SAN FRANCISCO – When the series began on Friday the Orioles had lost back-to-back series for the first time all year. Their pitching staff had gotten torched for 12 runs on Wednesday versus Cleveland with the bullpen giving up 11 runs.

But during a weekend where they faced a San Francisco Giants team that had won four of its last five series and was 11-5 over the previous 16 games, the Orioles took two of three from the Giants.

Their pitching staff restored some order even as they played three more games without Cedric Mullins and the last 15 innings of the series without Gunnar Henderson, who left Saturday’s game with lower back discomfort. The good news there is that manager Brandon Hyde said Sunday he was doing better and he seemed confident Henderson could play in the Milwaukee series that begins tomorrow night.

O’s pitching gave up two, four and three runs in the series at Oracle Park, allowing nine runs on 21 hits in the games with 10 walks to 34 strikeouts.

Right-hander Tyler Wells set a career high with nine strikeouts Sunday, but all the Ks also helped escalate his pitch count and he left the game after 5 1/3 innings throwing 102 pitches. Mike Baumann, Yennier Cano and Austin Voth covered the last 3 2/3 allowing a hit and a run.

SAN FRANCISCO - Coming off a tough day for the pitching staff and continuing a stretch of games without center fielder Cedric Mullins while beginning a six-game road trip against .500 or better clubs, this is a challenging time for the Orioles. 

And we thought May was going to be the hard part?

The Orioles did fine in May, going 16-12 and that included the 13-9 record in a span of 22 games versus winning record clubs. They more than held their own after a 1-0 March and 18-9 April.

But as they begin a weekend series at San Francisco’s Oracle Park tonight, the Orioles have lost back-to-back series for the first time all year.

They still hold one of MLB’s best records at 35-21, but in case you thought there was ever a time they could lighten up on the gas pedal, there doesn’t seem to be. The Giants are 28-28 and have played better going 22-15 since April 22. Milwaukee is next up and is 29-26.

A team that was pretty good this year at winning series and winning rubber match games to win series, took an early 4-1 lead Wednesday afternoon. And they took the lead off right-hander Shane Bieber, a former American League Cy Young Award winner who came into this start with an ERA of 3.04 and nine quality starts.

The early lead would be gone by the top of the fourth, and while the offense would fight back, the Guardians, ranked last in the majors in team OPS and 29^th in runs per game, would have their way with O’s pitching in a 12-8 win to take the series.

Cleveland led 11-8 by the end of the fifth inning. To that point, the Guardians were 14-for-29 at-bat with four doubles and three homers. Most of their pitch mashing and heavy lifting was done as they won the series finale.

The O’s staff could use a day off which they get today after a 2-4 homestand with series losses to Texas and Cleveland. It followed that 5-1 AL East road trip to Toronto and New York.

The ups and downs of the big league season.

There was a time, believe it or not, when Joe Ross looked like he might prove just as valuable to the Nationals as Trea Turner. Maybe even more so.

When Mike Rizzo swooped into trade talks between the Rays and Padres in December 2014 and helped those two teams complete a deal that sent Wil Myers to San Diego and several prospects to Tampa Bay, most attention was focused on Turner, who couldn’t even officially be part of the trade for another six months because he had just been drafted that year.

But Ross was no secondary piece. A first-round pick of the Padres himself, the right-hander was a highly touted prospect in his own right, and after posting impressive numbers at every level of the minors he earned a promotion to D.C. in June 2015.

Three starts into his big league career, Ross had two wins, a 2.66 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings. And by the end of the 2016 season, just as Turner was beginning to make a name for himself as a dynamic center fielder for the Nats, Ross was the proud owner of a 12-10 record, 3.52 ERA and 1.222 WHIP across 181 2/3 innings.

He looked like he was going to entrench himself as a key part of a star-studded Nationals rotation for years to come.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Nationals are off today, with an opportunity to relax in Denver and contemplate all the positive developments that occurred during their weekend series triumph over the Giants before they open a three-game series Tuesday with the Rockies.

Let’s take a moment to contemplate some things as well, with a particular emphasis on the bullpen …

* Following Sunday’s 11-5 victory, the Nationals optioned relievers Sam Clay and Francisco Pérez to Triple-A Rochester. All major league clubs were required to reduce their active rosters from 28 to 26 by the end of the day, and the Nats chose to drop two left-handers in the process.

