NEW YORK – The Nationals have always built their roster around strong starting pitching.

They’ve shown that in the past with rotations headlined by Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. And they’re showing it now by acquiring two young starting pitchers in the blockbuster trades they’ve made in each of the last two summers: Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore.

This week’s series in New York showed the potential in what Gray and Gore can bring as frontline starters: the right-hander pitched six shutout innings with nine strikeouts on Tuesday and the left-hander pitched six innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts on Wednesday.

But behind every great pitching performance is also an often overlooked great catching performance. And the Nationals have committed to that position for the long-term as well.

Keibert Ruiz, included with Gray in the 2021 trade with the Dodgers for Scherzer and Trea Turner, signed an eight-year, $50 million extension during spring training, an agreement that can reach 10 years and $76 million if both club options are selected.

NEW YORK – The talk around the Big Apple the past two nights when it comes to baseball has been about the Nationals’ young starting pitchers. And rightfully so.

Josiah Gray (nine strikeouts over six shutout innings on Tuesday) and MacKenzie Gore (matching a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball on Wednesday) have dominated recent headlines like they dominated the Mets lineup over the last two nights.

But lost in the pitching hysteria last night was how the Nats’ own lineup handled one of the more difficult pitches to face in the sport.

Kodai Senga, the 30-year-old right-hander the Mets signed to a five-year, $75 million deal over the offseason out of Japan, is known for throwing a “ghost forkball.” It’s not officially called that by any metric. If you look at his Statcast page, it’s just a forkball.

But it got its name from the way it comes at hitters like a fastball and just seems to disappear right before crossing the plate. Coming into last night’s start, the pitch had a 54 percent whiff rate and a 30 percent putaway rate. Opponents had managed just three hits in 25 at-bats ending with the forkball for a .120 average.

NEW YORK – Every Josiah Gray start so far this season has resulted in a loss. Both for the Nationals and the right-hander himself.

That’s not all on Gray, however. Take away his rough first outing against the Braves and he has been excellent over his last three, pitching to a 2.16 ERA and only one home run allowed.

That stretch of dominance carried over into tonight’s series opener against the Mets, as the New Rochelle, N.Y. native showed in front of 20,507 fans near his hometown to earn a 5-0 win, his first of the season.

It’s also his first win since July 6, when he recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts over six innings of two-run ball in Philadelphia.

"Just going with the game plan early on," Gray said after the game. "Just seeing how they were adjusting to my stuff, how they were swinging the bat, how they were taking pitches and just a lot of good opportunities early to just throw strike one. So the more we did that, the more we kind of just commanded the zone and were able to utilize that. So just doing a lot of strikes early and having the putaway pitches was (what) led to a lot of success today.”

MINNEAPOLIS – The role of designated hitter can be tougher than it sounds, especially for someone who has spent most of his career playing a position in the field but then finds himself only batting four times a game and watching the rest of the game from the dugout.

It’s admittedly been an adjustment for Joey Meneses through the first month of this season. Having played either first base or the outfield most of his professional life, the 30-year-old has become the Nationals’ everyday DH.

Perhaps that has something to do with Meneses’ slow start at the plate. He enters this afternoon’s game against the Twins batting .227/.266/.333 through his first 18 games, and he just finally hit his first home run Friday night.

“He’s trying to develop a routine DHing,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It’s tough when you’re DHing every day to find a routine, when you’ve never done it before.”

With that in mind, Martinez decided to have Meneses and Dominic Smith switch roles this afternoon. Though Smith is the superior defensive player, he’ll serve as DH and give Meneses a chance to play first base and keep himself more engaged in the game.

MINNEAPOLIS - Combine the coldest lineup in the majors with the coldest gametime temperature in club history, and it could not have taken anyone by surprise to see nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard for six innings tonight at Target Field.

Did you really expect these Nationals to get hot on a 37-degree April night in the Great White North?

Well, actually, yeah. It just took a while to finally happen.

