With one massive storm cell having already swept through town and more expected later tonight, the Nationals’ series opener against the Mariners was postponed, with a day-night doubleheader now scheduled for Wednesday.

The call was made around 8:15 p.m., some 70 minutes after the originally scheduled first pitch and about 2 hours after the heaviest of the rain fell during a downpour that included intense wind, lightning and thunder.

The postponement might have been made official earlier if not for the fact this is a two-game series between interleague opponents who rarely face each other. With a 12:05 p.m. finale scheduled Wednesday before the Mariners fly to Texas to open a weekend series Thursday night, the notion of waiting it out tonight was intriguing.

But as more rain began to fall after 8 p.m., with more lightning visible and thunder audible, the Nationals announced the postponement and subsequent doubleheader on Wednesday.

The two teams will begin the day with their originally scheduled 12:05 p.m. game, with Josiah Gray (who was supposed to start tonight) getting the ball for the Nationals. Fans who held a ticket to tonight’s postponed game can now use it for Wednesday’s 6:05 p.m. game, with Erick Fedde making the start.

ATLANTA – It’s been hit or miss for Erick Fedde this year. Really, it’s been hit or miss for Erick Fedde throughout his career. But he hasn’t been put under the microscope until these past two seasons as he has solidified himself in the Nationals rotation.

Sometimes he’s sharp and can use his arsenal effectively to turn in a quality (if not better) start, although he typically gets himself into high pitch counts.

Other times he’s flat and serves up easy pitches for the opponent to hit, which puts his team in a hole and also drives up his pitch count.

Tonight’s series opener against the Braves was the latter as a five-run second inning doomed Fedde and the Nats en route to a 12-2 loss in front of 41,725 fans at Truist Park.

Fedde put himself in a small deficit from the start. In the first inning, he served up a solo home run to Matt Olson on an inside and slightly elevated cutter. He needed 16 pitches to complete the first frame, a pretty standard start for the right-hander.

ATLANTA – Greetings from just outside downtown Atlanta, where the Nationals are making their second visit to Truist Park this year.

I can confirm the Nats won’t have to face Kyle Schwarber over this three-game series, but alas, another National League East opponent awaits in the Braves. The Nats are a woeful 7-30 on the season within the division and have won just two out of their last 21 games against their rivals. Although the Nats have played the Braves the least so far, they’ve had the most success against Atlanta, winning a three-game set here in early April despite getting swept at home over three games last month. 

Erick Fedde will look to continue a strong stretch in which he’s pitched to a 2.82 ERA over his last four starts. That stretch started when he allowed three runs in 5 ⅓ innings against these Braves on June 15. The key for Fedde will be to, once again, get quick outs and not get himself into deep counts so as to keep his pitch count down and get deeper in the game.

Charlie Morton will take the mound for the Braves in tonight’s opener. The veteran right-hander is 4-3 with a 4.34 ERA over his first 16 starts, but like Fedde, he’s been pitching really well as of late. Over his last four starts, Morton has a 1.35 ERA with 35 strikeouts to just four walks. This will be his first time facing the Nats this season after having gone 4-6 with a 5.23 ERA over 13 career starts against Washington. 

Luis García is in tonight’s lineup after leaving yesterday’s game in Philadelphia with a stomach illness.

There was a no-hit bid by Pablo López, who still had zeros on the board entering the seventh. There was a quality start by Erick Fedde, who limited the damage and gave his team a chance. There was the sight of Juan Soto departing the game after four innings with a left calf injury. There was an inspiring rally in the bottom of the seventh to end López’s no-hit bid and tie the game, then a go-ahead homer by Josh Bell in the bottom of the eighth to put the Nationals on the precipice of a long-awaited victory over the Marlins.

Then there was the top of the ninth, with Tanner Rainey one strike away from closing it out but surrendering a two-run homer to Jesús Sánchez to blow the save and put Miami on the precipice of victory.

But then there was the bottom of the ninth, with Victor Robles delivering the unlikely two-out RBI single to left that tied the game and forced extra innings of a ballgame that left anyone watching in person or from afar physically and emotionally exhausted.

