PHOENIX – It seemed innocent enough, a solo homer by Victor Robles off Madison Bumgarner in the eighth inning for what proved to be the final run in the Nationals’ 7-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Bumgarner, though, is ever mindful of what’s going on around him, especially when it involves someone from the opposing team hitting a home run off him. The 32-year-old left-hander has a storied legacy that may land him in Cooperstown some day because of his workhorse approach to pitching and dominant performances in multiple October runs with the Giants.

His legacy, though, also includes a significant history of tiffs with opponents he believes didn’t celebrate home runs off him in an appropriate manner, most notably the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig and Max Muncy.

And late Saturday night, Victor Robles joined that list.

“He’s a clown,” Bumgarner told reporters in the Diamondbacks clubhouse after the game. “Golly. No shame. No shame. Like, it’s 7-1, you hit your third homer of the year and you act like Barry Bonds breaking the record. Clean it up. I don’t care about giving up the run. Hell, we won 7-2, 8-2, whatever it was. It’s frustrating. I’m the old grumpy guy, I know, but that type of stuff, it didn’t use to happen. That’s ridiculous.”

PHOENIX – What does it take for the Nationals to win a baseball game right now? It takes everything going right.

It takes a quality performance from the starting pitcher. It takes a sustained offensive attack from the early innings through the late ones. And it takes shutdown work from the bullpen.

Remove any one part of that formula, and victory becomes awfully difficult. Remove two, and it is almost impossible. Remove all three, and … well, you get the Nationals on most nights in July 2022.

The Nats did none of those things well tonight in a 7-2 loss to the Diamondbacks. But in fairness, they haven’t done most of those things well at any point this month. They’ve now lost 17 of their last 19 games to fall to an abysmal 31-65 on the season.

Now consider this: The worst month in club history was July 2008, when the Nationals went 5-19 (a .208 winning percentage) during what wound up a 102-loss season. This team needs to win four of its next seven games (against the D-backs, Dodgers and Cardinals, mind you) to avoid establishing a new low point.

Salvation for the Nationals came not from Juan Soto or Josh Bell. It came not from Josiah Gray or Keibert Ruiz or Luis García. It did not come from any member of their rotation.

No, when the Nats needed to put a stop to a pair of nine-game losing streaks – one of them overall, one of them specifically to the Braves – they turned to the bottom of their lineup and five members of their bullpen.

Yes, it’s true. The Nationals won a ballgame today, toppling the Braves 7-3 to close a wretched final stretch of a wretched first half of the season on an uplifting note at last. 

"It's been a long time," Soto said with a laugh, "but finally we did it."

The formula to produce this curly W bore no resemblance to the one they used to try to win any other game in the last week-plus.

Some teams just have your number. The Marlins seem to be one of those teams for the Nationals this year. 

For the first time since May 24, Josiah Gray allowed more than two runs in an outing on Friday night and the Nats fell to 1-9 on the season against the Marlins with a 6-3 loss at Nationals Park. 

The outing started out strong, just like the last five for Gray. He retired the first six batters in order and even struck out the side in the second inning. 

The Marlins were able to get to the young right-hander in the third inning, though, plating three runs. Brian Anderson kicked off the frame with a solo homer over the left field wall. Two outs later, Jon Berti walked and swiped his league-leading 23rd bag of the season before scoring on Joey Wendle’s single to left field. The two-out rally continued after Garrett Cooper ripped a line-drive double, allowing Wendle to score from first and make it 3-0 Marlins. 

Washington scratched across a run in the fourth inning. Juan Soto got into an 0-2 hole before working a walk to lead off the inning. Josh Bell moved Soto over to third on a single to right field before Soto scored when Nelson Cruz grounded into a double-play, cutting the deficit to 3-1. 

When Victor Robles came up to bat in the bottom of the third Saturday afternoon, moments after teammate Luis Garcia had led off the inning with a single, anyone inside Nationals Park who has been paying attention this season knew what was about to happen.

