PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals hit the road for the second half of this week-long stretch against divisional opponents. Tonight’s opener of a four-game series will be the first of 11 games remaining between the Nats and Phillies this season.

The Nats are 2-6 against the Phils through their first eight matchups and are 9-38 against the National League East.

Luke Voit and MacKenzie Gore, two of the six players received in Tuesday’s Juan Soto-Josh Bell trade with the Padres, are meeting the Nats in Philly today, with Voit making his first start with his new team. The veteran first baseman slashed .225/.317/.416 with a .733 OPS, 13 home runs and 48 RBIs in 344 plate appearances with the Padres.

Gore is on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation. He will meet with the training staff and be examined by team doctors so they can formulate a rehab plan.

Paolo Espino makes his third start against the Phillies and second at Citizens Bank Park this season tonight. Espino is 0-3 with a 3.78 ERA this season and 0-3 with a 4.95 ERA in nine starts. He gave up four runs in 3 ⅔ innings in a start here on July 5.

The Nationals are back to work tonight, hoping to bounce back from Friday night’s 6-2 loss to the Cardinals and emerge with a victory that would ensure July 2022 doesn’t surpass July 2008 as the worst month in club history. They need just one more win to make sure they finish at least 6-19 this month. (That 2008 team went 5-20 in July to establish the rock-bottom mark for the organization since it arrived in D.C.)

The Nats will try to do so with a rotation change. They just announced Paolo Espino is starting tonight’s game instead of Erick Fedde. No word yet on the reason for that change, but I’m sure we’ll get it soon, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the Nationals will try to get something going offensively tonight against Dakota Hudson, who has struggled quite a bit of late. Over his last seven starts, the Cardinals right-hander is 2-4 with a 6.16 ERA and 1.579 WHIP.

Tonight’s game is on FOX, with Aaron Goldsmith on play-by-play, Tom Verducci as analyst and Ken Rosenthal as dugout reporter. It’s available to most everyone in Maryland, D.C., Virginia and most of the Midwest. Here’s the full coverage map.

Update: The Nationals have placed Fedde on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to July 27, with right shoulder inflammation. They've recalled right-hander Cory Abbott from Triple-A Rochester.

LOS ANGELES – It was a pretty sizeable mismatch on paper. On one side, Tony Gonsolin, owner of an 11-0 record and 2.02 ERA in 18 starts. On the other side, Paolo Espino, owner of an 0-3 record and 3.57 ERA in 27 games (only seven of them starts).

What transpired Monday at Dodger Stadium, though, was a friendly reminder that anything can happen on any given night in baseball. And though it hasn’t happened all that often to the Nationals this season, it’s still possible to happen at any given moment.

On this night, Espino was the better pitcher. The 35-year-old journeyman allowed just one run over his four-plus innings, scattering four hits while striking out two and recording quick outs. Gonsolin, meanwhile, carried a no-hitter into the fourth but quickly unraveled, surrendering a leadoff homer to Yadiel Hernandez, then four straight two-out hits that allowed the Nats to open up a 4-1 lead they would hold all night en route to victory.

Thus did the Nationals become the first team this season to defeat Gonsolin. Yes, the same Nationals team that entered with a major-league-worst 32-65 record.

“You know what, he still is terrific,” manager Davey Martinez said of Gonsolin, now 11-1 with a 2.26 ERA. “He’s got good stuff. He mixes all his pitches in, he works quick. Today, we got an opportunity to score some runs off him, and we came through.”

LOS ANGELES – Juan Soto, to no one’s surprise, found himself the center of attention again today at Dodger Stadium. One week ago, the Nationals star was celebrating victory in the Home Run Derby on this very field before an appreciative crowd. Tonight, he was left to try to ignore the awkward pleas of some among the gathering of 48,647 for him to trade in his curly W for Dodger blue.

By night’s end, though, that large gathering could only trudge out of this old ballyard muttering to themselves about how Soto and his Nationals teammates had just dismantled their boys to the tune of a 4-1 victory that included clutch hits and a whole lot of dominant relief pitching by a visiting team that entered with half as many wins as their star-laden opponents.