All of which made the Marlins' three-run rally in the top of the 10th en route to a 7-4 win as big a letdown as the Nationals have experienced throughout this frustrating season. They could've lost for the 11th time in 12 games against Miami, the 52nd time in 81 games overall, in uninspired fashion. Instead, they sucked everyone in and made them believe, only to pull the rug out and leave a crowd of 25,385 stunned and downtrodden.

"I think I wear it a lot more sometimes than they do, because I want these guys all to succeed," manager Davey Martinez said. "And it's tough when I see them not. But I've got to make sure that tomorrow I pat them on the back and say: 'That's one game. We've got so many more left. Keep doing what you've been doing.' "

Can the Nationals finally beat the Marlins again today? Can they somehow find a way to beat the unstoppable Marlins for only the second time in 12 games this season? Can you believe this is what it has come to?

Given how little the Nats have hit against Miami’s pitching staff, and given that the very effective Pablo López is on the mound today, it’s probably foolish to think there’s a path to victory trying to outhit these guys. They’ll simply need to take advantage of whatever scoring opportunities they have and hope it’s enough to emerge victorious.

That will also require a fantastic effort from Erick Fedde, who probably has little margin for error today. Fedde actually has only faced the Marlins once this season, way back on April 27. He allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings but threw 91 pitches, and that continues to be his biggest stumbling block. Fedde has allowed two or fewer earned runs in nine of his 15 starts this season. The problem: His pitch count has been so high, he’s only completed six innings in three of those starts.

MIAMI MARLINS vs. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 81 degrees, wind 8 mph in from left field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
RF Juan Soto
1B Josh Bell
DH Nelson Cruz
SS Luis García
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Yadiel Hernandez
3B Ehire Adrianza
CF Victor Robles

Entering the eighth inning of tonight’s game, the Nationals offense had yet to take advantage of the opportunity provided by starter Erick Fedde and the bullpen. In a low-scoring game, the only offense to that point had come in the sixth inning when Luis García came around to score after a leadoff double to the right-center gap. Back-to-back groundouts to the right side of the infield allowed García to advance and eventually cross home plate with Yadiel Hernandez getting credit for the RBI.

But García delivered another leadoff double in the eighth, setting up Maikel Franco’s late-inning heroics in the Nationals’ 3-2 win over the Pirates in front of 18,213 fans at Nationals Park.

With García standing on second base, two outs and the Nats down 2-1 to the Bucs, Franco sent a first-pitch slider from right-hander Chris Stratton 105.5 mph off his bat and 418 feet to left-center field. The Nats third baseman gave an emphatic high-five to first base coach Eric Young Jr. as he rounded the bases as what would prove to be the game-winning run.

“I know we were just down for one run," Franco said after the game. "Obviously, I just think about see the ball and drive the ball, just get a hit to try to tie the ballgame. And I got better results. He threw me a slider first pitch and I was able to put good contact on it. And I got the success.”

That success sent Nats Park into a frenzy as the home team celebrated energetically in front of the dugout.

The Nationals have returned home from a rare five-game American League road trip. They went 3-2 this week, splitting the two-game Battle of the Beltways series in Baltimore and winning a three-game set against the Rangers. After a brutal 3-8 homestand a week ago, the Nats have now won four of their last six games as they welcome the Pirates for three games in D.C. 

Erick Fedde looks to build off one of his best starts of the season after shutting out the Orioles over six innings on Tuesday night. He is 5-5 with a 4.46 ERA over his 14 starts this season (with the Nats going 8-6 in those games) and 2-1 with a 4.15 ERA over his last four starts (with the Nats going 3-1 in those games).

Fedde earned the win in Pittsburgh on April 15 by allowing four hits, two runs and two walks while striking out six over five innings. 

Miguel Yajure is lined up to start tonight for the Pirates. The right-handed rookie is 1-0 with an 11.32 ERA over his six appearances this season, all coming out of the bullpen. Yajure gave up three runs in three innings of relief against the Nats on the same day Fedde started in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates are coming off their own interleague series, in which they were swept by the Rays in three games in St. Petersburg, Fla. 

