SEATTLE – Needing to clear a spot on their pitching staff for returning starter Erick Fedde, the Nationals opted to shift Cory Abbott to the bullpen and designate Tyler Clippard for assignment, likely ending the popular veteran’s second stint with the organization on a sour note.

Clippard could potentially return to Triple-A Rochester if he clears waivers, but manager Davey Martinez suggested the move was made in part to give the 37-year-old more time to catch on with another franchise and finish out the season.

The Nationals’ all-time leader in appearances with 418, Clippard returned to the organization this spring more than seven years after he last pitched for them. A stalwart of their bullpen from 2008-14, he went on to have a long career as one of baseball’s most reliable and durable relievers while pitching for 10 different teams.

The Nats hoped to rekindle some old magic and enjoy a feel-good story when they signed Clippard to a minor league deal in March, but it didn’t come close to working out as hoped. After spending three months performing well at Rochester, he finally was called up in mid-July but made only one appearance before landing on the injured list with a groin strain. He returned healthy two weeks ago but was scored upon in two of his three outings while seeing very little action.

Clippard pitched a scoreless inning during Saturday’s 2-1 loss in San Diego, and that proved to be his final appearance before he was informed of the news today in Seattle.

CHICAGO – Nelson Cruz is out of the Nationals lineup for today’s series finale against the Cubs, less than 24 hours after the veteran designated hitter had to come out of a game with a sore right shoulder.

Cruz took only two at-bats during Tuesday night’s 6-5 win over the Cubs, flying out to left in the top of the first and then striking out in the top of the fourth. As he watched those at-bats, manager Davey Martinez noticed the 42-year-old didn’t look comfortable swinging, so when his turn to bat came up again in the fifth, Maikel Franco pinch-hit for him.

Martinez described the soreness as emanating from the back of Cruz’s shoulder. He figured all along he’d sit Cruz for this afternoon’s series finale, though he got encouraging news this morning to suggest he could be able to pinch-hit at some point during the game.

“Especially with the quick turnaround,” Martinez said of the decision not to start Cruz today. “We played last night, and he had to come out of the game. I thought regardless of how he felt, maybe to give him a day (off) today would be good. I talked to him this morning and he said: ‘Let me get loose, let me get ready and I’ll be available to pinch-hit later.’ ”

Cruz had been hitting the ball a bit better of late, going 8-for-29 with two RBIs and three walks during an eight-game stretch prior to Tuesday. He continues not to hit for power, though, having produced a scant .225 slugging percentage over his last 31 games, with three doubles and zero homers since June 25.

For the fourth time in six games, Ehire Adrianza finds himself in the Nationals lineup tonight. And for the third time, he’s starting at third base in place of Maikel Franco.

If that development seems to have come out of nowhere, well, that’s true.

Adrianza started only 10 games at third base in his first six weeks since coming off the injured list, in addition to three games at second base, two in left field and one at shortstop. Now, though, he’s getting regular action, mostly at the hot corner.

What’s the impetus for that?

“I’ve just honestly been playing matchups with him,” manager Davey Martinez said before tonight’s series opener against the Cardinals. “He missed a lot (of time), as you know. I’m trying to keep him going. When you get hurt and miss that much time during the season, it takes you a little bit to get going. I think over the last few days, he’s been hitting the ball a lot better. So I didn’t want him to lose that by sitting him for a week or something. So I’ve been playing him quite a bit. Franco’s been playing quite a bit. They’ve just been sharing time.”

PHOENIX – The Nationals signed nine of their top-10 draft picks today, including first rounder Elijah Green, who should immediately be classified as one of the top prospects in an organization still trying to stockpile more young talent.

Green, the fifth overall selection in Sunday’s first round, represents the highest draft pick the Nationals have had since they took Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper No. 1 overall in back-to-back years in 2009-10, not to mention their first top-10 selection since Anthony Rendon went sixth in 2011.

Terms of Green’s deal weren’t immediately known, but the expected value of the signing bonus for the No. 5 pick was $6.49 million. The 18-year-old outfielder had committed to play next spring at the University of Miami, but as expected he’ll immediately become a professional and begin his trek up through the minor leagues.

Green, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound center fielder with right-handed power and a strong arm, was drafted out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. The son of former NFL tight end Eric Green, he was described by Nationals vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline as a player who “could be an impactful superstar” if he develops as hoped.

Green will be at Nationals Park on July 29 to be introduced to the crowd before the team’s next home game.

Needing fresh arms to get them through today’s first-half finale, the Nationals called up Cory Abbott from Triple-A and optioned Hunter Harvey to Rochester.

Abbott, who has been a starter in the minors, is available to pitch multiple innings in relief this afternoon, which is already a bullpen game. Erasmo Ramirez will start, going two or three innings before manager Davey Martinez begins summoning a parade of other relievers the rest of the game.

Harvey’s demotion has less to do with performance and more to do with the fact he still has options and his recent lengthy stint on the injured list with a pronator strain in his forearm. The right-hander gave up two runs while throwing 28 pitches during Saturday’s loss to the Braves, the first time he’s been scored upon in seven big league appearances this season (sandwiched around the IL stint).

“He’s been a guy that’s been injured,” Martinez said. “He’s got four days off (the All-Star break) down there coming up. We’re just going to give him a little breather and get him back. We want him to pitch multiple innings, work on his breaking ball a little bit more, and then we’ll get him back up here as soon as we can.”

