TORONTO – Hello from Rogers Centre, up here north of the border. The Nationals are making their first trip to Canada since 2018, having technically played road games against the Blue Jays in both 2020 and 2021 even though both series were played at alternate sites due to COVID travel restrictions (2020 at Nationals Park, 2021 in Dunedin, Fla.).

This is the final leg of a four-city trip for the Nats that began eight long days ago in Williamsport, Pa., then continued to New York and Miami. They’ve gone 5-2 so far, so even if they got swept here they’d still head home with a .500 record. Not that anyone wants that to be the outcome.

You would think the Nationals will need to score a few more runs than they did in Miami, because Toronto’s lineup is more potent. The Nats have Keibert Ruiz back in the lineup, batting cleanup and catching for the first time since Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. They’ve also got three catchers on the roster for the first time this season, officially promoting Drew Millas from Triple-A Rochester.

Josiah Gray gets the start, hoping for similar success to that he had at Yankee Stadium (one run, one hit) while being a bit more efficient (five walks). Gray will need to avoid hard contact, because the ball flies here at Rogers Centre.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Where: Rogers Centre
Gametime: 7:07 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 68 degrees, wind 3 mph out to left field

MIAMI – For the fourth straight game and fifth in the Nationals’ last six, Riley Adams will start behind the plate in Sunday’s finale against the Marlins.

As they go for a sweep of their division rival, the Nats continue to monitor Keibert Ruiz’s health after he took a foul tip off his face mask Wednesday in New York. Adams replaced him to catch the eighth inning, so this is actually his sixth straight game getting behind the dish in some capacity.

Ruiz was scratched from Thursday’s lineup because he felt lightheaded. He felt fine enough to be the designated hitter Friday night in Miami, but hasn’t been in the lineup since. Manager Davey Martinez said yesterday Ruiz spent most of Saturday morning at the dentist and was given some more time to recover.

“After talking to the medical staff last night, we just wanted to give him another day today and make sure that he's totally good so he could come back and get ready to go,” Martinez said during his pregame media session Sunday. “Riley Adams has been playing well. We just want to give him another day and make sure he's well and rested and ready to go tomorrow.”

The Nationals expect Ruiz, who has been in the clubhouse all weekend in his normal upbeat mood, to play in Monday’s opener in Toronto. The catcher is taking some new medication, which should take full effect in his system by tomorrow’s game against the Blue Jays.

NEW YORK – Stone Garrett has a fractured left fibula and is headed back to Washington for further tests and potentially surgery, though the Nationals are cautiously optimistic the outfielder’s injury is not as bad as it initially appeared Wednesday night.

The Nats placed Garrett on the 10-day IL today and recalled infielder Jeter Downs from Triple-A Rochester to take his roster spot. That’s not an indication he’s expected to return soon, though. Teams rarely place an injured player immediately on the 60-day IL, saving that transaction until they need to clear a 40-man roster spot for someone else.

Garrett hurt himself trying to make a leaping catch of DJ LeMahieu’s seventh-inning homer to right field, his left foot getting caught in the padded wall as he tried to climb it. He fell to the ground and writhed in pain until manager Davey Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard could get to him.

After a seven-minute delay, Garrett was helped to a nearby cart, an air cast placed around his left leg. He got X-rays at Yankee Stadium and was still at the ballpark after the game, assisted by Lessard as he showered and got dressed, then greeted by teammates and others who offered words of support.

Garrett is now on his way back to D.C., where lead team physician Robert Najarian will administer more tests, including an MRI, to determine the extent of the fracture and possibly perform surgery. The initial indication was that the injury was limited to his lower leg, not his ankle or knee.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – As he sat in the dugout at tiny, historic Bowman Field this afternoon, watching his team take the field for batting practice, Davey Martinez considered what participation in the MLB Little League Classic meant for the Nationals.

Most of these players had never been in a nationally televised game before. Certainly none of them had played in a game in a setting like this, with an invitation-only crowd of 2,473 made up of Little League World Series competitors, their families and other locals packing themselves into this rustic minor league ballpark.

