The Nationals took the field tonight for the 92nd time this season. An enthusiastic, Friday night crowd of 30,409 settled in for what everyone hoped would be an entertaining, hopefully competitive, maybe even victorious ballgame from the local club.

And then the top of the first – featuring another throwing error by Luis García, another poorly played grounder by Maikel Franco and another towering home run served up by Patrick Corbin – came and went, and anybody who has been paying any attention to this team knew none of those hopes would become reality.

An 8-4 thrashing at the hands of the Braves once again revealed to the world who exactly these Nationals are. They are a team that has lost eight straight games. They are a team that has lost eight straight games to Atlanta. They are a team that has lost 24 of its last 26 games to division opponents. And they are a team that has lost 14 of its last 15 games overall.

That last cover-your-eyes fact may be the toughest to accept of all, because this is the first team in Nationals history to lose 14 of 15 within a single season. The 59-win 2008 and 2009 clubs did it over a stretch that included the end of the earlier season and the start of the subsequent season. But neither did it within its own season.

"They've got to understand that this organization was a winner for a long time," manager Davey Martinez said. "This happens to the best of the best. But we've got to battle back. We've got to keep playing. Forget about what happened today, come back tomorrow and go 1-0. That's the mentality. "

At his best, Josiah Gray is really good. And last week’s dominating, 11-strikeout showing in Philadelphia was evidence of that.

At his worst, though, Gray really struggles. And today’s 6-4 loss to the Mariners, in which the young right-hander displayed virtually no semblance of fastball command and dug the Nationals into an early hole, was evidence of that.

Starting the front end of a day-night doubleheader, Gray served up three homers to Seattle batters, the most damaging of them Eugenio Suárez’s three-run blast in the top of the first, this coming shortly after he walked two batters while struggling with obvious fastball mechanics issues.

Combine that poor pitching performance with another weak offensive performance – at least until Juan Soto made things interesting with two outs in the bottom of the ninth – and the Nats lost for the 11th time in 12 games while the Mariners extended their winning streak to nine games.

The lack of offensive punch has been painful to watch, even with Soto's three-run, opposite-field homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth today. That blast did prevent the Nationals from being held to three or fewer runs for the 10th time in 11 games. But it still wasn't enough to overcome earlier woes at the plate (or on the bases, from Soto himself, as he fully acknowledged after the game).

We’ve reached the final week of the first half of the season, the All-Star break looming after that, not to mention the 2022 MLB Draft (which begins Sunday night). And then looming right after that, of course, is the trade deadline.

Three weeks from today, on Aug. 2, the fates of contenders and rebuilding clubs alike will be shaped with a flurry of deals. And though the Nationals don’t figure to be as active as they were one year ago, when they traded away eight players in the span of 24 hours, they almost certainly will be active.

A year ago, general manager Mike Rizzo was still trying to decide if he’d be a buyer or seller at the deadline. The events of a disastrous July made that decision crystal clear by month’s end. This time around, there’s no question if the Nats will be sellers. The only question is how many players will be dealt before the deadline.

Let’s be clear, though, about one key factor here: The Nationals don’t have the two big-time trade chips they did last year. There is no Max Scherzer and there is no Trea Turner for Rizzo to dangle to a contender and receive multiple top prospects in exchange for.

(Sure, Rizzo could theoretically put Juan Soto up for sale and see just how huge the return would be. But there’s been no indication from anyone that’s part of anyone’s plan at the moment. The Nats have given every indication they intend to continue to try to sign Soto long-term. And even if that doesn’t happen yet, he’s under club control another 2 1/2 seasons and is still viewed as the centerpiece of their next contending roster, if the rebuild proceeds as the organization hopes it will.)

ATLANTA – There was reason for optimism heading into this Patrick Corbin start.

His overall numbers still weren’t great in the form of a 4-10 record and 5.68 ERA over his first 17 outings. But he had been really effective over his last two starts with a 1.20 ERA, 16 strikeouts and three walks over a combined 15 innings. He pitched eight innings of one-run ball and recorded a season-high 12 strikeouts on June 28 against the Pirates and then pitched another seven innings of one-run ball on Monday against the Marlins.

But the third time was not the charm for Corbin this afternoon at Truist Park, as he was charged with four runs over six innings in a 4-3 loss to the Braves before a crowd of 40,632 fans.

Like a lot of his outings, Corbin had his ups and downs throughout this start. He faced the minimum in four of his six innings, with 1-2-3 innings in the third and sixth, and double-play balls in the second and fifth. It was the first and fourth innings where he struggled.