BALTIMORE – Four days ago, the Nationals pitching staff – specifically the rotation – was a mess. A series of unfortunate events left Davey Martinez scrambling to find somebody to start each night, then a bunch of guys to come out of the bullpen after said starter failed to complete even four innings. It was, to put it mildly, an unsustainable situation.

And then Josiah Gray tossed six scoreless innings Saturday against the Phillies, and Jackson Tetreault tossed seven innings without allowing an earned run Sunday against the Phillies and now here was Erick Fedde walking off the mound at the end of the sixth tonight at Camden Yards with nothing but zeroes on the board.

Just like that, the worst rotation in the majors had authored not only three straight quality starts, but three straight starts without allowing an earned run. And that allowed the back end of Martinez’s bullpen to come into this game fresh and finish off what Fedde started, completing a 3-0 victory over the Orioles to open this two-game portion of the Battle of the Beltways.

"That's pretty impressive," Martinez said. "After everything we've been through, we come out today and the pitchers throw a shutout."

Some opportunistic early offense staked the Nats to a two-run lead, and though they certainly would’ve liked to take advantage of more scoring opportunities to add to that lead, they ultimately didn’t need it. (Though they happily accepted Lane Thomas’ tack-on homer in the top of the ninth.)

After winning just one game all of last year against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles have already won two of three series against the Rays this season. They are 4-5 versus Tampa Bay after Sunday’s win gave them a series victory. The O’s lost the first three games of the year at Tropicana Field but are now 4-2 in the last six versus the Rays.

But after going 15-19 versus the American League East – and 11-8 in their last 19 division games – the Orioles begin a stretch of 21 consecutive games outside of the division tonight. They host the Washington Nationals for the start of a two-game interleague series and the first two of four games these clubs will play in 2022.

The Orioles (30-38) have won three of four and six of their past nine games. They are 8-6 over the last 14 games, 9-8 this month and 16-14 since May 19. They are 17-16 at home this season. And they are 4-3 in games against National League opponents.

The Nationals (24-46) ended an eight-game losing streak with Sunday’s 9-3 win over Philadelphia. But Washington has lost 11 of its past 14 games, and is 6-15 in series-opening games and 3-7 in road series openers. The Nats are on a pace to finish 56-106.

Last season, the Orioles went 3-3 against the Nationals. They were swept in three games at Nationals Park from May 21-23 before sweeping Washington in three games at Oriole Park from July 23-25. The Birds have gone 48-38 against the Nats since the team moved to Washington in 2005, including 26-17 against them at home. The Orioles have gone 4-3 in interleague play this season and own an all-time record of 219-251 against NL opponents in the regular season.

BALTIMORE – Hello from Camden Yards, which looks different than the last time the Nationals were here. The left field wall has been pushed way back and up, turning what used to be one of the best hitter’s parks in the majors into one of the best pitcher’s parks (at least on that side of the field).

We’ll see how that impacts the Nats, but certainly Erick Fedde (tonight’s starter) and Patrick Corbin (Wednesday’s starter) won’t be complaining at all. Fedde will try to keep the recent run of quality starts by this rotation going, following in the footsteps of Josiah Gray on Saturday and Jackson Tetreault on Sunday. If he doesn’t, at least the bullpen is fresh following a much-needed off-day.

The lineup will try to pick up where it left off Sunday, when it exploded for nine runs against the Phillies. Juan Soto, Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell will be going up against right-hander Jordan Lyles, who has a 5.10 ERA and has allowed four or more earned runs in fewer than six innings in each of his last three starts.

As expected, the Nats activated Alcides Escobar off the 10-day injured list today. Escobar, out since May 31 with a hamstring strain, will assume a utility infielder spot, with Luis García remaining the everyday shortstop for now.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Where: Camden Yards
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 84 degrees, wind 7 mph out to center field

As soon as it was placed on the schedule, this was always a possibility. You just have to hope that everything goes well leading up to it.

Once Major League Baseball released the updated 2022 schedule after the first week of the regular season was canceled due to the lockout, the Nationals must have circled this weekend on their calendar.

One of the two games against the Phillies that was originally scheduled for early April was rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader on Friday, the back end of an 11-game homestand over 10 days. Not to mention it’s Ryan Zimmerman Weekend at Nationals Park.

So yeah, a long weekend.