This whole day, which began with a fun-filled tour of the nearby Little League World Series complex, was a big deal for the Nationals. But there was also an actual major league game to play, and in it a chance for this fast-growing team to show just how far it has come in a short amount of time.

That made the Nats’ 4-3 victory over the Phillies all the more special. Yeah, the specific details were important to the individuals who performed well, none more so than Trevor Williams, who tossed six scoreless innings of two-hit ball to save a weary bullpen. But this was important for the franchise as a whole, a chance to show a larger audience what fans back in D.C. have already picked up on: These guys are playing really good baseball right now.

"It's been really good," catcher Keibert Ruiz said. "We have a really good family in the clubhouse, and we believe we can play good against a really good team like the Philadelphia Phillies. All the teams."

CJ Abrams has been better lately. Lane Thomas has been better over the course of the entire season. Joey Meneses has been better with runners in scoring position. But there may be nobody the Nationals would rather see at the plate in a big spot late in a close game right now than Keibert Ruiz.

The proof is there for everyone to see, and it was again Wednesday night, when Ruiz launched a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to give the Nats the lead for good en route to a 6-2 win over the Red Sox.

This only four days after Ruiz hit the first walk-off homer of his career, beating the Athletics on Saturday night. Which only continued a longstanding trend for the young catcher of delivering big home runs in big spots.

Ruiz has now hit 15 homers for the season. Ten of those have come in the seventh inning or later. And four of those have either given the Nationals the lead or tied the game.

“I honestly think he’s more engaged, as far as getting the ball in the zone. And attacking the baseball,” manager Davey Martinez said of Ruiz’s approach in those late innings. “He’s been awesome. He’s knocked in some big runs for us.”

There have been some notable bumps along the way, some duds every once in a while when he takes the mound. But there have been more than a few really good nights for MacKenzie Gore in his first full season with the Nationals.

And none as good as the one the crowd at Nationals Park witnessed tonight. Even if it did end abruptly and earlier than anyone would’ve preferred. Though the final outcome more than pleased the home team and its fans.

With a devastating combination of precision, power and efficiency, Gore put together his best start as a big leaguer, overwhelming the Red Sox for 6 1/3 scoreless innings before departing with a blister on his left middle finger, an early departure that prefaced a wild finish that saw Boston rally to tie the game but the Nats respond with back-to-back homers by Keibert Ruiz and Stone Garrett for a 6-2 victory.

"That was frustrating," Gore said of the blister forcing him from the game. "But it's something I deal with. There's no panic button or anything. There was a lot of good tonight. We got ahead of guys. Keibert was awesome. We turned a lot of double plays. And we hit some big homers."

Jordan Weems, who replaced Gore on the mound, gave up a game-tying homer to Pablo Reyes in the eighth. No problem, because his teammates were ready to pick him up. Ruiz launched a three-run homer to right-center off reliever Garrett Whitlock, the young catcher’s latest clutch blast in a season full of them.

The way things have been going around here lately, it was perfectly fair for anyone inside the Nationals dugout – or anywhere inside Nationals Park, for that matter – to reach the bottom of the ninth tonight and just assume the home team was going to rally once again and pull off another walk-off win.

So when it didn’t happen and the Red Sox were the ones congratulating each other following a 5-4 victory, nobody quite knew how to react.

Despite trailing by that same score since the fourth inning, the Nationals never could mount one final rally to get over the hump. They had walked off the Athletics both Saturday and Sunday. They could not walk off the Red Sox tonight.

"They were making good pitches," catcher Keibert Ruiz said. "Sometimes it's hard."

In the end, the Nationals were left to contemplate the latest abbreviated start by Josiah Gray, who labored more than he has in any previous outing and wound up surrendering all five runs Boston would score, all of them coming in the game’s first four innings.

The Nationals, you may have heard, are playing winning baseball right now.

After a weekend sweep of the Athletics, they improved to 15-8 since July 21. They’re 19-12 since July 8, which is the best record in the National League East during that time, third-best in the NL.

Something clearly has to be going right for this team that wasn’t going right earlier in the season. Or last season. Or the season before that. But what exactly is going so right for them to cause such a dramatic turnaround?