In the bottom of the first, ​​Corbin almost worked around a Ronald Acuña Jr. leadoff single as he retired the next two batters. But Austin Riley hit a slider over the plate into the left-field seats for a two-run homer and an early 2-0 Braves lead.

PHILADELPHIA – Joan Adon will start Thursday’s series finale for the Nationals, rejoining the big league roster to take the rotation spot that recently became vacant with Jackson Tetreault’s injury.

Needing someone to pitch against the Phillies after Tetreault landed on the 15-day injured list with a stress fracture of his right scapula, the Nats opted to go with Adon, who returns after making only one start during his most recent stint at Triple-A Rochester.

The Nationals sent the 23-year-old down after 13 starts to begin the season in the big league rotation, wanting him to work on developing his changeup and improving fastball command. But only one outing later, he was back in D.C. to face the Phillies in one of their June 17 doubleheader games, allowing four runs and seven hits in five innings.

“He was throwing the ball well,” manager Davey Martinez said. “And as you guys remember, came up here and threw the ball well. So we’ll give him an opportunity to start tomorrow.”

The club sent Adon back to Rochester after that start, and he performed well in a June 22 outing against Syracuse, allowing one unearned run with zero walks in five innings. But then came a planned break, which has extended until now.

PHILADELPHIA – The last time the Nationals set foot inside Citizens Bank Park, Max Scherzer was ready to take the mound for the opener of a doubleheader. Trea Turner was still a member of the team, though he had just been placed into quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. Kyle Schwarber also was still a member of the team, though he was rehabbing from a hamstring strain that derailed his early-summer power explosion.

It was July 29, 2021, and by night’s end, none of those three guys were a member of the Nationals organization anymore. Scherzer (after tossing six innings of one-run ball) and Turner were traded to the Dodgers for four prospects, and Schwarber was dealt to the Red Sox for one. Gone, too, that day were Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand.

Nearly a full calendar year later, the Nationals returned to Philadelphia tonight, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to that team that last appeared here. That much was obvious by the names on the backs of their jerseys, not to mention the final tally on the scoreboard.

During the course of a 11-0 whitewashing, the 2022 Nationals were once again exposed as the weakling of a National League East that has undergone a dramatic overall since the end of the 2019 season. The Phillies are trying to keep up with the contending Mets and Braves, and even the Marlins are hanging in there (in large part because of their dominance of the Nats).

The Nationals? They’ve now lost 18 of their last 19 division games, as ludicrous as that sounds, falling to 6-29 on the season against the NL East. (They’re 23-25 against everyone else.)

PHILADELPHIA – Would you believe we are more than halfway through the 2022 season, and the Nationals are just now making their first appearance at Citizens Bank Park? Actually, would you believe the last time the Nats played here, Max Scherzer was on the mound for them? Yep, it was the July 29, 2021 doubleheader. By the end of that night, Scherzer and Trea Turner were Dodgers, Kyle Schwarber was a Red Sox (Sock?), Daniel Hudson was a Padre and Brad Hand was a Blue Jay.

Just a few things have changed since then, most of them not in a good way for the Nats. They come to town fresh off a brutal four-game sweep at the hands of the Marlins, the last two in extra innings. Now they have to face a Phillies club that beat them four out of five times a couple weeks ago in D.C.

It’s Paolo Espino on the mound tonight, hoping for better results than his last start against Philadelphia. The right-hander gave up three runs (two earned) in five innings, most surprisingly issuing four walks. He’ll need to do a better job keeping the ball in the strike zone tonight, not to mention keeping the ball in the park against this powerful lineup.

A Nationals lineup that struggled mightily all weekend goes up tonight against Cristopher Sánchez. The young left-hander faced them twice last season but faced a total of only 10 batters, so there’s not a big book on him yet.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 79 degrees, wind 12 mph out to left field

We have reached the holiday weekend, which means a lot of earlier-than-usual baseball. The Nationals’ series opener against the Marlins is still a night game, but first pitch is at 6:05 p.m. to account for postgame fireworks (barring any excessive delays or a super-long game, fingers crossed).

The Nats have had all kinds of trouble with Miami this season, going 1-8, their only win coming May 18 in that wild, extra-inning game at loanDepot Park in which they initially thought they had won in the bottom of the ninth when Jesús Sánchez was called out for leaving third base too soon on a sacrifice fly to right, only to have the call overturned on review. (Sound similar to any other recent plays?)

