Despite the long wait and two rain delays, the Nationals built some momentum at the end of last night’s game with Joey Meneses’ dramatic three-run home run in the eighth inning.

After a 10-6 loss to the Rockies on Monday, the Nats were hoping to ride the high from a 6-5 win last night (or more accurately, early this morning) into this afternoon’s finale.

Well, for most of the afternoon, it seemed like it hadn’t. Then all of a sudden, the scrappy Nats came right back for another late rally.

The Nationals came back from another three-run deficit to beat the Rockies 5-4 on CJ Abrams’ walk-off single in the ninth in front of 16,893 fans who attended Nats Park on a blistering hot Camp Day.

"We showed hard as a team," Abrams said after the dramatic win. "It’s never over til it’s over, so keep fighting until it is.”

Today was one of those days where, in the grand scheme of things, the result of the Nationals’ game against the Giants didn’t really matter. The franchise introduced Dylan Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, as one of the “keystone” pieces for the future.

Many were thinking about the next competitive Nationals team a few years down the line. But the players in the home clubhouse were not.

On the day the Nats celebrated Crews, they also celebrated a victory as they cruised to a 10-1 win over the Giants in front of 32,504 fans who came out to welcome the newest prospect and watch a ballgame.

And what a ballgame to watch if you were supporting the team wearing the cherry blossom uniforms, who won their second straight to take this series against the Giants.

"Yesterday was good, today was really good, so I like the trend," manager Davey Martinez said.

The Nationals have had success in series-opening games in July. Entering tonight’s opener against the Giants, they had won three of their last five opening games, outscoring their opponents 16-11.

It’s the other games in series that have caused them trouble to start the second half of season, as they've been outscored by the Cardinals and Cubs 42-16 in such affairs. But we’ll worry about those later this weekend.

As of now, that positive part of the trend continued with tonight’s 5-3 win over the Giants as the Nats were welcomed back home for the first time since the All-Star break by 26,062 fans on South Capitol Street.

“Very good game. The boys played well," said manager Davey Martinez. "All around it was a very, very good day. I loved the way we played today.”

The Nationals displayed some power early, thanks to their new top of the lineup.

CHICAGO – Though he had his moments in the first half of the season, CJ Abrams wasn’t fully satisfied with his performance at the plate or in the field. He knows what success feels like, and this wasn’t meeting that standard.

So, the Nationals’ young shortstop set about to make strides, especially in his approach at the plate. And slowly but surely, he began seeing positive results.

Those positive results weren’t lost on manager Davey Martinez, who had been waiting all year for the right moment to bump Abrams up to the leadoff spot in his lineup. Three days before the All-Star break, Martinez decided the time was right.

Abrams has since done his part to validate that decision. And on Monday, he received outside validation for his efforts, winning the first National League Player of the Week award of his young career.

“It feels good to be able to see what hard work can do,” Abrams said. “The last few weeks I’ve been putting a lot of work in with (hitting coach Darnell Coles). It just feels good to be able to go out there and do my thing.”

CHICAGO – Hunter Harvey’s MRI revealed a mild right elbow strain, an injury that will sideline the Nationals reliever for a while but was still described as “good news” by manager Davey Martinez, who feared worse.

“Best-case scenario for us,” Martinez said. “We’re going to shut him down for 10 days, and he’ll resume his throwing. We’ll just let it calm down a little bit and build some strength up and get him back as soon as we possibly can.”

Harvey, who reported soreness in his arm after pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th Saturday in St. Louis despite diminished fastball velocity, was officially placed on the 15-day injured list today. The Nationals were prepared to make that transaction no matter the severity of the injury, but club officials were relieved to learn the injury wasn’t more serious or would require surgery.

“Especially with his history, and the way he was feeling, I was very concerned,” Martinez said. “But this came out great. They said everything looks great. He just has a little mild strain in there, and he should be back.”

Harvey’s career has been littered with IL stints, the vast majority of those coming while he was a member of the Orioles organization from the day he was drafted in 2013 until he was placed on waivers after the 2021 season. He did miss 2 1/2 months with a forearm strain last summer after joining the Nats, but he had been a durable fixture in the bullpen since, making 73 big league appearances in the last calendar year with no health issues.

Following a weekend in which he went 6-for-13 (.462) with a double, triple, RBI, two stolen bases and seven runs scored, Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams has been named National League Player of the Week on Monday. Major League Baseball made the announcement on MLB Network.

Abrams, 22, has recorded five straight multi-hit efforts and has hit safely in all six games since being installed as Washington’s leadoff hitter. Only two other players have posted at least five straight multi-hit games from the leadoff spot in Major League Baseball this season (BAL A. Hays, 7; MIA L. Arraez, 5).