Sure enough, as Brewers left-hander Eric Lauer began his delivery toward the plate, Robles squared around to bunt. And when he proceeded to pop up that bunt attempt, right to first baseman Rowdy Tellez for an easy out, the crowd moaned, annoyed both with the result of the play but perhaps also the fact it happened in the first place.

That’s not necessarily how the Nationals dugout reacted to the botched bunt attempt.

“Look, it’s got to be part of his game, right? We want him to bunt in certain situations,” manager Davey Martinez said Sunday morning. “I thought yesterday he had the right idea, but he caught the ball back and had his hands up close to his body. So he couldn’t really see the ball hit the bat. He’s got to understand that when he does do that, he’s got to get to the ball out front.”

Officially, it went down as Robles’ 12th sacrifice bunt attempt this season, only six of which have been successful. Those 12 attempts lead the majors. And as a matter of fact, only five teams have attempted more sacrifice bunts this year than Robles has attempted on his own.

Maybe the worst thing the Nationals could have done before tonight’s game was score 13 runs in this afternoon’s game.

Though that hefty output in the opener of their doubleheader with the Rockies represented the sixth time this season they’ve scored 10 or more runs – tied with the Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals for the major league lead – they’ve almost always followed those performances with tepid ones at the plate. In four of the previous five instances, they scored four or fewer runs their next game.

So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when the Nationals, presented with countless opportunities to drive in runs in bunches tonight, failed to deliver during a 3-2 loss to Colorado that snapped their season-high winning streak at three games.

Those two lone runs came via Nelson Cruz’s first-inning double (the team’s only hit in 16 tries with runners in scoring position) and Yadiel Hernandez’s sixth-inning solo homer (the team’s sixth during the last three Saturdays, with zero homers on any other day during that bizarre stretch).

"We just couldn't get that big hit with guys on base," manager Davey Martinez said. "That's part of it. These doubleheaders sometimes go sideways on you a little bit."

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

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

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

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

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

It’s not any easy task asked of Josiah Gray tonight. To face the team that traded him and his catcher, Keibert Ruiz, away last summer and also boasts one of the best lineups in the major leagues.

But that’s what manager Davey Martinez is going to ask of the young right-hander as the Nationals face the Dodgers in the second game of a three-game series on South Capitol Street.

Gray and Ruiz, of course, were the top two prospects included in the four-player package sent from Los Angeles to Washington in exchange for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner last summer. That deal comes full circle this week in the Dodgers’ first trip to D.C. since the blockbuster trade.

On the hill at the start of the game will be Gray, with Ruiz behind the plate and batting second for the third straight game. Batting third in top of the first inning will be Turner, in the Dodgers’ gray uniform.

Ruiz and Turner had their time to soak in the moment of playing their former clubs yesterday. Gray gets his chance tonight, with Martinez hoping he stays focused.

The reunion tour continues tonight at Nats Park when the Nationals and Dodgers play the second game of this three-game set.

Monday night saw Trea Turner and Daniel Hudson return to D.C. for the first time since last summer’s selloff (although Hudson didn’t enter the game). Tonight, it will be Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz’s turn to face off against their former team together. While Gray takes the mound for the first time against the Dodgers, Ruiz went 0-for-4 last night in his first action against L.A.

Gray went 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.500 WHIP in eight innings over two appearances (one start) with the Dodgers last year before getting shipped off to Washington as part of the four-player package in exchange for Max Scherzer and Turner. In 20 career starts with the Nats, he’s 6-5 with a 4.92 ERA and 1.311 WHIP, including 4-3 with a 4.36 ERA and 1.269 WHIP in eight starts this season.

The Dodgers will counter with right-hander Walker Buehler, who is now tied with teammate Tyler Anderson (and six others, including Scherzer) in the league lead with five wins after the left-hander’s dominant performance on South Capitol Street last night. Buehler has the 11th-best ERA in the National League at 2.89 and is 1-1 with a 2.33 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Nats.

César Hernández is back in the leadoff spot after Lane Thomas led off last night. Thomas is in center field and batting eighth. We will check on Victor Robles after he came out of the Monday's game with a calf cramp.