You can find improvement in just about every aspect of play, from a lineup that is scoring more runs to a defense that is committing fewer errors to a bullpen that has dramatically become one of the most effective in the league in recent weeks. And all of that is true.

But if you really want to boil it all down to one key factor, here it is: The Nationals are winning the late innings.

The Nationals have been playing well at home over the last month, a stark difference from the first half of the season. It took until the ninth inning, but that trend continued tonight against the Athletics.

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Keibert Ruiz stepped to the plate and delivered a first-pitch walk-off home run to right field for a 3-2 win in front of 28,635 screaming fans.

“I was looking for a good pitch to hit," Ruiz said after the victory celebrations. "I got it and I put a good swing on it. Just grateful to god for this opportunity. I've been dreaming for this moment for a long time.”

He got a perfect pitch to hit from Oakland reliever Lucas Erceg. The right-hander left a 97-mph fastball right down the middle of the plate for Ruiz to crush 391 feet into the Nationals bullpen and then trot the bases to his awaiting teammates for a cold Gatorade bath at home plate.

“I can't describe that moment," Ruiz said. "Like I said, I've been dreaming for that moment for a long time and really grateful to god.”

There was a lot of injury news from Friday, both from before the 8-2 victory over the Athletics and from afterward. Let’s take a look at some of the updates on those included parties.

First of all, the concern coming out of the win was Joan Adon’s early departure after only three innings. The young right-hander was dealing with command issues, which led to two runs in the first inning, and then walked off the field with manager Davey Martinez and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard after throwing some warm-up pitches before the fourth.

The good news after the game was that the ailment was only leg cramps. The bad news was that this was the second straight game he had experienced them and third time since July.

“He said he feels better,” Martinez said ahead of Saturday’s game during his meeting with the media. “We're gonna run some tests on him though and see why this is happening to him. Whether he's not getting enough fluids or (what). I talked to him today. He said he drinks a lot before the game. So we're going to figure it out before his next start. And hopefully, it's something that we can control. But today, he said he felt fine. I told him to just take it easy today and we'll get you going again tomorrow. Because he's definitely got to get on this routine.”

Adon expressed concern last night that the cramps came up so early in the game, whereas they didn’t happen until the sixth inning last week against the Reds. But Martinez said it could happen at any time with the amount Adon sweats during a start.

Tonight was supposed to be the first turn of the Nationals’ new six-man rotation, with Joan Adon making his second start since being inserted last week.

But the thing about a six-man rotation is that they need six men to pitch in it.

Adon’s availability moving forward is now in question after he was pulled from tonight’s 8-2 win over the Athletics with cramps in his legs while warming up for the fourth inning.

“I just started on my warmups and I felt it right away in my calf and in my groin a little bit," Adon said after the game, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "One was my calf on one side and my groin on the other.”

The 26-year-old right-hander, who threw an impressive quality start Saturday in Cincinnati, threw a couple of warmup pitches to backup catcher Riley Adams in between the third and fourth innings. But before Keibert Ruiz could even get his catching gear on, manager Davey Martinez and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard were out of the dugout checking on the starting pitcher and then departed with him.

PHILADELPHIA – While yesterday’s rainout helped the Nationals’ exhausted, yet effective bullpen, one still wondered how it would affect the red-hot offense, which averaged just over six runs per game against the Reds over the weekend.

Early in Game 1 of this doubleheader, it seemed to have no effect. But after the Nats jumped out to an early lead thanks to a couple of home runs, the Phillies daunting lineup responded with a homer barrage of their own. And when it was all said and done, this home run derby left the Nationals with an 8-4 loss.

“I was able to get all my work in when I needed to," said Nationals starter Trevor Williams after making his first start in nine days. "As far as the results today, we took a loss. There are some positives to look at through there. You eliminate the longball and it's a different ballgame."

The early lead came off the bats of Keibert Ruiz and the new 1-2 punch atop the Nats lineup.

Ruiz turned on a high fastball from Phillies starter Zack Wheeler and sent it 99 mph out to right field, hitting the scoreboard hanging over the stands 390 feet away. The catcher’s 12th homer of the season gave the Nats a 1-0 lead in the second.

