The Nationals are back home after a 5-2 road trip that began with a four-game sweep in Miami but ended with only two runs scored in three games in Texas. It was, to be sure, a successful trip. But it wasn’t necessarily a satisfying trip, given the way things went against the Rangers.

But the boys are back home now for the next week, and they’ll continue this long stretch of interleague play with a couple of series against American League East foes. First up are the Blue Jays, who are off to a frustrating start for a club that has visions of playing in October.

Patrick Corbin will be challenged to hold a Toronto lineup that looks intimidating on paper in check. The lefty needs a quality start in the worst way. Though the Nats won his last start in Miami, he dug them into an early 7-0 hole. That’s not exactly a recipe for consistent success.

At the plate, the Nationals have to start putting together more quality at-bats, and it starts with the bats in the middle of their lineup. CJ Abrams, Nick Senzel and Luis García Jr. have been doing a nice job lately, but Joey Meneses, Jesse Winker and Keibert Ruiz are really struggling right now and have to get back on track for this team to score more runs.

Reminder: Tonight’s game is exclusively on Apple TV+, so unfortunately you’ll need a subscription to that streaming service in order to watch. The good news: Apple is offering free two-month trials that you can access by going to apple.co/mlbgift

35,000 FEET ABOVE AMERICA – Good morning, everyone! As you read this, I'm en route from Dallas to Washington, returning home following the Nationals' three-game series against the Rangers. It was a frustrating series in many ways, but it still included an impressive win and some very impressive pitching performances.

The Nats open a five-game homestand tonight, with a weekend series against the Blue Jays, then the first two-game installment of the Battle of the Beltways against the Orioles on Tuesday. If they can string together back-to-back wins, they'll finally get over that .500 hump that has proven so elusive.

Since I've got some time to kill while I'm in the air, let's conduct a Very Special Episode of the Q&A. Submit your questions in the comments section below, then check back for my responses. (If you don't see anything from me, either my flight was delayed or the WiFi wasn't working on the plane. Fingers crossed neither of those issues comes to fruition!) ...

ARLINGTON, Texas – One of these days, perhaps in the near future, perhaps in the not-so-near future, the Nationals will reach the .500 mark and win their next game so they can proudly declare they are a winning baseball team for the first time in three years.

That day isn’t today, though. Because presented with their third opportunity this season to leap over the proverbial .500 hump, they once again came up short at the plate and lost 6-0 to the Rangers.

The Nationals have made significant strides through the season’s first month-plus. They’re playing a much more competitive brand of baseball than in recent seasons. They’re getting quality pitching performances a majority of the time. But they’re still not hitting with any regularity, and that was never on display more than it was this week at Globe Life Field.

Facing the defending World Series champions, the Nats scored a grand total of two runs, finishing with 12 hits and three walks during the course of 27 innings of play. In spite of all that, they still won one of the three games and had a legitimate chance to win the other two.

Each loss, alas, came with the team sitting right at .500. And so the drought continues: The Nationals still have not owned a winning record since July 1, 2021.

ARLINGTON, Texas – This wasn’t how Jacob Young envisioned the streak coming to an end. If he was finally going to be thrown out trying to steal a base, he didn’t want it to be the result of an overslide.

“You’d rather get thrown out by six steps than have something like that happen,” the Nationals rookie said with a laugh. “But in my mind, it was going to end eventually. I feel like throughout (the streak), we were able to change a lot of games doing it. We’ll just keep on going and start a new one.”

Young had been a perfect 25-for-25 stealing bases since making his major league debut late last season. It was the fifth-longest streak to begin a career in major league history. And when he took off for second in the top of the ninth Wednesday night, he had good reason to believe he was about to be 26-for-26.

Young beat Rangers catcher Jonah Heim’s throw, his left hand reaching second base before shortstop Corey Seager applied the tag. But his momentum carried him past the bag, and perhaps with a little extra push by Seager’s glove, he came off the base with the tag still applied. Second base umpire Alan Porter called him out, and thus did the streak end.

Young had a brief conversation with Porter, asking about the possibility of a push. The umpire told him what Seager did was legal.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Nationals have another chance to win a series this afternoon, another chance to climb over the .500 mark. To do that, they’re probably going to have to score more than one run. It certainly wasn’t enough in Tuesday’s opener. It somehow was enough in Wednesday’s game. The odds of it being enough again today are slim.

If nothing else, Davey Martinez would love to see his hitters work the count more against Nathan Eovaldi, who has issued 17 walks in 36 innings this season. The Nats haven’t drawn a free pass yet in this series. That’s not a sustainable formula for success.