The moves weren’t necessarily surprising. Neither Clay nor Pérez made the opening day roster. Both were summoned more recently when other relievers went down. And neither did a whole lot to distinguish himself and force his way onto the roster for a longer stint.

Clay allowed five runs in four innings, giving up a homer, walking two and even hitting three batters along the way. Pérez was charged with only one run allowed over 4 1/3 innings, but he walked a whopping six of the 22 total batters he faced across five appearances.

SAN FRANCISCO – Josiah Gray had been here before. An otherwise dominant start was now teetering on the brink, often spoiled by an untimely home run surrendered.

Here, then, was Gray in the bottom of the fifth this afternoon at Oracle Park, having just finally allowed his first hit of the game, now having subsequently loaded the bases with Darrin Ruf stepping to the plate for the Giants with a chance to ruin everything.

What proceeded to take place perhaps will be looked back upon as a turning point for the 24-year-old in his ascension from highly touted prospect to legitimate frontline starter. Just when he could have folded, Gray bore down and put out the fire. He struck out Ruf on four pitches, hopping off the mound with glee after he got him to whiff at a slider, preserving the Nationals’ lead in what ultimately would be an 11-5 win that saw way more late action than anyone anticipated.

"Making that pitch, after not making my pitches that whole inning, being able to make that pitch to that kind of hitter was huge," Gray said. "It was just an exclaim for joy and raw emotion. There's nothing like it."

A weekend series that included plenty of action and nothing but lopsided games saw the Nats emerge victorious twice in three attempts. After getting swept by San Francisco only seven days prior in D.C., they bounced back in impressive fashion here to win the series and begin this nine-game West Coast trip on a decided high note.

SAN FRANCISCO – Three right-handers who would probably be members of the Nationals rotation right now if healthy remain out, though two of them at least are about to cross a significant hurdle in their recoveries.

Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross are scheduled to face live hitters Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla. It’ll be the first time Strasburg has done that since mid-March and the first time Ross has done it since he was shut down last summer with a tear in his right elbow.

After weeks strictly throwing off a bullpen mound, both Strasburg and Ross will pitch to live hitters at extended spring training. If all goes well, they would be ready to progress to pitching in a game situation shortly after, then a minor league rehab assignment that would allow them build their arms up to be ready to join the major league rotation at last.

Strasburg already had thrown to live hitters briefly during spring training but backed off because he wasn’t happy with his mechanics, Martinez said last week. The 33-year-old, attempting to return from last July’s thoracic outlet surgery, has since been working out of a windup for the first time since 2017, trying to get more power from his legs to compensate what he lost from his arm.

Ross, who missed the second half of last season with a slight tear of the ulnar collateral ligament, then had surgery in early-March to remove a bone spur in that elbow. The 28-year-old will now be ready to face live hitters for the first time.

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s been a strange series so far, with the Nationals blowing out the Giants on Friday night and then getting blown out Saturday afternoon. The end result of all that? They still have a chance to win the weekend series today if they can put everything together for nine innings.

Josiah Gray gets the ball for his fifth start of the season. His last three have been pretty good, the only issue the four runs he gave up to the Marlins last time out, though he offset that with 10 strikeouts. As has too often been the case for the young right-hander, the home run was killer: Joey Wendle got him for a three-run blast. Perhaps today, Gray will be able to keep the ball inside spacious Oracle Park.

The Nationals will try to keep their recent hitting surge going against Alex Cobb, who is coming off the injured list from a strained adductor muscle. The right-hander made two starts before suffering that injury, allowing five earned runs in 9 1/3 innings but striking out 14.

Most of the regulars are playing today, except for Alcides Escobar, who gets the day off after a world of struggles at shortstop on Saturday. It’ll be Lucius Fox getting the start instead, the rookie still seeking his first career hit. He enters the day 0-for-20.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Oracle Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 64 degrees, wind 16 mph out to center field

SAN FRANCISCO – When he stepped into the on-deck circle in the top of the second Friday night, Victor Robles immediately heard Davey Martinez say it.

“Get your hands up!” the Nationals manager implored his center fielder from his dugout perch only a few feet away.

When he stepped into the on-deck circle again in the top of the third, Robles again heard the same message from his manager.

“Yeah, every time,” Robles said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “Every time I go into the on-deck circle, he reminds me.”