But once it did, once Joey Meneses launched his first homer of the season in the seventh, and once Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the eighth, everything was OK again for the Nationals, who exchanged high-fives and handshakes on the field and then quickly bolted for the heated clubhouse to further celebrate a much-needed, 3-2 victory over the Twins.

"We were huddled under our one little heater we've got out there (in the bullpen)," closer Kyle Finnegan said. "Taking the lead there definitely gets us going. You start moving around, get the juices flowing a little bit. It's exciting. Take the lead late in a game and then shut it down to get the win? You've got to enjoy a win like that."

MINNEAPOLIS – Trying to find some kind of spark for a lineup that has been shut out its last two games, Davey Martinez has moved Keibert Ruiz up to the No. 2 spot for tonight’s series opener against the Twins.

Ruiz had mostly been batting fifth or sixth this season, with two other games in the cleanup spot. He’s been one of the team’s few productive hitters in recent days, with a pair of three-hit games during the Nationals’ last homestand to raise his batting average 40 points to .262.

Martinez had tried to stick with Dominic Smith in the 2-spot, but the first baseman has looked lost at times at the plate, has zero extra-base hits so far this season and sports a weak .550 OPS. Smith was moved down to the No. 6 position tonight, the lowest he’s batted so far this year.

“We really need to get Dom going. He’s a big part of our offense,” Martinez said. “I just dropped him down a little bit. Keibert’s swinging the bat well. I talked to him today and not changing anything. Just continue to put the bat on the ball. He’s done well, so we’ll give him an opportunity to bat second today and see how it goes.”

Though he hasn’t hit for much power either, with one double in his last seven games, Ruiz has been hitting the ball with more authority, going 9 for his last 24. Even more impressive, he hasn’t struck out during this stretch.

MINNEAPOLIS – Hello from one of the Twin Cities, where there was white stuff falling from the sky just a few minutes ago. Outdoor April baseball in Minnesota: It’s a beautiful thing!

The Nationals come to Target Field for only the second time in their history, the previous visit back in September 2019, when things were just a little bit different. They’ll try to get their bats going this weekend, despite the cold here, with a tweak to their lineup: Keibert Ruiz has been moved up to the No. 2 spot, with Dominic Smith moved down to the No. 6 spot. Davey Martinez has been trying to take pressure off his young guys and let them hit down in the lineup, but at this point he really has little choice but to see how Ruiz handles a prominent position in the order.

Pretty much everything else remains status quo, with Stone Garrett again starting in left field in place of Alex Call, who will come off the bench for the series opener against Twins right-hander Tyler Mahle.

Trevor Williams gets the ball for the Nats, and he’s been solid through his first three starts, entering tonight’s game with a 3.52 ERA and 1.174 WHIP. The right-hander hasn’t completed six innings yet, but that’s not all that important with him, given his history as a swingman who may be best-suited to a maximum of five innings per start anyway.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MINNESOTA TWINS
Where: Target Field
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of snow (seriously), 39 degrees, wind 12 mph out to right field

If this season is going to be about the development of young pitchers above all else, there are probably going to be more nights like this. Nights when the Nationals’ inept lineup can’t generate any semblance of consistent production, leading to a loss despite a quality effort by the club’s pitching staff.

Add tonight’s 4-0 loss to the Orioles to the growing list. Shut out for the second straight night by a Baltimore pitching staff that didn’t exactly come to town with a sparkling resume, the Nats never really felt like they were in it. They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, dropped their second straight to their interleague rivals and fell to 5-13 overall.

"We're in a funk as a team," manager Davey Martinez said. "Just can't drive in that run. We out-hit them today. We just can't get that one big run across the board there."

The silver lining, then, was provided by MacKenzie Gore, who was far from outstanding in his fourth start of the season yet still showed the flashes of dominance that make the Nationals hope they’ve found their No. 1 starter.

Gore allowed three runs in six innings, all of them coming in the third and fourth. Before and after, he allowed only one batter to reach, striking out seven and departing with a 3.43 ERA and more strikeouts (25) than innings pitched (21) for the season.

Stone Garrett finds himself back in the Nationals lineup today, the 27-year-old slugger given an opportunity to start in left field after spending the last five games on the bench in the wake of back-to-back impressive performances in Colorado.