They also have to hope for another strong outing by Mitchell Parker, who has been nothing short of remarkable in the first three starts of his career, allowing a total of three runs in 16 innings. He finally issued his first two walks over the weekend in Miami, and for the first time had to be pulled prior to the fifth inning because of a high pitch count. This will be a good challenge for the rookie left-hander, facing a Rangers lineup that may have been shut out Wednesday night but is still pretty potent.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TEXAS RANGERS
Where: Globe Life Park
Gametime: 2:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
DH Nick Senzel
2B Luis García Jr.
1B Joey Meneses
LF Jesse Winker
C Keibert Ruiz
RF Eddie Rosario
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Jacob Young

ARLINGTON, Texas – One-run games aren’t for the faint of heart. And by one-run games, we’re not talking about games with a one-run margin of victory. We’re talking about 1-0 games, where every moment is magnified, every pitch is crucial and any one mistake can spell doom.

That the Nationals somehow found a way to pull off a 1-0 win tonight over the Rangers was nothing short of remarkable. It required another highly effective performance from Trevor Williams, who twice stranded the bases loaded. It required the scratching across of a single run by a lineup that has done next to nothing in two nights at Globe Life Park. And it required some electric work from a bullpen that knew it had zero margin for error.

But that all somehow came together beautifully over the course of 2 hours, 11 minutes this evening, leaving Davey Martinez’s heart pounding but happy at the end of a taut ballgame.

"You know what," Martinez said, "it gets interesting at the end there. ... As I often say, we try to get one more than the other guys. And today, it came true."

The Nats are a .500 club once again, opening the month of May with a win over the defending World Series champs and now giving themselves another opportunity to get over the elusive hump in Thursday’s series finale.

ARLINGTON, Texas – One month into the season, the hierarchy of the Nationals bullpen is pretty clear. Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey are at the top of the list. Tanner Rainey is at the bottom.

That’s not how Davey Martinez hoped things would go. The Nats manager wanted to believe Rainey would recapture the late-inning role he held before tearing his elbow ligament in 2022, joining Finnegan and Harvey as his most-trusted arms at the end of games.

Rainey’s performance to date has made it clear he doesn’t deserve to pitch in situations of consequence. Right now, he’s clearly the team’s mop-up man.

The numbers aren’t pretty. Rainey has made 11 appearances and sports a 9.82 ERA and 2.818 WHIP. He has only eight strikeouts in 11 innings. He has allowed a staggering 32-of-63 batters faced to safely reach base.

And after three straight blowups in the last week, all of them coming late in games with lopsided scores, it’s fair to wonder where the Nationals turn from here with the 31-year-old right-hander.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The opener of this interleague series was one to forget. The Nationals had only three baserunners (all via single, two of them never leaving the infield). MacKenzie Gore pitched well, but then the bullpen turned it into a rout by night’s end. A bad day all around.

The Nats will try to shrug that off and get back on track (and get back to .500) tonight, hoping for a lot more offense against left-hander Andrew Heaney than they got against right-hander Jon Gray. They’ve fared worse against lefties than righties this season, but they’ve actually won five of their last seven games against a southpaw starter, so perhaps they’re in line for another strong performance.

Speaking of strong performances, Trevor Williams has had a bunch of them to begin his season. The veteran has completed at least five innings in each of his five starts to date, and he’s never allowed more than three runs in any of them. (He’s only allowed one run in three of the starts.) We keep wondering if the magic dust is going to fade at some point, and perhaps it will. But if he can keep this up a bit longer, maybe you do have to start believing it’s legit.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TEXAS RANGERS
Where: Globe Life Park
Gametime: 8:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
DH Nick Senzel
LF Jesse Winker
1B Joey Meneses
2B Ildemaro Vargas
RF Alex Call
3B Trey Lipscomb
C Riley Adams
CF Jacob Young

ARLINGTON, Texas – Eddie Rosario led off the top of the fifth with a single to center field, a relatively nondescript moment that meant even less moments later when he was wiped out on a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of teammate Riley Adams.

That was April 17, the finale of the Nationals’ series at Dodger Stadium. Thirteen games have passed since then. Thirteen games in which Rosario has not delivered another base hit.

He’s taken 25 at-bats since. He has produced zero hits. He’s now batting .088 for the season, his OPS an abysmal .299.

“It’s probably the worst month of my career, by far,” he said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “I’ve never felt like I’ve been in this position. I’ve hit balls very well, and it seems like every time I hit a ball well, it’s right at someone. I keep working hard, going out there and try to have good approaches. But I just can’t wait for this month to be over with.”