"It gets the team a lot more excited, especially after we did what we did against the pitcher of his caliber, with those great numbers," left fielder Yadiel Hernandez said of his team's ability to hand Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin his first loss of the season in his 18th start. "We were able to score those runs, and it creates more excitement for us to keep going and hopefully have more games like this."

Soto played his role in the Nats’ fifth-inning rally, chopping a two-run triple over first baseman Freddie Freeman’s head, but there were countless other contributors on this night, most notably the five relievers who each tossed a scoreless inning to make the win possible.

Turning to his bullpen in the fifth despite starter Paolo Espino’s success (and low pitch count), Davey Martinez asked the quintet of Andres Machado, Victor Arano, Hunter Harvey, Carl Edwards Jr. and Kyle Finnegan to close it out. And then watched as they did just that.

LOS ANGELES – Dodger Stadium has been the site of more than a few memorable moments in Nationals history, both good ones and bad ones. What do the next three days have in store? Probably nothing as meaningful as the night of Oct. 9, 2019, when the Nats got over the hump and won their first playoff series. But hopefully nothing too devastating, either. We shall see.

Juan Soto, of course, will be the center of attention here, just as he was one week ago when he won the Home Run Derby in this very ballpark. It’ll be interesting to see what the crowd reaction is to the young star. Perhaps some Dodger faithful will be cheering him on, hoping to make a good impression on him?

Soto will be batting third tonight, after batting second Sunday in a 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks. Victor Robles has been bumped up to the leadoff spot for the first time this season, with everyone else getting bumped down a spot from where they were Sunday, including Ehire Adrianza at third base instead of Maikel Franco. Will have to ask if anything unusual is going on there.

Paolo Espino gets the ball for his first start of the second half. It’s an awfully tough challenge, facing a Dodgers lineup that opens up with Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. Espino’s best hope for success: Keep the walks to a minimum, and keep the ball in the yard.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Where: Dodger Stadium
Gametime: 10:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB Network (outside D.C. and L.A. markets), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 72 degrees, wind 7 mph out to center field

If money alone isn’t going to be enough to keep Juan Soto in Washington for the long haul – and today’s revelation that Soto recently turned down a 15-year, $440 million extension suggests it is indeed about more than just money, at least at this juncture of the process – the best thing the Nationals can do to convince their young star to stay is to start winning ballgames.

That, as it turns out, is an even more daunting task these days than coming up with a contract number Soto will accept.

Today’s 6-3 loss to the Braves, which included a 1-hour, 49-minute rain delay in the eighth inning, was the Nationals’ ninth consecutive loss, their ninth in a row to Atlanta, their 15th in their last 16 games overall. This is their first nine-game losing streak since 2008, when they lost a club-record 12 in a row. At 30-63, they own the worst record in the majors and would need to go an unlikely 33-36 the rest of the way just to avoid finishing with 100 losses.

All of which begs the question: Why would Soto agree to a new deal, even if it set records, before seeing some evidence of improvement from the franchise he helped win a World Series only three years ago?

“I mean, at the end of the day, you’re going to get what you deserve, we all know that,” manager Davey Martinez said before the game. “And for me, I hope it’s here. Because I love the kid. I don’t ever think that he’s anything else but a Washington National, and that’s the way I’m going to view it right now. He is a Washington National.”

Will today be the day? Will the Nationals end their dual eight-game losing streaks (one of them overall, one of them against the Braves)? Will they actually be able to play this late-afternoon game as scheduled, given the likelihood of thunderstorms in the area? All we can do is wait and see on all counts.

The challenge, as always, is stiff, because the Nationals simply haven’t been able to get both a quality pitching performance and early run production against the Braves during these last eight games they’ve played against them. They guy they’re facing today, Max Fried, is very good. But the Nats have actually enjoyed some modest success against the lefty: In their last head-to-head encounter, they scored four runs in 5 2/3 innings off him, and that was with Juan Soto out of the lineup.

At the same time, though, the Nationals need a good start from Paolo Espino, who has not been great in recent outings. Over his last three starts, the wily veteran has allowed 10 runs on 17 hits while totaling only 12 innings. That includes a four-inning start Sunday in Atlanta in which he allowed two runs on six hits and was pulled with his pitch count at 65.

ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Thunderstorms, 82 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

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

ATLANTA – When it rains, it pours. An ironic use of that phrase on a beautiful day just outside downtown Atlanta.

But it’s true for the Nationals, who dropped their fourth straight game and were swept by the Braves with today’s 4-3 loss in 12 innings in front of 32,053 at Truist Park.

Jordan Weems, who pitched two impressive scoreless innings Friday night, was charged with the bottom of the 12th. The Nats intentionally walked Matt Olson to put two runners on for the right-hander. Austin Riley, who hit the tying home run in the eighth inning, stepped up to the plate and delivered the game-winning RBI single.

Tanner Rainey put up two zeros in the 10th and 11th innings, not without some tense moments, though.

Going back to the seventh, Davey Martinez brought in Kyle Finnegan to face the top of the Braves order and protect a 3-2 lead. Finnegan struck out the side easily, and since he last pitched Wednesday, he was plenty rested to go back out for a second inning.

ATLANTA – The Nationals need a win today to salvage this three-game series against the Braves and end this mostly miserable road trip on a high note.

Paolo Espino will lead them on the mound as he makes his sixth consecutive start. The right-hander hasn’t posted similar numbers as a starter to those he did when he was strictly a reliever. In 20 appearances out of the bullpen, he had a 2.03 ERA over a mainly low-leverage 26 ⅔ innings. Since he joined the rotation on June 12, Espino is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in 22 innings over five starts. He gave up three runs in one inning of relief against the Braves in his second outing of the season on April 12.

For the offense, Ian Anderson may present the best opportunity to do some damage off a Braves starter. The right-hander is 7-5 with a 5.09 ERA over his first 16 starts of the season. He gave up four runs on six hits and four walks in four innings plus three batters against the Nats on June 13. He has a 9.82 ERA in just 11 innings over his last three starts.

César Hernández is on the bench and not in his usual leadoff spot, with Luis García batting first instead. Manager Davey Martinez also has Juan Soto and Josh Bell swapping places in today's batting order.

All-Stars will be announced later today, so we’ll see soon who will be the Nationals’ representative in the Midsummer Classic.

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

Whatever took place on South Capitol Street this afternoon would not qualify as “good” baseball in the minds of most. Mistakes were made, both physical and mental. Outs were given away, both in the field and on the bases. Effective pitching was hard to come by. An obscure, and fairly infuriating, rule was invoked in the top of the fifth, giving the Pirates a run they didn’t particularly deserve.

And wouldn’t you know how this would all turn out in the end, with the Nationals losing by that one run, 8-7, in a ballgame that was, if not well-played, at least interesting.

A back-and-forth affair ultimately came down to the run umpires awarded the Pirates on a bizarre play in the fifth that saw the Nationals turn an inning-ending double play yet still surrender a run to a guy who left third base too soon on a lineout because they didn’t properly appeal to have him declared what practically speaking would’ve been the fourth out of the inning.

Got all that? We’ll attempt to explain further in just a moment.

The upshot at the end of the day: The Nats failed to complete their first three-game sweep of the season, and now head into an off-day trying to sort through the mess they just endured on a warm, late-June afternoon in D.C.

The turnaround of the Nationals rotation over the last week-plus has been nothing short of remarkable. Over their last nine games, starters have delivered a 1.66 ERA, allowing only 10 total earned runs over 54 1/3 innings. Nobody has been charged with more than three earned runs in a start since Joan Adon in the opener of the June 17 doubleheader against the Phillies, a full 12 days ago.

So it’s up to Paolo Espino to keep the ball rolling today and potentially lead the Nats to a three-game sweep of the Pirates. Espino has been quite good since his move from low-leverage reliever to No. 4 starter, allowing three earned runs on nine hits over 10 1/3 innings. He’s yet to complete six innings in a game, and he’d love to get that far today if he can keep his pitch count down.

The Nationals would also love to get a clutch hit or two prior to the bottom of the eighth. That strategy, though it has worked the last two nights, probably isn’t sustainable over the long haul. So perhaps some early offense against Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller would help today and take some pressure off Espino.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES vs. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 83 degrees, wind 9 mph out to 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

ARLINGTON, Texas – They can get all the quality pitching they want, which they did tonight from Paolo Espino and Co. The Nationals know it matters only if they can also get the kind of timely hitting that has eluded them too often this season, especially from the most important batters in their lineup.