Garrett is starting in place of Alex Call, who had been in Davey Martinez’s lineup 11 consecutive games, the last eight as leadoff hitter.

Garrett went 6-for-10 with two doubles, a homer and five RBIs during his back-to-back starts last weekend against the Rockies. Martinez said he hadn’t been back in the lineup since due to matchups, pointing out the Nationals hadn’t faced many left-handers since. Shane Bieber, who starts today for the Guardians, is a right-hander, but Martinez still views this as an advantageous matchup for Garrett.

“This guy throws a lot of off-speed stuff, keeps the ball out over the plate. So I thought it would be a good matchup,” the manager said. “Alex has been playing every day, so give him a day (off). Let’s get him out there. Like I said before, I’ve been wanting to get him out there. I think today is a good day.”

Call had taken over the everyday job in left field after Corey Dickerson suffered a calf strain in the season’s second game. He leads the team with nine walks and sported a .415 on-base percentage six days ago. But he’s just 1 for his last 17 with one walk, and has seen his batting average drop to .208, with his on-base percentage down to .322.

The Nationals continue to do enough to keep themselves engaged in close ballgames, right through the final out of the ninth. And they continue to do just enough to keep themselves from emerging victorious by losing the second half of close ballgames.

Whether by bullpen struggle or punchless lineup, the Nats just aren’t delivering in meaningful situations when they have a chance to seize control of a game late. It’s happened several times over the last two-plus weeks, and it happened again this evening during a 6-4 loss to the Guardians that was there for the taking but never captured by the home club.

The Nationals’ 11th loss in their first 15 games followed an all-too-familiar script. They had a brief burst of offense early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. Then they let the opposition catch up and then overtake them by the top of the fifth. And then they did very little at the plate themselves the rest of the way, shut down by Cleveland’s bullpen to suffer yet another loss by slim margin.

Four of the Nats’ last six losses have come by only one run. The others were a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday night in Anaheim, then this two-run loss that had been a one-run game until Josh Bell produced a big insurance run for the Guardians in the top of the ninth.

The common theme in all of these losses: A lack of execution in the later innings. Entering tonight, the Nationals owned a solid .751 OPS in innings 1-3, a respectable .702 OPS in innings 4-6 but a paltry .486 OPS in innings 7-9.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – In the most literal of senses, the Nationals are off to a bad start to the season. You can’t look at a 4-9 record and claim they’ve been anything other than bad.

Nor can you look at their just-completed, seven-game road trip to Colorado and Anaheim and suggest a 3-4 outcome was a good thing. No losing road trip is a good road trip.

Take a step back, though, and consider how the Nats played over the last week, how they looked, how they pitched, how they defended and how they at times hit. You might start to feel differently about the overall state of things.

“I think we played really well. I really do,” manager Davey Martinez said following Wednesday’s narrow loss to the Angels. “We were in every game. We swung the bats fairly well. Now we’ve just got to hone in on driving in runs from third base with less than two outs. That’s the key. We’ve got to keep working on that. But the boys are battling, and I’m proud of that.”

Any mention of boys battling is sure to draw eye rolls and groans from those who have heard that sentiment way too many times from Martinez in his five-plus years managing this ballclub. But there is some truth in what he says. The Nationals aren’t winning games. But they’re not playing bad baseball.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – They hit the ball well, really well, on several occasions. Which may make the Nationals feel better about the quality of at-bats and contact they’re starting to get from a lineup desperate for some kind of infusion of power.

The results of today’s 3-2 loss to the Angels, though, won’t make them feel any better. Loud contact is great. Scoring runs is even better, and that continues to be a problem.

Less than 24 hours after being one-hit by Shohei Ohtani and the Angels bullpen, the Nationals were held to six hits this afternoon by Griffin Canning and his pitching mates in the home whites. All six were singles, continuing a disturbing early-season trend.

The Nats have only hit five homers in 13 games, and three of those came in the thin air of Coors Field last weekend. They’ve managed only two in nine other games played either in D.C. or here at Angel Stadium, where the cool marine air was not kind to fly balls today.