Abrams has posted a .500 on-base percentage and is 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts from the top of the Nationals lineup. On Saturday at St. Louis, he became the first player in Nationals history (2005-pres.) to record at least one stolen base in five straight games.

Beyond this weekend, Abrams has been one of the top players in the National League over the last month. Since June 19, he ranks in the National League in stolen bases (T2^nd, 10), batting average (3^rd, .368), OPS (5^th, .994), hits (T7^th, 28), runs (T7^th, 18) and slugging percentage (10^th, .579). He is 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts over this span and has not been caught stealing in his last 13 attempts dating to May 4 vs. Chicago (NL).

ST. LOUIS – Under the circumstances, Davey Martinez had to do what he had to do earlier in the day. His Nationals had a chance to win the completion of Friday night’s suspended game, so he used all of his top relievers to make sure his team did ultimately prevail in extra innings over the Cardinals.

The danger in going for it this afternoon, of course, was leaving the bullpen without those top arms tonight. And the Nats paid the price for it.

A trio of secondary relievers gave up four runs in the span of two innings, turning a tie game into a 9-6 loss to cap a long day of baseball in downtown St. Louis that featured yet another rain delay.

After Jake Irvin lasted only three innings in a laborious start, Martinez turned to rookies Amos Willingham and Jose A. Ferrer, then veteran Paolo Espino to keep the game within reach. They couldn’t do it, with Willingham and Ferrer combining to allow three runs in the fifth and then Espino allowing one in the sixth and then another tack-on run in the eighth.

The Nationals wound up splitting the doubleheader and will need to win Sunday’s finale to emerge with their fifth series win in their last six tries. Tonight’s loss prevented them from pulling off their first four-game winning streak since June 27-30, 2021.

ST. LOUIS – Don’t look now, but the Nationals are playing winning baseball. No, really. They’ve won three in a row, and if they can pull off another one tonight, they’ll have their first four-game winning streak since June 27-30, 2021, back when Kyle Schwarber was homering every night and Trea Turner was hitting for the cycle. One more win over St. Louis tonight or Sunday would lock up their fifth series victory in their last six tries. Also, a win tonight would give the Nats a winning record on the road this season. (They’re currently 22-22.)

So how do they get there? It begins with Jake Irvin, who looks to continue his positive trend from before the All-Star break and provide some quality innings after the bullpen was needed for 7 1/3 total innings in this afternoon’s 10-inning win. Irvin has a 3.25 ERA over his last five starts, never allowing more than three runs in any outing.

The Nationals would love to get some more production from a lineup that already scored seven runs in seven innings today. That group will hope to keep the pressure going with CJ Abrams leading off (he’s got seven stolen bases in his last five games) in front of Lane Thomas and Joey Meneses. Jeimer Candelario is again out of the lineup with a bruised right thumb, but he told Davey Martinez he thinks he could pinch-hit if needed. We’ll see.

To compensate for Candelario’s lack of availability, the Nats used the 27th man they’re allotted for tonight’s game not on a pitcher but on Jake Alu. The utilityman flew in from Rochester and is here on site, available off the bench if needed with both Ildemaro Vargas and Michael Chavis in the lineup against Cardinals lefty Steven Matz.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Busch Stadium
Gametime: 7:15 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 88 degrees, wind 8 mph left field to right field

On the night they lost for the 15th time in their last 16 home games – a stretch of futility that is increasingly hard to fathom – the Nationals saw Trevor Williams give up two runs early and two runs late. They saw Joan Adon make his 2023 major league debut and give up home runs to two of the first three batters he faced. They saw Joey Meneses finally end his power slump with a pair of solo homers.

All of those developments were notable within the context of this particular game, a 7-2 loss to the Rangers. None was necessarily earth-shattering in the larger scheme of things.

In this rebuilding season, the focus has been and will continue to be on the handful of young players who could be building blocks for the future. And CJ Abrams has always been near the top of the list of players who fit that description.

So the most significant thing that happened tonight may not have been the end result, but the name of the player Davey Martinez wrote down in the No. 1 position on his lineup card.

"He's had almost 300 plate appearances now, so I think it's time," the manager said. "I think it's time we push him up, see what he can do. He's got all the ability to be a really good leadoff hitter. Now he's just got to understand what he needs to do every day to do that: That's to be consistent, not chase and try to get on base. Not try to do too much."

CJ Abrams came up to bat four times during Tuesday’s game at Nationals Park, and he was legitimately pleased with both the process and the results of three of those plate appearances.