So when those guys delivered tonight, when Juan Soto and Josh Bell combined to deliver the eighth-inning run that propelled the Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the Rangers, it proved a cathartic moment for everyone in the visitors’ dugout, not the least of whom were those two big sluggers.

Soto’s 110-mph double off the wall in left-center ignited the winning rally, and Bell’s subsequent RBI single to center sealed the deal and capped off a nice homecoming for the big first baseman, who grew up in nearby Irving and did everything but homer during tonight’s win.

"It was cool, just knowing I had friends and family here," said Bell, who had 30 to 40 of them in attendance tonight and expects to have even more Saturday. "Friends that played baseball with me growing up. Being able to do this in front of them makes it all that much more special."

That eighth-inning sequence, desperately needed from a Nats lineup that has mostly been held in check all week, helped make the most out of a strong performance from the pitching staff.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Hello from Globe Life Field, the only active major league ballpark the Nationals have never previously visited (not to mention the only one your humble beat writer has never previously visited). For the first time in 17 years, the Nats face the Rangers on the road, and there are all kinds of connections to this matchup.

For example, Paolo Espino made six relief appearances for the Rangers in 2017, three years before making it back to the big leagues with the Nationals. The veteran right-hander gets the start tonight, his third since being added to the rotation. After throwing 89 pitches in five innings last week against the Phillies, Espino should be good to approach the 100-pitch mark tonight, making him a full-fledged starter.

Starting for the Rangers, meanwhile, is Dane Dunning, whose name may sound familiar. That’s because he was one of the Nationals’ first-round picks in the 2016 draft (along with Carter Kieboom) and then was included with fellow pitching prospects Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López in that winter’s blockbuster trade with the White Sox for Adam Eaton. Dunning has had a bit of a winding path since, undergoing Tommy John surgery in the minors, making his major league debut for Chicago in 2020 but then getting traded to Texas for Lance Lynn. He’s now an established member of the Rangers rotation, entering tonight’s start with a 1-5 record, 4.38 ERA and 1.329 WHIP in 14 outings.

And then of course we can’t ignore the biggest connection between these franchises. At the end of the 1971 season, Senators owner Bob Short moved the club here to Texas and renamed it the Rangers, a decision that still stirs up all kinds of emotion from longtime D.C. baseball fans. But let’s at least acknowledge this: If not for that move all those years ago, the 2019 World Series would not have been won by the Washington Nationals, right?

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TEXAS RANGERS
Where: Globe Life Field
Gametime: 8:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

This weekend is about Ryan Zimmerman, no doubt. As the Nationals get ready to retire his No. 11 tomorrow, all eyes are on Mr. National, the first player in the team's history to be so honored.

Former teammates Jayson Werth, Adam LaRoche, Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa lined the top of the visitor’s dugout for a pregame Q&A session hosted by MASN’s own Bob Carpenter in front of a gathering of season ticket holders before Zimmerman himself showed up for the later portion.

The real celebration is tomorrow, but it was a nice way to kick off the special weekend.

Then there was a baseball game to be played, with the Nationals looking to avoid the doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Phillies and snap a six-game losing streak in the process. They weren’t able to do so, losing 8-7 in 10 innings in front of 24,785 people in attendance for an unbelievably whacky nightcap.

Let’s fast-forward to the extra frame. Kyle Schwarber was the automatic runner at second base for the Phillies. Steve Cishek walked Rhys Hoskins to put a second runner on base. A 3-1 groundout by Nick Castellanos moved the runners into scoring position for J.T. Realmuto.

If you thought this week was long already, Friday’s games aren’t even over yet. Let’s play two!

After this afternoon’s 5-3 loss to the Phillies, in which Joan Adon covered five innings on 97 pitches and Evan Lee covered one inning on 31 pitches, the Nationals will need a total team effort to snap this six-game losing streak. The pitching hasn’t been great and the offense came into today averaging 2.6 runs per game this week.