Josiah Gray takes the mound tonight, and the young right-hander has been on some kind of roll lately. He’s got a 1.24 ERA, 0.966 WHIP and 31 strikeouts in 29 innings over his last five starts, never allowing more than two runs in any of them. Alas, Gray has not received a decision in any of his last three outings due to a lack of run support.

The Nationals lineup will try to provide some support tonight against a Marlins rotation that has been elite against them this season. That includes tonight’s starter, left-hander Trevor Rogers, who despite a 5.86 ERA overall has held the Nats to three runs in 11 innings over two starts this season.

MIAMI MARLINS vs. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 89 degrees, wind 11 mph out to left field

The archaic manner in which the top of the fifth ended dominated the discussion of Wednesday’s 8-7 loss to the Pirates, but at least everyone now knows Rule 5.09c and the so-called “fourth out” clause.

There were a lot of other things going on in this game, though, things worth revisiting as the Nationals sleep in and enjoy a day off before opening a four-game, holiday weekend series with the Marlins on Friday. …

* Josh Bell is red hot again
After a consistently productive opening two months to the season, Bell had finally begun to cool off a bit in mid-June. He endured an 0-for-11 mini-slump from June 12-15, one that lowered his batting average 15 points (from .305 to .290) and his OPS 30 points (from .831 to .801).

And then, just like that, Bell turned it back on again and has been as good as ever at the plate. With a 3-for-3, two-double, two-walk showing Wednesday afternoon, he is now batting .467 (21-for-45) over his last 13 games, with 10 extra-base hits, a .564 on-base percentage, .889 slugging percentage and 1.453 OPS. This was only the second time he’s reached base five times in a game in his career, first with the Nationals.

All of that has lifted Bell’s season batting average to .319 and his OPS to .909.

Don’t look now, but the Nationals have won five of their last seven. Would you believe that’s their best seven-game stretch since June 2021, when they went on a month-long surge to give everybody false hope before it all came crumbling down in July? They’ll try to make it six of their last eight tonight when they host the Pirates in the second of this three-game series.

The rotation has been excellent during this run, with one notable exception: Patrick Corbin, who was knocked out after four innings Wednesday night in the rain-shortened game in Baltimore. The other starters have been doing their job recently. The Nats would love for Corbin to keep it going and join the others tonight.

The Nationals also would like to get more production in clutch situations than they did Monday night. Even though they wound up winning, 3-2, they had only one hit in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position: Maikel Franco’s game-winning homer in the bottom of the eighth. They could use more situational hitting tonight against veteran left-hander José Quintana, who had a 2.19 ERA over his first seven starts but has seen that number skyrocket to 5.18 over his last seven.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES vs. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:055 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 79 degrees, wind 5 mph left field to right field

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

ARLINGTON, Texas – In discussing Juan Soto’s struggles with runners in scoring position prior to Sunday’s game, Davey Martinez mentioned the importance of the Nationals slugger “accepting his walks” and thus not trying too hard to drive in runs when presented with the opportunity.

Wouldn’t you know Soto would wind up drawing four walks during Sunday’s 6-4 victory over the Rangers, though none of them came with a runner in scoring position (nor did the single he delivered in his other plate appearance). Instead, it was Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz driving Soto in during an early offensive barrage.

No matter. It’s the approach from Soto that pleased Martinez the most, and the hope that will continue when he does come up again with a chance to drive in runs.

“I would like him to walk a couple times, and then hit the ball a few times,” the manager said with a laugh. “But he’s going to take his walks, and when he’s taking his walks, I know he’s ready to hit. He’s seeing the ball. He got on base for us, and the other guys – Nellie and Josh – picked us up big-time today.”

It was the first time this season Soto drew four walks, the fourth time he’s done that during his career. It was also the first time this season he reached base five times, the sixth time he’s done that during his career.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Jackson Tetreault made his major league debut 12 days ago not necessarily based on performance, but more so based on the Nationals’ desperate need for a fill-in starter who was on schedule. Tetreault, who owned a 4.19 ERA at Triple-A Rochester, fit the bill and thus was summoned to face a Braves lineup that pounded him for seven runs in four innings.

The Nats could’ve sent the 26-year-old right-hander back to Rochester after that, but Davey Martinez believed he earned the right to make another start. And now, after successive standout performances, the manager has no reason to want to send his young pitcher back anytime soon.

"This kid comes up here, and he's very much under control," Martinez said. "He's got a good idea what he wants to do. And he works every day. We'll get him back out there in five days. He's done well."