There was a third-inning double to right. There was a fifth-inning double to left. And there was a ninth-inning leadoff walk.

The common theme with those plate appearances? Abrams swung at pitches in the zone and took those outside the zone. He took two pitches off the plate and then doubled on a changeup right over the heart of the zone in the third. He took three straight pitches, two of them called balls, before driving a sinker at the knees the other way for a double in the fifth. And he took five straight pitches in the ninth, the first of them called a strike, the others all called balls.

“I was swinging more at my pitch today,” he said. “Swinging at good pitches I can handle. I was seeing in the zone, going fastball the other way, pulling the changeup and reacting.”

The ninth-inning walk, in particular, pleased Abrams’ manager.

The home runs surrendered – all three of them – were bad. They accounted for five of the eight runs the Nationals allowed today during an 8-4 loss to the Reds.

If you’ve paid any attention to this team this year (or recent years, for that matter), you know that matters less to Davey Martinez than the quality of baseball his team plays. Which is why this Independence Day performance, in which the home club made just about every manner of fundamental mistake possible in the sport of baseball, was far more alarming than the glare of the bombs bursting in air rocketed off the Reds’ bats.

There were extra bases taken by Cincinnati and extra bases handed over by Washington. There was a successful pickoff attempt that turned into one of six Reds stolen bases after Dominic Smith's throw tailed past Luis García's reach. There was a popup into shallow left-center that fell in between three fielders. There was an uncontested steal of third that put the runner in position to score moments later on a sacrifice fly, then another uncontested steal of third the following inning that mercifully didn't cost them in the end.

"We've got to play better," Martinez said. "We came off a (6-3) road trip that we played really, really well. We've got to get better. ... Today, the defense wasn't there. We couldn't hold their runners on. They were stealing everywhere. We've got to get better holding runners on. We can't let them just get out there and run."

All of that made for a frustrating game to watch for a Fourth of July crowd of 30,434 that desperately wanted to see better play from the home club, but instead could only watch the young and aggressive Reds win for the 18th time in their last 22 games and wish the Nationals played like that.

Coming into the season, the Nationals believed speed would be one of the strongest assets to their young lineup.

Now officially past the halfway point of the season, it hasn’t been as effective as they might have hoped.

Did you know up until last week Victor Robles was still the team’s leader in stolen bases? The speedy outfielder has only played 36 games this season, missed 34 in May and June with a back injury and is currently on his second stint on the injured list. CJ Abrams swiped one in San Diego and one in Seattle to overtake him 79 games into the season.

Entering Sunday’s finale against the Phillies, the Nationals ranked as one of the worst teams in terms of stealing bases in the major leagues. They had only stolen 43 bases in 56 attempts, which were 25th in the majors and 13th in the National League. That equated to a 76.8 percent success rate, which ranked 22nd in the majors and 12th in the National League.

They were only stealing 0.68 bags per game, 26th in the big leagues and 13th in the NL.

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 – 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.”

SEATTLE – The weirdest game of the Nationals’ 2023 season included four pitch clock violations, plus one that was overturned after the umpires huddled up. It included players and coaches from both benches coming onto the field to break up an argument over an accusation Jeimer Candelario was signaling pitch locations while leading off second base.

It included CJ Abrams departing with an injury after getting hit by a pitch on the right elbow. It included several jaw-dropping plays by Luis García, including one that nearly saved the day in the seventh … until umpires overturned their original call upon review and awarded the Mariners the go-ahead run.

It included Keibert Ruiz blasting a game-tying homer in the eighth, the young catcher finally rewarded for the loud contact he’s been making for several weeks. It included a no-doubles defense by the Nats that actually played a ball into a double.

And it ultimately included two desperately needed clutch hits from Lane Thomas and García to propel the Nationals to an exhausting 7-4 11-inning victory.

"They fought," manager Davey Martinez said. "This team is relentless. They don't give up. They stay focused. They stay in the game. And we come out victorious in the end, which was awesome."

SEATTLE – Davey Martinez’s tirade against Doug Eddings last week after the longtime umpire ejected the Nationals manager for arguing balls and strikes generated plenty of video clicks and chuckles from all who watched the replay. Martinez understood that would happen when he got down on his hands and feet and mockingly “caught” a pitch two inches off the ground to show Eddings just how low his strike zone was.

Martinez’s real concern in that moment, and in the days since, though, was how CJ Abrams would respond to it. It was a low strike three call to Abrams that initiated the firestorm in the first place, and Martinez worried his young shortstop would change his approach because of it.