Paolo Espino gets the assignment for the nightcap, trying to provide the home team with as much length as possible as well as the Nats' first quality start since June 5. The right-hander is 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 1.022 WHIP in 21 appearances this season. He’s making his second straight start after giving up just one run and four hits with two strikes over 3 ⅔ innings against the Brewers. He threw 53 pitches on Sunday, so he’ll be pushed beyond that tonight.

The Phillies are calling up 25-year-old Bailey Falter from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to start tonight. In six major league appearances this season, the left-hander is 0-2 with a 4.20 ERA and 1.467 WHIP. In his two starts, he is 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA and 1.565 WHIP. Falter has been fantastic at Triple-A, however, pitching to a 1.54 ERA and 0.686 WHIP in five starts with Lehigh Valley.

Tonight officially kicks off Ryan Zimmerman Weekend here at Nationals Park. Gates open for all fans around 6 p.m. There are on-field and social media Q&A sessions with former players at 6 p.m. and an on-field Q&A session with Zimmerman at 6:20 p.m. Plus, the first 25,000 fans age 21+ will receive a Ryan Zimmerman Employee No. 11 T-shirt.

Needing a fresh arm to help get them through today’s day-night doubleheader, the Nationals recalled right-hander Cory Abbott from Triple-A and optioned reliever Andres Machado to Rochester.

Abbott was today’s scheduled starter for Rochester in Scranton, so he’s available for length should the Nats need it either in relief of Game 1 starter Joan Adon or nightcap starter Paolo Espino.

“The biggest thing was bringing up a guy who could give us multiple innings if need be,” manager Davey Martinez said.

Abbott, 26, has big-league experience, pitching seven games last season for the Cubs, allowing 13 earned runs on 20 hits and 11 walks over 17 1/3 innings. The Giants acquired him in April, then the Nationals claimed him off waivers in May and sent him to Triple-A to pitch as both a starter and reliever.

In six games spanning 13 innings for Rochester, Abbott allowed 13 runs on 17 hits, walking nine but striking out 18.

The longest, toughest homestand that would never end continues today with a day-night doubleheader, a byproduct of the opening week of games that was lost when Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association couldn’t finalize their new collective bargaining agreement in time to start the season as scheduled.

The Nationals actually won the first two games of this 11-game homestand, beating the Brewers behind some offensive firepower. But since then they’ve lost five in a row, including Thursday night’s blowout loss to the Phillies.

So that leaves four more games over the next three days, with two on tap today. First up is Joan Adon vs. Ranger Suárez at 1:05 p.m. Then comes Paolo Espino vs. Bailey Falter at 7:05 p.m.

What kind of shape is the Nationals pitching staff in at this point? It’s not great. That’s what happens when your starters combine for only 19 2/3 innings during this five-game losing streak. Yes, on average they’ve been getting fewer than four innings from their starters during this stretch.

Given all that, manager Davey Martinez suggested after Thursday night’s loss the team might need to bring in another fresh arm before today’s game. Adon will serve as the 27th man for the doubleheader, so any other roster additions would have to be accompanied by roster reductions.

Needing to get through the final leg of a brutal 14-games-in-13-days stretch, the Nationals have decided to recall Joan Adon from Triple-A Rochester and start the right-hander in the opener of Friday’s doubleheader against the Phillies.

Paolo Espino will start the nightcap, making left-hander Evan Lee available to pitch out of the bullpen whenever needed.

The choice of Adon may come as a surprise to those who just saw the Nationals demote the rookie eight days ago after he went 1-10 with a 6.95 ERA in 12 starts to begin the season, but the club was in a dire enough situation to necessitate his recall.

With 18 scheduled innings on tap Friday, the Nats were reluctant to use a pair of starters (Espino and Lee) who haven’t been extended yet to throw more than five innings at best. Adon, who reached the sixth inning in three of his starts, is good to throw at least 90 pitches, taking some pressure off the bullpen for the doubleheader.

“Adon’s been stretched out, so we’re going to pitch him in Game 1,” said manager Davey Martinez, adding that Adon will be the designated 27th man for the doubleheader, suggesting he’ll be sent back to Rochester after the game.