As such, the Nationals head home with a disappointing finish to what had the potential to be an impressive road trip. A win today would’ve given them a series victory in Anaheim and a 4-3 overall record here and in Colorado. Instead, they return to the East Coast having gone 3-4 on the trip, with the four losses by a combined five runs to leave their overall record at 4-9.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Luis García is back in the Nationals lineup after four days off. Keibert Ruiz remains in the Nationals lineup for the 11th time in 13 games this season.

García tweaked his right hamstring running out a ground ball Friday night at Colorado and had been sidelined since. The second baseman was able to go through agility drills the following day, and he progressively added more to his routine each day since.

Tuesday provided the best evidence yet García was close to game-ready. He ran in the outfield during the afternoon, then took ground balls and batting practice with the rest of the team. He wasn’t in the lineup, but with two outs in the top of the ninth he stepped into the on-deck circle and would have pinch-hit for Michael Chavis had the Nats extended the game.

Now he’s back in the lineup for today’s series finale with no real restrictions, though manager Davey Martinez said he does want García to be careful.

“He checked all the boxes,” Martinez said. “I told him today: ‘Just go out there and play the game, but be smart.’ I don’t want him running crazy. But he felt good yesterday. He did all the baseball activities we wanted him to do well, so he’s in there today.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Chad Kuhl handed the ball to Davey Martinez with one out in the sixth tonight at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The right-hander had just surrendered a leadoff homer and then recorded a flyball out to end his outing at 92 pitches, a solid-if-unspectacular outing against a good Cardinals lineup in the final week of spring training.

Kuhl walked back to the Nationals dugout and began thinking about his next start. The question now: Where and when will that start be?

“We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do here, but he’s done a great job,” Martinez said. “We’re getting close to the season, and we’ve got to make some decisions. But so far, I like what I’ve seen out of him.”

Thrust into the Nats’ rotation plans after Cade Cavalli tore his elbow ligament last week and required Tommy John surgery, Kuhl seems to have done enough to have locked up the No. 5 starter’s job as the season begins.

The Nationals, though, aren’t ready to make any pronouncements about that. There’s still another 11 or 12 days to go until they’ll need a fifth starter, so that leaves them with some flexibility as they wind up camp.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – There are added responsibilities that come with a $50 million contract extension, and Keibert Ruiz knows what awaits him now that he has committed to the Nationals for at least eight more years.

But do those responsibilities include becoming a leadoff hitter?

No, despite what Davey Martinez’s lineup card looks like today.

Ruiz is indeed batting first for the Nats’ exhibition game against the Astros, but it’s not something anyone should expect to see in the regular season.

The simple answer is that Martinez wants to make sure Ruiz gets a chance to take as many at-bats as possible while catching the fewest number of innings possible before departing for the day.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Few within the Nationals clubhouse have known Keibert Ruiz longer than Josiah Gray, the two having come up together in the Dodgers’ farm system before their lives were forever changed when they were the centerpiece prospects acquired for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.

So when Ruiz officially signed an eight-year, $50 million extension Saturday, Gray couldn’t help but feel something special for his teammate and friend.

“It was awesome,” the right-hander said. “Keib deserves it. We all see how hard he’s worked, how good he is with you guys in the media, how good he is with us in the clubhouse. Really happy for him. He’s all-deserving, and I’m really excited to throw to him for years and years.”

Ruiz is now under contract through at least the 2030 season, with club options for 2031 and 2032 tacked onto the deal beyond that. Gray, with 1 1/2 years of big league service time, is under team control through 2027 unless he agrees to an extension as well someday.

Regardless, they’re going to be working together as a battery for a while, two of the key faces of the Nationals’ rebuild.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Keibert Ruiz reported for his second spring training with the Nationals early last month, focused on making significant improvements to his game both at and behind the plate. The thought of leaving town at the end of camp with an eight-year, $50 million extension never crossed his mind.

And what was his first reaction upon getting the offer from the team?

“My first? I said yes right away!” Ruiz said this afternoon as everyone who assembled for a press conference at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches laughed. “But we waited a little bit.”