On the field, the Nationals need help for and from their pitching staff to get through these next five games.

This week hasn’t been pleasant to the Nationals. After starting this homestand with two big wins over the Brewers, it’s been all downhill since.

Looking to avoid their third sweep in as many weeks, the Nationals dropped another dud in the form of an 8-2 loss to the Braves in front of 21,153 fans at Nationals Park.

The Nats had nothing going against Braves starter Spencer Strider. The rookie brought his good stuff to his fourth straight start, putting away hitters with his triple-digit fastball and sharp slider.

Strider’s fastball averaged 98.8 mph and topped out at 100.9 mph, with the Nats swinging late on it all night. Then the slider was a great putaway pitch as it was thrown for strikes 43 percent of the time.

“He was good. He hit 100-101 (mph)," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "But more so his breaking ball was good and he threw it for strikes. When a guy's like that, he's tough locating his fastball. He was tough."

Well, this week has not started off well for the Nationals. After starting this 11-games-in-10-days homestand with two impressive wins against the Brewers over the weekend, the Nats have dropped three straight by a combined score of 23-10, including the first two games of this series against the division rival Braves. Not to mention all of the injury and roster news from the past 48 hours …

As they look to avoid a three-game sweep, the Nats will turn to Erick Fedde to be the stopper, something he actually has done a handful of times this season. The Nationals have won seven of the 12 games Fedde has started this season, with the right-hander going 4-4 with a 4.87 ERA. Of those seven wins, five of them were the only victories the Nationals secured in those respective series (against the Mets, Pirates, Rockies, Astros and Dodgers). And his most recent start against the Brewers stopped a three-game losing streak after the Nationals were swept out of Miami last week.

He’ll try to do it again tonight.

The Braves will send one of the National League’s best rookies in Spencer Strider to the mound for just his fourth start in his 15th appearance this season. The 23-year-old right-hander is 2-2 with a 1.122 WHIP and 2.35 ERA, which is third-best among qualified major league rookies. Strider’s three starts have come in his last three outings, over which he allowed four earned runs in 14 innings while striking out 20 and issuing just eight walks. He gave up one run on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings of relief against the Nats on April 11 in Atlanta.

Juan Soto is not in the lineup for the second straight game. The star right fielder slipped in the dugout and banged his right knee on the corner of a bench in the eighth inning of Monday night’s game. Manager Davey Martinez told reporters yesterday Soto’s X-ray came back clean, but today said the knee is still sore. Martinez also said during his pregame media session that Soto could be available off the bench.

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.

Home, sweet home! After going 3-7 over a three-city road trip, the Nationals have finally returned home to South Capitol Street. 

Tonight kicks off an 11-game homestand over the next 10 days (thanks to a doubleheader against the Phillies a week from today), starting with three games against the Brewers. The Nats will be looking for a little payback after dropping two out of three in Milwaukee last month.

Erick Fedde takes the mound for his sixth home start to open this series. He’s 3-4 with 4.88 ERA on the season and gave up two runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings against the Brewers in May.

Aaron Ashby gets the start for the Brew Crew tonight. In 12 games (six starts) this season, the young left-hander is 1-4 with a 3.13 ERA. He closed out the Brewers’ 7-0 win with a scoreless ninth inning on the same day Fedde started for the Nationals at American Family Field. As a starter, Ashby is 1-2 with a 3.45 ERA.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS 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, 78 degrees, wind 7 mph in from left field 

CINCINNATI – The Nationals have made a bad habit of falling behind early in games this week. They have allowed their opponents to score first in six of their last seven games, including today’s matchup against the Reds.

To the Nats’ credit, they were able to claw their way back and win last night’s game. They had to claw their way not once but twice today in a wild 10-8 win over the Reds in front of 23,128 fans at Great American Ball Park.

“I tell the guys, 'Hey, we give up a run or two the first thing, there's still a lot of baseball left. We got a good enough offense that we can inch our way and come back and end up winning these games. So don't get down,” manager Davey Martinez said before today’s game.

Stay in the fight, or something like that.

That’s exactly what they did.

CINCINNATI – Baseball is a streaky sport. A single player or a whole team can go through long stretches of success or failure.