CINCINNATI – Only once in his major league career had Joan Adon looked anything like this. It wasn’t in his two relief appearances earlier this season. It wasn’t in any of his 14 starts last season, 12 of which ended in a loss.

No, you have to go all the way back to Adon’s major league debut on the final day of the 2021 season to find any outing that resembled today’s performance by the young Nationals right-hander.

On that day, best remembered as the final day of Ryan Zimmerman’s storied career, Adon took the mound at Nationals Park, stared down a potent Red Sox club that needed to win to make the postseason and caught everyone by surprise with an eye-opening performance.

Nearly two years and a lot of disappointing starts later, Adon rediscovered his prime form today during a 7-3 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. And then dialed it up a few more notches to put together the best outing of his brief career.

With both power and precision, the 24-year-old carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before the Reds finally got to him. No matter, because thanks to early run support from his teammates and lights-out work from his bullpen, Adon still emerged at the end of the day with only his second major league win.

It’s not exactly become a regular occurrence, but it’s no longer a once-in-a-blue-moon event. For the fourth time in the last month, the Nationals have both Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams in the lineup together.

Ruiz once again will serve as designated hitter for tonight’s game against the Rockies, with Adams catching as Davey Martinez tries to find ways to keep two hot bats in the lineup at the same time.

Martinez’s motivation is pretty simple. Adams has been one of baseball’s most productive backup catchers, entering tonight’s game batting .289/.344/.542 with five doubles, two triples, four homers and 11 RBIs in only 91 plate appearances. Ruiz, meanwhile, has been hot himself over the last month, batting .323/.371/.523 with four doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs over his last 17 games.

“I just try to pick days where I can do it,” Martinez said. “After this weekend, looking at everything, it just made sense for them both to get a chance to get more at-bats. I want to keep Riley going; he’s swinging the bat well. And also, Keibert’s swinging the bat really good right-handed.”

Martinez first started both of his catchers June 22 against the Diamondbacks and watched them go a combined 6-for-8 with a double and a homer. All told in the three games they’ve both started, they’ve gone a combined 11-for-25.

CHICAGO – Whether it was a concession to a depleted bullpen that is running out of experienced late-inning arms or a concerted attempt to push a young starting pitcher to a place he hasn’t been often but eventually will need to reach, MacKenzie Gore took the mound for the bottom of the seventh tonight at Wrigley Field.

This was only the third time in Gore’s young career he had seen the seventh, the second time this season. His pitch count stood at 93. He was working on 10 full days of rest, and his previous start only lasted 17 pitches because of a rain delay.

Davey Martinez watched from the dugout as the 24-year-old left-hander promptly served up a two-run homer to Patrick Wisdom on his 106th pitch of the night, forcing the Nationals manager to entrust the rest of the game to that depleted bullpen.

A depleted bullpen that still managed to get the final eight outs from Mason Thompson and Kyle Finnegan required to lock up a 7-5 victory over the Cubs that tested everyone’s nerves and hearts.

"You can't say enough good things about the bats today," Gore said. "And Finny and Mason going an inning-plus, they've been doing that all year. You can't say enough good things about them." 

Joey Meneses had a little extra bounce in his step this morning, certainly more than you’d expect from a player facing the quick turnaround from a three-hour game the previous night to a 1:05 p.m. first pitch today.

The reason for Meneses’ good mood: He’s playing first base for the Nationals in today’s series finale against the Reds.

This has become a rare event. Meneses, who has served as the Nats’ designated hitter 74 times in the team’s first 86 games, is playing only his sixth game in the field this afternoon. It’s the first time he’s played first base since April at Citi Field in New York.

“He’s excited about it,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He takes ground balls every day. He gets a chance to go out there today and play the field. He’s up for it.”

With left-hander Brandon Williamson starting for the Reds, Martinez decided to give both Dominic Smith and Luis García the day off and go with a more right-handed-heavy lineup. That includes Ildemaro Vargas at second base and Keibert Ruiz as DH.

PHILADELPHIA – As the Nationals go for their third straight series win this afternoon, some of their young players are getting the day off.