With six-plus innings of one-run ball this afternoon, Tetreault picked up right where he left off last Sunday against the Phillies, this time earning his second career win in a 6-4 victory over the Rangers that turned way more tense than it needed to be.

Holding a five-run lead entering the ninth, Martinez asked Francisco Perez to finish it off and allow closer Tanner Rainey a chance to rest. Perez, though, didn't retire any of the three batters he faced in his first appearance in nine days, all of them scoring thanks to Nathaniel Lowe's RBI single and Jonah Heim's two-run homer. That forced Rainey into the game for a surprise save situation, which he converted.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The only question Josiah Gray needs to answer at this still-early stage of his career is that of consistency. We already know the young right-hander has the ability on any given day to be a successful big leaguer. And we know he’s capable of stringing together several top-notch starts in a row.

Gray just needs to prove now he can do it over the long haul. On afternoons like this, it’s more than appropriate to believe he can.

With seven dominant innings that included nine strikeouts, thanks to some razor-sharp breaking balls, Gray authored the longest start of his career and put the Nationals in position to win. If only the rest of his teammates had been able to do their part to reward him.

A lack of run support left this game tied heading to the bottom of the ninth. Adolis Garcia then blasted a slider over the plate from Kyle Finnegan deep to left-center for the walk-off homer that gave the Rangers a 3-2 victory.

"He's been a rock for us lately," Finnegan said of Gray. "And to see him go out there and dominate is huge for the team. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to pull it out for him tonight, but to get a start like that is really promising for us, and we love to see it."

This is what they envisioned all along: A well-balanced, sustained offensive attack, with power from Juan Soto, Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell.

In the dream scenario for the 2022 season they conjured up months ago, the Nationals believed that was possible. It probably wouldn’t have been enough to lift this team back into a pennant race, not with all its other flaws as it embarked on an organizational rebuild, but if nothing else this team would be competitive, especially from an offensive standpoint.

That hasn’t happened with any regularity through the season’s first 61 games, but on more than a few occasions it has managed to all come together at once. And in today’s 8-6 win over the Brewers, the Nats may have come as close to realizing that dream scenario as they have all year.

With another sustained power display against a pitching staff that shut them down only a few weeks ago in Milwaukee, the Nationals won behind back-to-back-to-back homers from the three biggest bats in the heart of their lineup.

All this on the heels of an 11-run, 19-hit onslaught Friday night, making it an ultra-rare example of back-to-back big offensive showings from this lineup. Though they’ve scored 10 or more runs eight times this season, second-most in the majors, this was only the second time they’ve followed up by scoring more than five runs in their next game.

It’s always nice to be home. After a 10-game road trip in which they went 3-7, the Nationals were happy to return to D.C. to start this long homestand tonight against the Brewers.

You could feel it in the clubhouse before the game. Despite coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Marlins and getting into town late last night, players seemed to be in high spirits this afternoon. Even manager Davey Martinez was particularly chipper in his pregame press conference.

Did the late arrival time at Nationals Park allow them to catch up on sleep? Or were they over-caffeinated after not getting enough sleep? We don’t know for sure, but whatever it was it led to an 11-5 win over the Brewers in front of 26,111 in attendance on South Capitol Street.

“I am tired. … I got three hours of sleep," Martinez said immediately after tonight's game. "By the end of the game today, I looked at (bench coach Tim Bogar) and said, 'I'm beat.' ”

It was a picture-perfect Friday night in our nation’s capital. With a gametime temperature of 79 degrees and a per usual perfect national anthem from local favorite D.C. Washington, the Nationals settled right into a victory in which they received contributions from all aspects of the roster.

After a long 10-game road trip across three cities, the Nationals are finally home in D.C., ready to start an 11-game homestand over the next 10 days.

“Yeah, it's awesome,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame session in the press conference room at Nationals Park. “I mean, it was a long road trip. It really was. But glad to be home.”

Although the location has changed, the Nationals lineup for their series opener against the Brewers remains mostly the same, with Nelson Cruz starting again as the designated hitter after being a late scratch from last night’s finale in Miami with tightness in his back.

“Cruz is back in there,” Martinez said. “His back was stiff yesterday. So he called this morning, I talked to him this morning. He said he feels a lot better. ... Says he feels good. So he's back in there.”

The 41-year-old has dealt with a handful of nagging issues that have caused him to be scratched from lineups this season. He was also removed from the lineup before an April 12 game in Atlanta with groin tightness, and he was scratched from a May 16 game in Miami with an illness.