The Nationals found themselves in this predicament due to Tuesday’s rainout against the Mariners. That created a doubleheader Wednesday, and thus a stretch of six games in five days to close out the season’s first half.

The restaurants and condos and everything else that has sprung up around Nationals Park since 2014 felt unfamiliar to Tyler Clippard, who never got to enjoy the benefits of a reinvigorated Navy Yard during his first stint with the Nationals.

Once he jogged in from the home bullpen Thursday night to cheers from an appreciative fan base that remembers what he meant to this organization and found himself on the mound again, that’s when everything seemed right with the world.

“It felt like I was home,” Clippard said. “It was a familiar feeling, for sure. Having the curly W on me gives me a lot of confidence, for whatever reason. I just feel good out there. That’s how I felt today. It was a lot of fun.”

It certainly helps when you also pitch two scoreless innings, which is exactly what the 37-year-old did in his 415th career appearance for the Nationals, but his first in eight seasons. After bouncing around between eight different franchises since 2015, Clippard rejoined the Nationals this spring on a minor league contract, then spent the last three months making his case at Triple-A Rochester to be called up.

The call finally came Wednesday, when Clippard made the long drive to D.C. and arrived in time for the nightcap of a split doubleheader against the Mariners, having spent much of that time reminiscing about the path that led him back here.

Why was Aníbal Sánchez – 38 years old, out of the majors for nearly two seasons, surely not part of the Nationals’ long-term plan – starting against the Braves tonight on South Capitol Street? Because the Nats simply did not have any other viable options at this point.

Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross are injured. So are Jackson Tetreault and Evan Lee. Josh Rogers is still working his way back from the injured list. Joan Adon needs to spend some time at Triple-A to get some things straightened out. Cade Cavalli and Cole Henry have been deemed by the organization not ready for their big league debuts.

So here Davey Martinez found himself tonight, handing the ball to a stalwart of his 2019 World Series rotation who hadn’t come close to pitching up to that standard since. And though he did get charged with the loss after serving up two homers in five innings during a 5-4 defeat, it’s hard to deny Sánchez looked far better than anyone reasonably expected he would at the outset.

"He pitched really well overall," Martinez said. "The first inning, I think he had a little bit of jitters, believe it or not. But then he settled down, and he was throwing the ball really, really well."

The Nationals lost for the 13th time in 14 games – they’ve also lost seven straight to the Braves over the last month – not because of their aging starting pitcher, but because of yet another too-little, too-late offensive performance.

The Nationals placed Tanner Rainey on the 60-day injured list with a sprained elbow ligament between games of today’s doubleheader against the Mariners, suggesting the team’s erratic closer is out for the remainder of the season and potentially part of the 2023 campaign as well.

Veteran reliever Tyler Clippard, who has spent the last 3 1/2 months pitching for Triple-A Rochester, had his contract purchased and will be in the Nats bullpen tonight for the first time since 2014. But Clippard’s long-awaited return, while sure to please fans, comes as the corresponding move to a major injury to a key member of the roster.

The transactions were announced after reporters had already conducted interviews in the clubhouse following today’s 6-4 loss to the Mariners, so the full severity of Rainey’s injury isn’t yet known. But the decision to immediately place the 29-year-old right-hander on the 60-day IL – typically, pitchers go on the 15-day IL first before getting transferred later to clear a spot on the 40-man roster – suggests the team already knows Rainey faces a long recovery, potentially Tommy John surgery.

That decision hasn't been made yet. Rainey is scheduled to get a second opinion on his elbow, according to a club source, though ligament replacement surgery is a possible outcome.

It had been an up-and-down season for Rainey. He was unscored upon in his first eight appearances, then blew back-to-back save opportunities in May, then another in June. He converted four straight save opportunities in late June but then gave up game-changing homers on back-to-back days to the Marlins during the Nationals’ last homestand.

NEW YORK – Though he’d never admit it publicly, Mike Rizzo knew what this season likely had in store for the Nationals. From the moment he dealt away eight veterans at last July’s trade deadline and made only modest acquisitions to account for it last winter, the longtime general manager signaled 2022 would be less about wins and losses and more about rebooting a franchise that sorely needed it.

Two months in, though, with his team owning one of the worst records in the majors, Rizzo admits he’s less than satisfied with what he’s watching. Not necessarily because of the record. But because of the way the Nats are playing.

“I think that the discouraging thing is that we’re not playing good defense, and we’re not running the bases well,” Rizzo said in the visiting dugout at Citi Field prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Mets, an eventual 5-0 loss that featured several shaky defensive moments. “And those are fundamental mistakes that shouldn’t happen at the rate that they’re happening now. So that’s the biggest takeaway I’ve seen from the beginning of the season.”

Don’t confuse Rizzo’s frustration with the current manner of play from the Nationals as any concession his grand plan isn’t going as planned. He will immediately point to a revamped farm system that has performed better than the big league club, the development of prospects throughout that system and the promise of it all translating into more wins in D.C. sooner rather than later.

“I think setting expectations was important when we started this process with the ownership group and with the fan base,” he said. “I think a lot of people understand it, where we’re at, and I really believe that the reboot is in full-go, and I think that we’re in a better position than we were in 2009. A few short years later, we won the division, and I think we're in a better position now because our minor leagues are much better now than they were then.

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

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

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

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

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

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