacks are using 29th man on tonight's starter, Tyler Gilbert, so they didn’t need it for the first game.

PITTSBURGH – The Nationals’ formula for success this season, tried and true through the first 10 games, went awry this afternoon at PNC Park. They got the five-inning start that to date has guaranteed victory, only to watch Patrick Corbin fade in the sixth and one of their most-trusted relievers, Steve Cishek, give up the lead in the seventh.

Throw in their worst defensive showing of the year, and what was shaping up to be a simple win over the Pirates in their series finale instead morphed into a 5-3 loss that devolved rather abruptly on this 42-degree Easter Sunday.

“Those little things, we got to clean up,” said manager Davey Martinez in one of several rare displays of public criticism of his team over the last few days. “We can’t give teams extra outs. We’re not going to win games like that.”

Corbin’s sixth-inning woes turned a three-run lead into a one-run lead. Cishek then gave up three runs himself in the bottom of the seventh, the first time the Nationals’ so-called “A” bullpen has blown a late lead.

There were other mistakes along the way. Third baseman Maikel Franco was charged with three errors, two of them on one play. The lineup failed to take advantage of late scoring opportunities after plating three early runs. And Josh Bell was narrowly thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on Franco’s seventh-inning double to left, aggressively waved around by third base coach Gary DiSarcina.