You’ll see a familiar face in the MASN booth tonight, as Ryan Zimmerman will join Bob Carpenter, Kevin Frandsen and Dan Kolko for tonight’s broadcast. Pregame coverage starts with “Nats Xtra” at 6:30 p.m., followed by a scheduled first pitch at 7:05 p.m., all on MASN2.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 60 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right-center field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
C Keibert Ruiz
RF Juan Soto
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Josh Bell
LF Yadiel Hernandez
3B Maikel Franco
CF Lane Thomas
SS Dee Strange-Gordon

RHP Josiah Gray

DODGERS
RF Mookie Betts
1B Freddie Freeman
SS Trea Turner
C Will Smith
2B Max Muncy
3B Justin Turner
DH Edwin Ríos
CF Chris Taylor
LF Gavin Lux

RHP Walker Buehler

MIAMI – Lane Thomas arrived in D.C. last summer after a trade with the Cardinals for Jon Lester. He was one of 12 prospects the Nationals received in return for selling off eight of their veteran players. Of those prospects, he’s now one of four currently impacting the major league roster.

In 45 games with the Nationals during last season’s second half, Thomas slashed .270/.364/.489 with an .853 OPS, 33 runs scored, 14 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 27 RBIs, four stolen bases and 27 walks. Meanwhile, Lester (who went 3-5 with a 5.02 ERA in 16 starts with the Nats) went 4-1 with a 4.36 ERA in 12 starts with the Cards before retiring over the offseason.

The trade was a steal for the Nationals.

In fact, Thomas played so well, he replaced former top prospect Victor Robles full-time in center field and the leadoff spot. Robles, of course, was sent down to Triple-A Rochester and never returned to the majors in 2021.

This year, however, their roles have changed. With Robles expected to be the full-time center fielder and Thomas full-time in left coming into the season, they are now sharing time in center while Yadiel Hernandez stays hot at the plate and mans left field.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross will take another key step in their return from injury this week when they pitch in a simulated game at the Nationals’ spring training complex, one of their final tune-ups before both right-handers are likely to be cleared to begin rehab assignments for minor league affiliates.

Strasburg and Ross each threw live batting practice twice last week, so this is the next step in their program. Each will now pitch two simulated innings to teammates in West Palm Beach, Fla., beginning the process of building up their arms.

“They’re both going to pitch two innings and we’re going to progress them,” manager Davey Martinez said prior to the Nats’ series finale against the Angels. “And if this goes well, they’ll get on a five-day rotation and we’ll start building them up.”

Strasburg, recovering from last summer’s thoracic outlet surgery, has been tracking to make his season debut sometime in June, if there are no more setbacks along the way. Ross, who had arthroscopic surgery in early March to remove a bone spur from his elbow, has been on a rehab schedule similar to the one his fellow right-hander has been on, and thus could be about a month away from making his season debut as well.

The progression for both Strasburg and Ross now would include a build-up of their workloads in these simulated games while still in Florida. If all goes well, they would then prepare to join a minor league affiliate to begin a rehab assignment, the final step in the rehab process.

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 – Under no circumstances would a major league manager ever openly admit he’d rather hit the road for a week and a half and leave the comforts of home behind. And let’s be clear, Davey Martinez did no such thing this afternoon when asked (somewhat sarcastically, for the record) if he was actually glad the Nationals got out of D.C. and could now embark on a nine-game West Coast stretch against the Giants, Rockies and Angels.

“Hey, believe me, I love playing at home, I really do. And I know the guys do, too,” said Martinez, whose team had just lost eight consecutive games at home. “We like playing in front of our fans. The week there wasn’t good, but like I said, we saw some good things, and I think we’re really close. We’ve got to hit, though. We all know that, right?”

Yes, it’s tough to win when you don’t hit. But when you do? Oh, man, is it a breath of fresh air. And boy were the Nationals able to breathe in all the cool Bay Area air tonight while beating up on the Giants 14-4 to put an emphatic end to the losing streak and begin this daunting trip in as encouraging a fashion as they could’ve conjured up.