Yep, it happened again in the top of the sixth, then the top of the seventh, then the top of the eighth. At some point, Robles didn’t even wait for his manager to say it. He jumped the gun and said it himself before the message could be delivered.

SAN FRANCISCO – They aren’t going to rack up 22 hits every night. No, as enjoyable as Friday night’s blowout victory at Oracle Park was, the Nationals returned to work today knowing they were going to need to make the most of the scoring opportunities they got while preventing the Giants from doing the same.

They were successful in neither department, which explains how they wound up losing 9-3 despite matching their opponents' hit total.

Unable to pitch (or field) their way out of several prolonged innings, the Nats allowed the Giants to sustain rallies despite only modest contact and plenty of ground balls. And unable to deliver the clutch hits that were so prevalent only 18 hours earlier, they managed to score only three runs on 11 hits.

It all made for a frustrating way to spend an otherwise gorgeous Saturday afternoon along McCovey Cove, spoiling some of the good vibes from the series-opening win.

Where did this one go wrong? Take your pick. It may have been Joan Adon’s inability to record an out in the fifth, an exceptionally disappointing start for the rookie. Or it may have been the four relievers who somehow were required to record the six outs necessary to complete the fifth and sixth innings, during which six San Francisco runners crossed the plate to not only take the lead but extend it.

SAN FRANCISCO – By the end of the night, once the Nationals had put the finishing touches on a 14-4 trouncing of the Giants, the little bit of drama that occurred between Juan Soto and Alex Wood three hours earlier had become a footnote. Which is probably for the best, because the last thing these two teams needed was another argument over things like unwritten rules after a somewhat tense series between them last weekend in Washington.

What did happen during and after Soto’s first two at-bats against Wood? It essentially boiled down to a disagreement over how quickly a pitcher should start his delivery once a batter is in the box.

It began in the top of the first, when with an 0-2 count, Soto asked for time a split-second before Wood began throwing his pitch. Plate umpire Scott Barry granted the request, leaving Wood to cut off his delivery in awkward fashion and elicit some boos from the Oracle Park crowd of 38,256.

“I’m usually fairly courteous about letting guys get in the box,” Wood told reporters after the game. “But my job is not to let them feel comfortable, you know? It’s not like a conscious effort where I’m going to throw this pitch as soon as they’re in the box, waiting for them to get into the box, and as soon as you’re in the box, the ball’s live.”

Wood intended to throw a slider, but once time was called, he switched to a fastball. Soto proceeded to blast it 409 feet to center field for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead.

SAN FRANCISCO – So, was Friday night’s 14-run explosion a sign of things to come, or a mere blip on the radar? We’ll start to get the answer to that question this afternoon when the Nationals take the field again at Oracle Park and try to pick up right where they left off about 14 hours earlier.

The challenge for Davey Martinez’s lineup: Have some success against Giants starter Logan Webb. The Nats did score three runs in 6 2/3 innings off the right-hander Sunday in D.C., but Yadiel Hernandez was responsible for all three of those runs (via an RBI single and a two-run homer). The rest of the batting order did very little against Webb.

Joan Adon opposed Webb that afternoon and struggled early. The rookie gave up two runs apiece in the first and second innings, then another in the fifth before departing. The good news for Adon? He doesn’t have to face Joc Pederson, who homered and doubled off him but now is sidelined with an adductor strain.

Bob Carpenter and Kevin Frandsen are here in San Francisco for the broadcast on MASN2, excited to call their first in-person road game of the season, so be sure to tune in!

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Oracle Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 62 degrees, wind 20 mph out to center field

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.”

This homestand began in uplifting fashion, with the Nationals sweeping a day-night doubleheader from the Diamondbacks behind the strong performances of two young starting pitchers. Four consecutive losses later, the vibe has changed dramatically around here. Now the Nats need a win this afternoon just to avoid a series sweep at the hands of the Giants.

We usually focus on the pitching matchup, but let’s start today with the importance of a more well-balanced offensive performance from the Nationals. They’ve scored only nine runs over their last five games, totaling only 31 hits. That’s just not going to cut it, not unless they get ridiculously good pitching to overcome their own lack of scoring.