Whether he said it right away or days later, the fact Ruiz said yes at all made this one of the most significant moments in Nationals history. After years spent trying to convince young star players to agree to extensions, this 24-year-old catcher became the first to actually commit to the organization long-term at such an early stage of his career.

Ruiz, who wouldn’t have been eligible for arbitration until 2025 or free agency until 2028, now knows he’s going to be a National through at least the 2030 season. And he could be here even longer than that, because the new contract includes club options for both 2031 and 2032.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s a big day here at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. At least, big by spring training standards. The Nationals are set to hold a 3 p.m. press conference to announce their eight-year, $50 million extension with Keibert Ruiz (which, by the way, also includes club options for both 2031 and 2032). Then they’re set to take the field at 7:05 p.m. to face the Mets, live on MASN.

Ruiz will have the honor of batting cleanup tonight, and he and his teammates will be facing Kodai Senga for the first time. Senga, a 30-year-old right-hander from Japan, signed a five-year, $75 million deal with the Mets this winter and will be slotted into a rotation that includes a couple of future Hall of Famers in Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. This is only Senga’s second start of the spring; he allowed one run to the Cardinals in two innings on Sunday.

(UPDATE: Well, so much for that. The Mets announced Senga has been scratched from the start due to "discomfort at the base of his right index finger." John Curtiss will now start tonight's game in his place.)

Josiah Gray gets the ball for the Nats for his third start of the spring, his second against the Mets. The right-hander is slated to go four innings.

As stated, you can watch tonight’s game live on MASN, with Bob Carpenter and Dan Kolko on the call. They’ll have interviews with a host of big names (Mike Rizzo, Davey Martinez, Ruiz), plus one very small name (yours truly). Coverage begins at 7 p.m.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nationals will announce an eight-year, $50 million extension with Keibert Ruiz on Saturday afternoon, a source familiar with the terms confirmed this evening, a move that not only locks up the young franchise catcher but represents the first financial commitment of this type by ownership since it began exploring the possibility of selling the club one year ago.

The deal, which was first reported by Wow Deportes, locks Ruiz up long before he would’ve become a free agent. He was under club control five more seasons, so this buys out those years plus three years of free agency, keeping him in Washington through at least 2030.

It’s the first time the Nationals have been able to convince a young player to sign an extension of this type since Gio González agreed to a five-year, $42 million deal immediately after he was acquired from the Athletics via trade in December 2011. The only other player in club history to sign a comparable extension was Ryan Zimmerman, who signed a five-year, $45 million deal in April 2009.

Both González and Zimmerman were already arbitration-eligible at the times of their respective extensions. Ruiz is the first player in Nationals history to agree to this type of deal before reaching arbitration.

One of the two centerpieces (along with right-hander Josiah Gray) of the blockbuster July 2021 trade that sent franchise icons Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers, Ruiz impressed in his first full major league season, batting .251 with 22 doubles, seven homers and a .673 OPS while throwing out 22 baserunners, second-most among all MLB catchers.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Spring training night games are usually pretty rare, but this spring is different. The Nationals have eight of them scheduled, including a stretch of three in a row that continues tonight against the Marlins.

Patrick Corbin gets the ball for his third start of the spring. The lefty gave up runs in each of his first two outings, serving up two homers to the Cardinals in his debut and then two more runs to the Astros five days ago. Obviously, stats aren’t important this time of year. But it would be nice to see Corbin offer up three clean innings for a change, right?

With most regulars having played Thursday night and likely scheduled to play again Saturday night, there aren’t as many in Davey Martinez’s lineup for this one. Keibert Ruiz does, however, get a chance to get some at-bats as the designated hitter without having to squat behind the plate. We’ll also get a look at several of the remaining candidates for bench spots, including Alex Call, Stone Garrett, Michael Chavis and Jeter Downs.

A couple of big league relievers are on the pitching docket as well, with Kyle Finnegan and Carl Edwards Jr. slated for one inning a piece.

Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler are back in town, so you can hear their call of the game on 106.7 FM.