For an example of the latter, look at the Nationals through the first four games of this road trip, when they lost all four and were outscored 36-6. But after last night’s 8-5 win over the Reds, which was led by Josiah Gray’s dominant start and Lane Thomas’ three home runs, the Nationals are hoping their fortunes have made a 180-degree turn and a new streak will start.

They say hitting can be contagious. Can good pitching have the same effect on a staff?

“Absolutely,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame press conference. “You know, the thing is, when it comes to hitting in any team that's struggling, you start the game and all of a sudden you find yourself trying to come back again. We did that yesterday, we did come back. But it was the innings after that with Josiah, where he beared down and kept us in the game, gave the guys some motivation. They went out there and they scored some more runs (for) him when he went out and he pretty much shut the door down. So that's kind of what we need.”

In Erick Fedde’s case, he’s trying to carry over Gray’s strong start into his own outing today after allowing six runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Mets on Monday. Martinez said Fedde just needs to forget about that outing and return to form today against the Reds.

CINCINNATI – Hey, would you look at that: The Nationals offense finally scored some runs last night! In fact, their eight runs Friday night outscored their collective six from the previous four games. Go figure.

As promised, Lane Thomas is back hitting second after his three-homer game last night. The Nats offense will hope to ride the Lane Train against Reds starter Tyler Mahle, who sports a 2-5 record and 5.53 ERA. But the right-hander had a lot of success against the Nats last year, holding them to just one unearned run in 11 1/3 innings over two starts.

Erick Fedde will make his second start of this road trip after having an abysmal start Monday in New York. He allowed six runs in 1 1/3 innings on 52 pitches against the Mets to inflate his ERA from 3.55 to 4.60.

Fedde did not have the same sort of success against the Reds last year as Mahle did against the Nats. In a September start at Great American Ball Park, the right-hander gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CINCINNATI REDS
Where: Great American Ball Park
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 82 degrees, wind 3 mph out to right field 

NEW YORK – The Nationals sent Erick Fedde to the mound at Citi Field tonight, first and foremost, in an attempt to win their series opener against the Mets. They also sent Fedde out there, second and furthermore, in an attempt to get enough innings from their starter to help set the stage for the rest of the series, knowing they need somebody to make a spot start Wednesday afternoon.

If Fedde – and Patrick Corbin on Tuesday – could provide enough depth to keep the bullpen from being overworked, manager Davey Martinez could then use long men Paolo Espino and Josh Rogers in tandem on Wednesday, negating the need to summon an inexperienced minor league starter for one game.

It took less than two innings tonight for that hopeful plan to go up in flames.

Fedde was rocked by the Mets for six runs and eight hits in only 1 1/3 innings, setting the Nationals on a runaway path toward a lopsided 13-5 loss and leaving the organization in an unenviable position as it now tries to figure out who’s going to pitch the next several days.

"It's brutal," the right-hander said. "It lets the whole team down. If anything, if you're able to at least go six (innings) and give up a bunch of runs, you put the team in a better position going forward. But today was just really unacceptable in a sense. I feel bad for the guys in the bullpen. I put them behind the 8-ball probably for the next week or so."

NEW YORK – The Nationals have won four of their last five. As such, they’ve improved to 18-31 on the season. Which means if they win tonight’s series opener against the Mets, they’ll be 19-31. And we all know what that means.

OK, so it probably wouldn’t mean what it meant three years ago when the Nats got swept in this very ballpark to fall to 19-31. If anything, this time it would represent a significant improvement over the way things had been going. Not that anyone here would be celebrating it if it does happen.

The challenge the next three weeks is tough, facing a Mets club that has been comfortably leading the division most of the season to date, despite injuries to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. They’ll send left-hander David Peterson, owner of a 2.14 ERA in five games, to the mound tonight to face a Nats lineup that doesn’t have a ton of regular season experience against him. (Though they’ve faced him several times in spring training.)

Erick Fedde starts for the Nationals, and he quietly has turned into the most consistently effective member of their rotation. Over his last six starts, Fedde has a 2.23 ERA, allowing two or fewer earned runs in five of those outings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (outside D.C. and N.Y. markets), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees, wind 11 mph out to left field