CJ Abrams, Luis García and Keibert Ruiz are all out of the starting lineup for the rubber match against the Phillies. It’s not much of a surprise for the catcher after being behind the dish for the first two games this weekend, but having not one but both of the young middle infielders rest on the same day is a bit of a surprise.

Ildemaro Vargas, in the starting lineup for the second straight day, gets the start at shortstop while Michael Chavis is at second base. Riley Adams, of course, is catching starter Trevor Williams.

“Just to get them off their feet,” manager Davey Martinez said of his reasoning in giving Abrams and García the same day off. “Day game, get them off. We got a crazy schedule coming up with this next week. We got different times: six o'clock, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, so I just want to give those guys a day. Like I said, these guys, they got to get a day here and there. So today was a good day. It was scheduled coming into the series. So they'll get the day today and get some of these other guys in there.”

The Nationals have six different scheduled start times over their final seven games this week leading into the All-Star break: They’ll open their four-game series with the Reds tomorrow night at 6 p.m., then they have the traditional 11 a.m. start on the Fourth of July, a 7 p.m. start on Wednesday, a 1 p.m. start for Thursday’s getaway game for Cincinnati, another 7 p.m. game Friday for the series opener against the Rangers, a 4 p.m. start Saturday and a noon start Sunday for a nationally televised first-half finale on Peacock.

SEATTLE – Throughout an often frustrating season at the plate, Nationals coaches have needed to remind Keibert Ruiz that his process has been good, even if the results didn’t suggest it. He was hitting the ball well, just not getting hits.

At some point, though, talk is cheap. Doesn’t a hitter need to actually see positive results to justify the process?

“Yes,” Ruiz said with a wide smile when asked that question Wednesday afternoon. “I need to see a lot of results. Everybody wants to get results.”

Then the Nationals catcher got serious again and finished his answer with the standard company line.

“But I’ve got to control what I can control: Having good at-bats, and that’s it,” he said.

SEATTLE – On another day in which the Nationals were on the wrong end of a baserunning call by an umpire, another day in which Davey Martinez was ejected after arguing the aforementioned baserunning call, victory was still assured thanks to the dominant performance from a source that has been anything but dominant for the better part of 3 1/2 years now: Patrick Corbin.

As his manager and other teammates went ballistic over plate umpire Derek Thomas’ controversial sixth-inning call on Keibert Ruiz for running out of the baseline to avoid a tag at the plate, Corbin stayed above the fray and pitched his best game of the season, leading the Nats to a 4-1 win and a series victory over the Mariners.

"Look, you can say whatever you want about Patrick," Martinez said of his beleaguered veteran lefty. "What I know about Patrick is he's going to take the ball every five days. For me, that's awesome. And I love him for that."

Corbin tossed seven scoreless innings, scattering five singles without issuing a walk. He struck out nine, and needed only 102 pitches to complete those seven zero-filled frames to emerge with his fifth win of the year while lowering his ERA under 5.00 in the process.

"That's the end goal: Get as many wins as we can, and have everybody do their job," Corbin said. "Sometimes, it does get frustrating, but you've got to continue to grind and try to focus on the positives and learn from mistakes. I'm not going to get too high after this one, just look at some of the things I did well and try to improve and get ready for my next one."

SEATTLE – The Nationals wrap up the West Coast portion of their nine-game road trip this afternoon with a matinee against the Mariners. They’ll do so without two regular members of their lineup starting, each for different reasons.

CJ Abrams is sitting after getting hit by a pitch on his right elbow in the top of the seventh Tuesday night. It was actually the second time the young shortstop was hit in that location during this trip, and this time it swelled up enough to warrant departing the game.

Abrams did initially remain in Tuesday’s game and proceeded to steal second after reaching. On the slide, he appeared to get spiked on his right hand. When the inning ended, he remained in the dugout, with Ildemaro Vargas taking over at shortstop for the final five frames of an 11-inning victory.

Abrams was walking around the clubhouse this morning with his right arm in a sleeve after receiving treatment. He didn’t sound concerned about missing any length of time.

“He’s a little sore; he’s getting worked on this morning,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He should be available to pinch-hit, play some defense later on in the game. Just giving him a little breather. He’s a guy who got hit twice in the same spot in a week. He woke up today a little sore.”