"We showed off what we have in the lineup," said Juan Soto, who homered, singled home another run and drew a walk. "At the end of the day, we're even missing two hitters and we still scored 14 runs. That means we have a lot in our lineup. I think we can do a lot more damage."

That’s right, the same Nationals lineup that totaled 16 runs and 52 hits during those eight consecutive losses while playing on South Capitol Street busted out for a season-high 14 runs and 22 hits tonight at Oracle Park. They didn’t do it by launching the ball into warm, humid air that helped carry it over the fence. No, they did it the old-fashioned way, delivering clutch RBI singles and doubles in sustained fashion for the first time in weeks, just as their manager hoped they would all along.

Twelve days after first getting ill and being forced to isolate in his Pittsburgh hotel, Nationals utilityman Dee Strange-Gordon will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester.

Strange-Gordon is leading off and playing shortstop for the Red Wings, his first competitive game since he served as a last-ditch relief pitcher during an April 12 loss in Atlanta. Two days later, he was supposed to be in the Nats lineup for their series opener against the Pirates, but was sent back to the team hotel with an illness that has never been officially disclosed by the club.

The Nationals placed Strange-Gordon on an unspecified injured list the following day, one that removed him from the organization’s 40-man roster, which has been the fate for other players who tested positive for COVID-19 over the last two seasons. He was allowed to drive himself home to D.C. a couple of days later, but remained in quarantine until recently.

Because of that time off with no ability to work out, Strange-Gordon is going to need some time to get himself back into playing shape again. He was at Nationals Park on Monday for a workout, and manager Davey Martinez said “he got tired pretty quickly.”

“He didn’t do much (while quarantined),” Martinez said. “With him, he’s built for speed and putting the ball in play, stuff like that. We’re going to get him to play some outfield, some middle infield while he’s down there. I’ll stay in touch with (Rochester manager Matt LeCroy) and see how he’s doing every day. I talked to Dee and I told him: ‘When you feel like you’re ready, just let us know and we’ll keep eyes on you.’ ”

The Nationals got what they needed in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Diamondbacks. Josiah Gray pitched 5 ⅓ innings of one-run ball and four relievers combined to cover the remaining outs in a 6-1 win.

Would it be too much to ask for the same in the nightcap?

Joan Adon was hoping to get deep into the game to help out his taxed teammates in the bullpen and perhaps turn around his start to the season. The relievers who weren’t used in this afternoon’s game were hoping to post more zeros. And the Nationals offense was hoping to manufacture runs just like they had done earlier.

Adon did his part, becoming the first Nationals starting pitcher to complete six innings in 2022 as he helped his club complete the doubleheader sweep with a 1-0 win in front of an announced crowd of 11,720.

The 23-year-old rookie starter held the D-backs scoreless over 6 ⅓ innings with five strikeouts on 88 pitches, 57 for strikes, to earn his first major league win. A big turnaround from his previous two starts.

PITTSBURGH – Victor Robles is the Nationals’ starting center fielder. And he’ll continue to be their starting center fielder. As long the matchups on a particular day work in his favor.

For the third time in eight games to begin the season, the matchup isn’t in Robles’ favor. Pirates starter J.T. Brubaker has a particularly tough slider, so Davey Martinez decided to leave Robles on the bench tonight and instead play Dee Strange-Gordon in center field.

“We look at all his data, and we know Victor struggles against guys with good sliders,” Martinez said. “So tonight I felt like we’re just going to continue to work with him on his swing, get him some extra swings, and then get him back in there tomorrow. We’re looking at all this stuff.”

Robles, who has started five games so far, remains hitless in 15 at-bats. His only two productive plate appearances resulted in a sacrifice bunt and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch that resulted in his lone RBI of the season.

Hitting coach Darnell Coles has been working with Robles on mechanical changes to his swing since late in spring training. Coles wants him starting his hands in a better position to allow for quicker movement to the ball. It remains a work in progress, as the results to date show.