Seventeen games in, only two players sport an OPS over .750: Josh Bell (.955) and Juan Soto (.893). And Bell had to depart Saturday’s game with a tight hamstring, requiring an MRI this morning. That MRI came back "pretty clean," per Davey Martinez, but Bell won't be in today's lineup out of caution. It's possible he'll be available to pinch-hit later. The Nats simply can’t afford to lose their cleanup hitter for any length of time, but even if they don’t, they need other guys to start producing on a regular basis. They’ll try to get it going this afternoon against Logan Webb, who owns a 2.55 ERA through three starts this season and has yet to surrender a home run.

Martinez had his choice of starters for today’s game, because both Josiah Gray and Joan Adon were on schedule after pitching both ends of the aforementioned doubleheader. He selected Adon for this assignment, holding Gray back for Tuesday’s series opener against the Marlins. Adon was outstanding last time out, shutting out the D-backs on three hits for 6 1/3 innings, still the longest outing of the young season for the Nats. He’ll look to continue that positive momentum today and avoid the big inning that cost him in each of his first two starts.

The Giants, meanwhile, learned this morning outfielder Mike Yastrzemski tested positive for COVID-19. As of this moment, nobody else on either team is impacted, but San Francisco will be playing a man down this afternoon.

In 17 seasons since Major League Baseball returned to Washington, the number of Nationals players who have been booed by home fans can possibly be counted on one hand. It’s just not a regular occurrence in these parts.

The number of players from the 2019 World Series roster that have ever been booed? Well, that number stood at zero until 7:53 p.m. tonight, when Patrick Corbin handed the ball over to Davey Martinez and made the long walk back to the dugout having just surrendered seven runs in 1 2/3 tortured innings to set the tone in what would end up a 7-1 loss to the Giants.

A crowd of 23,751, many of whom probably stood behind Corbin throughout his struggles in 2020, 2021 and his first three starts in 2022, finally decided not to hold back any longer. It wasn’t a thunderous round of boos from everyone in attendance – that was reserved for a questionable upholding of a third inning call that saw Juan Soto ruled out trying to stretch a double off the wall into a triple – but neither was it a smattering of boos from a few rogue individuals.

This was the moment those fans chose to voice their displeasure for Corbin, who may have won Game 7 in Houston with three scoreless innings of relief but since that glorious October night 2 1/2 years ago has been unequivocally the worst starting pitcher in baseball.

Corbin has now made 46 starts over the last three seasons. He has delivered 26 losses, most in the majors. He has produced a 5.81 ERA, highest in the majors. And he has compiled a 1.554 WHIP, worst in the majors by a longshot.

When Hunter Harvey first felt what he described as a cramp in his right forearm during Wednesday night’s relief appearance, he knew he now faced a serious dilemma. Should he let the Nationals know he might be hurt, or should he try to pitch through it, knowing he was quickly establishing himself as one of the more trusted members of Davey Martinez’s bullpen only two weeks after joining the club?

Throughout his career with the Orioles, Harvey tended to keep these things to himself. That got him nowhere, aside from the injured list, usually for months at a time.

This time, he decided to speak up immediately. And though he’s now on the 10-day IL with a right pronator strain, he believes the stint will be brief because it’s being addressed now and not later.

“I’ve had too many times where I’ve felt stuff like this that I told them: ‘I think I can pitch with it; I don’t think it would be a problem,’ ” Harvey said. “But I’ve pitched with stuff like this before, and I’ll start doing something different trying to protect it and then I’ll end up blowing something out.”

Martinez certainly appreciated Harvey’s willingness to be forthcoming with his injury, an approach plenty of players in his position wouldn’t take.

After a disappointing finish to their four-game series with the Diamondbacks, the Nationals tonight open a three-game weekend set with the Giants. The defending National League West champs are off to a strong 8-5 start, though they did just lose three of four to the Mets at Citi Field.

The Nats are still figuring out their pitching plans for Saturday and Sunday. Some of those plans may depend on how things go tonight. If Patrick Corbin can give them quality innings, they can probably save Paolo Espino to make a spot start Saturday. If Corbin gets knocked out early, Davey Martinez may have to use Espino out of the bullpen tonight, and that would probably require a roster move before Saturday’s game.

The Giants are using their own spot starter this evening: Left-hander Sam Long. He’s made three relief appearances, totaling 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Five of his 12 outings last year came as a starter, but it doesn’t appear he’s stretched out to go very far tonight.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 70 degrees, wind 6 mph in from center field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
RF Juan Soto
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Josh Bell
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Lane Thomas
3B Maikel Franco
SS Alcides Escobar
CF Victor Robles