NEW YORK – Monday night’s series opener was a miserable one for the Nationals, who got down 12-3 after four innings and never had a chance during what wound up a 13-6 loss to the Mets. If that was merely a one-off, with no lingering effects, it would be one thing. But the fear is that that lopsided loss will have a carryover effect, because of what it did to the Nats pitching staff.

When Erick Fedde was knocked out after only 1 1/3 innings, then Andres Machado and Austin Voth lasted only 1 1/3 inning each in relief, then Paolo Espino had to go three innings in mop-up duty before Josh Rogers pitched the final frame, the Nationals left themselves in a precarious pitching position for the rest of the series.

With that in mind, the club made a couple of roster moves today to bring in a couple of fresh arms. Right-hander Jordan Weems and left-hander Francisco Perez were called up from Triple-A Rochester and will be available out of the bullpen tonight. Each has some prior big league experience. To create roster space for them, the Nationals optioned Machado back to Rochester only three days after he was recalled and designated the long-struggling Voth for assignment, potentially ending his time in the organization.

The best thing the Nats could do to help avoid more problems tonight, though, is get a quality start out of Patrick Corbin. Corbin finally earned his first win of the season when he allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings to the Rockies. He shut out the Mets over five innings earlier this month and held them to two runs in four innings on opening day.

The Nationals also will try to keep their quietly improving lineup producing tonight against Trevor Williams. Williams has faced them twice in relief this season, allowing two unearned runs in 4 2/3 innings. He’s making only his third overall start, having yet to exceed 65 pitches in total. Nelson Cruz, who had to leave Monday night's game after getting hit by a pitch on his left ankle, is not in the lineup but could be available off the bench.

It was going to be the headline one way or another: Josiah Gray facing the Dodgers for the first time since last summer’s trade deadline.

The other reunions happened last night. Keibert Ruiz went 0-for-4 in his first game against the Dodgers, and Trea Turner and Daniel Hudson received a joint tribute video in their return to Nationals Park.

Tuesday night was Gray’s turn. And it wasn’t a ceremonious occasion.

Gray was rudely greeted by his former club in the form of a 9-4 loss in front of 22,418 fans at his new home ballpark. It was the second straight blowout loss the Nationals suffered at the hands of the Dodgers to start this three-game series and seven-game homestand.

Unlike his last time out against the Marlins, Gray’s game plan and execution didn’t work against some of his former teammates, who saw him very well at the plate. The ability to knock him around and make loud contact drove the Nats starter’s pitch count up, setting up a short outing no matter what adjustments were made.

For the second straight day, the Nationals have someone new batting in a key spot at the top of their lineup.

Following Sunday’s decision to move Keibert Ruiz up to the No. 2 position in Milwaukee, manager Davey Martinez decided to bump Lane Thomas up to the leadoff role for tonight’s series opener against the Dodgers.

It’s only the second time this season Thomas has hit leadoff for the Nationals, but it’s hardly foreign territory for him. He started 39 games in the No. 1 position after his acquisition last summer from the Cardinals and produced an eye-opening .852 OPS from that spot.

Martinez had been thinking about giving Thomas another chance to bat leadoff against left-handers, and with Tyler Anderson starting tonight for Los Angeles, the manager felt this was the right moment to try it out.

“He’s swinging the bat well,” Martinez said of Thomas, who went 5-for-12 with two doubles, a triple and a homer over the weekend against the Brewers. “He hits lefties really well. For me, it’s just trying to get him up there against this lefty. … It’s something I thought about last night after looking at everything. I feel very comfortable with him leading off. He did it last year and did well. So with him and moving Keibert up to two, let’s see what happens.”

MILWAUKEE – Some more thoughts, observations and reactions following Sunday’s 8-2 victory over the Brewers, which allowed the Nationals to avoid a weekend sweep at American Family Field …

* As much attention as was given to Juan Soto, Keibert Ruiz, Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell, the member of the Nats lineup who might have had the most significant weekend actually was Lane Thomas.

The 26-year-old outfielder started all three games and went 5-for-12 with two doubles, a triple and a homer. Along the way, he raised his batting average from .202 to .228, his on-base percentage from .255 to .273 and his slugging percentage from .270 to .356.

“Man, I feel like I just see the ball well here,” he said. “And I figured out some timing stuff and just getting back in my legs and seeing the ball a little deeper, so hopefully that stays on track, too. But it just felt good to see the ball well and take some good swings.”

It’s been a rough season to date for Thomas, who after an eye-opening, 45-game audition last August and September hasn’t been able to recapture the magic and has lost considerable playing time in the process.