After weeks of work to lay off pitches below his knees, Abrams was starting to show a better eye at the plate. Would that no longer be the case if he was taking those pitches and still striking out due to overeager umpires?

“He’s young, and whenever he gets a call that’s controversial, you see that he tends to expand a little bit more,” Martinez said. “We have to always tell him: ‘Do not let the umpires dictate what you’re trying to do up there. Understand who you are, and understand the pitch you’re looking for. And stay in the zone.’”

The evidence since last week’s incident has actually been encouraging. Abrams has continued to produce good at-bats during this West Coast trip, and he enters tonight’s game against the Mariners batting .393 (11-for-28) with three doubles and a homer over his last eight games.

The situation surrounding this afternoon’s finale between the Nationals and Cardinals was a tricky one.

Rain was in the forecast all day today in the District of Columbia, with only a brief window right around the 4:05 p.m. scheduled start time. The Nationals have a makeup game against the Diamondbacks scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow (with more rain in the forecast), with both teams traveling back to the West Coast afterward. And the Cardinals have a transatlantic flight out of D.C. tonight for their two-game weekend series against the Cubs in London.

All of that made for a lot of uncertainty on South Capitol Street.

But as if both teams understood the assignment of playing fast, the Nats and Cards were able to complete this one in a swift 2 hours and 12 minutes, with the home team finally emerging victorious 3-0 in front of a damp 16,191 fans.

This one couldn’t have been scripted better when it came to the weather. A drizzle started in the top of the second inning and had turned into actual rainfall as the game moved into the third.

When the Nationals embarked on a 16-games-in-16-days stretch earlier this week, Davey Martinez began to map out scheduled days off for various members of his everyday lineup. The idea: Make sure everyone gets a break at some point, hopefully on a day when the pitching matchup is conducive to it.

So, Luis García sat Wednesday against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez. Joey Meneses sat Thursday against Houston right-hander Christian Javier. Keibert Ruiz sat Saturday against Marlins lefty Braxton Garrett. And today, Martinez planned to sit both Dominic Smith and CJ Abrams against Miami lefty Jesús Luzardo … until circumstances forced a late change.

“I planned these probably a week ago,” Martinez said. “We’ve had a tough go, all the day games, traveling. I wanted to try to give these guys some days off.”

Smith was due to sit for only the second time in 46 games, but the second time in eight days. In both cases, Michael Chavis was set to make the start at first base in his place, with Meneses remaining as designated hitter.

That plan, however, changed about an hour before first pitch when Jeimer Candelario was scratched from the lineup with a sore right thumb. The veteran third baseman is still available to pinch-hit, according to the Nationals.

It takes a lot for the Nationals to beat the Marlins these days. Actually, no one can say for sure what it takes to beat the Marlins this season, because they’ve now had five opportunities to do it and have yet to emerge victorious.

You would think, though, most paths to success would include clutch hitting and quality relief pitching. The Nats got neither of those during today’s frustrating 5-2 loss to Miami.

A lineup that gave itself only a few chances to drive in runs did so only twice, stranding a runner in scoring position in three different innings. And Davey Martinez, whose bullpen was without the services of several arms typically used in high-leverage spots, watched as failed starter-turned-reliever Chad Kuhl made a mess of the decisive seventh inning and Rule 5 pick Thaddeus Ward surrendered two big insurance runs in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach.

So it was the Nationals lost yet again to their plucky division rivals from South Beach. They are now 0-5 against them this season despite being outscored by only eight runs in total. And they’re an unfathomable 4-20 dating back to the start of the 2022 season.

"The thing is, it's almost like we've got to play perfectly," Martinez said. "And that's tough to do every night. If we don't chase, do some other things, the outcome might be a little better. We've got to keep playing hard. Get on base for the next guy. When we do that, we actually score a few runs."

When looking for reasons to explain the Nationals’ more competitive play early this season, it was easy to point to the club’s improved defense as a significant factor.

After rating as the majors’ worst defensive team in 2022, the Nats ended April ranked 22nd with minus-4 Defensive Runs Saved. That’s far from excellent play in the field, but it did represent real improvement from the previous year.

When they take the field this afternoon, though, the Nationals find themselves back at the bottom of the list. They entered the day with minus-29 DRS, tied with the Athletics for worst in the sport.

Defensive metrics, of course, remain far from a perfect measurement of actual defensive play. But the eye test also seems to suggest the team’s performance has regressed in this area over the last month or so.

“I still feel like we’re playing pretty good defense,” manager Davey Martinez insisted today. “Look, you’ve got to remember we’ve got two guys that are really young in the middle of the field, and it’s going to be part of the process. But I think overall they’re doing well.”