Rosario has never hit well in April. It’s by far the worst statistical month of his long career. He’s a .206 hitter with a .620 OPS in April. In no other month is his OPS worse than .735.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Whether they realized it or not, a win tonight by the Nationals would’ve been rather significant. Not because the outcome of their series opener against the Rangers would make or break this season, but because of what it would’ve meant on a psychological level.

A win would’ve made them 15-14 to wrap up the month. It would’ve marked the first time they owned a winning record at any point in a season since July 1, 2021 (the night Alex Avila strained both his calves playing second base in an emergency). And it would’ve marked the first time they ended April with more wins than losses since 2017, when Dusty Baker was still managing and Davey Martinez was still Joe Maddon’s right-hand man with the Cubs.

So tonight’s 7-1 loss to the Rangers, while hardly devastating in the big picture, was nonetheless disappointing for a club that arrived in town flying high after a four-game sweep of the Marlins.

"You look back, and there's some games we could've won and been above .500," Martinez said. "But overall, we're playing good baseball. We're playing hard. ... It's nice to win games in April. Now we're going into May. I break the season down, and I always tell myself: If we win 15 games a month, that's pretty good. So, let's win 16 next month."

The Nationals did get another strong start from MacKenzie Gore, who struck out seven in five innings and was charged with only two runs. But they could not supply their emerging ace with more than minimal run support, scoring in the top of the first against Jon Gray but not again after that.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Nick Senzel is on the kind of power streak most players only dream about. Trey Lipscomb has been red-hot since returning from Triple-A. So how do the Nationals keep both players in the lineup?

For now, the answer is to have Senzel serve as designated hitter while Lipscomb handles third base.

That’s the alignment again tonight for the Nats’ series opener against the Rangers, the fourth straight lineup card Davey Martinez has filled out with Lipscomb at third and Senzel as DH.

“It works out really well for us right now,” Martinez said. “Nick’s starting to swing the bat really well. Lipscomb’s playing really well both sides of the ball. So we’ll keep it like this for a while.”

Senzel, whose season debut was delayed by a fractured thumb suffered during pregame drills on Opening Day, enters tonight with five homers in his last six games. And he nearly hit another homer Monday night in Miami, the ball landing at the wall in deep left-center for a double.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Hello from Globe Life Park, home of the defending World Series champions. The Nationals come to town flying high after a four-game sweep of the Marlins, but the challenge over the next three days will be markedly more significant. If they can pull off another win tonight, though, it’ll be notable for a couple of reasons: 1) The Nats would own a winning record at any point in the season for the first time since July 1, 2021, and 2) They would finish April with a winning record for the first time since 2017 (when Dusty Baker was manager).

The Nationals have been getting excellent starting pitching through this run, so they’ll hope that continues tonight with MacKenzie Gore. Though he didn’t have his best stuff last week, Gore impressively held the Dodgers to only one run in six innings. He should enter this start with confidence.

At the plate, the Nats will try to keep the pressure on by not only getting on base but advancing once they’re on. We saw how effective they could be running over the weekend in Miami. Look for more of the same tonight against Texas starter Jon Gray and catcher Jonah Heim, who has thrown out only 3-of-18 base stealers so far this year.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TEXAS RANGERS
Where: Globe Life Park
Gametime: 8:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
LF Jesse Winker
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
DH Nick Senzel
RF Eddie Rosario
3B Trey Lipscomb
CF Jacob Young

MIAMI – The Nationals won 16 more games in 2023 than they did in 2022. Although that was an obvious improvement, they were careful not to label it a successful season. After all, 71 wins isn’t something to brag about.

The goal is to finish above .500. To get back to the playoffs. To win another championship.

Those are the successes the Nats are striving for this year and in the next couple of years.

The record comes first. With yesterday’s win over the Marlins to complete a four-game series mopping, the Nats are at .500 for the first time this late into a season since they were 40-40 entering July 2, 2021.

Some might try to poke fun at a team celebrating being 14-14. But you have to call it what it is: Progress.

MIAMI – The Nationals were in position tonight to do something they haven’t done since Sept. 23-26, 2019 against the Phillies: Sweep a four-game series.

The late rally Friday, the offensive explosion Saturday and the epic comeback Sunday set them up for a special wrap-around series win before continuing the road trip in Texas.

There was nothing jaw-dropping about tonight. No dramatics in the late innings. No grand slam. No improbable come-from-behind victory. Just a well played baseball game by the good guys.

The Nationals beat the Marlins 7-2 in front of an announced crowd of 6,376 at loanDepot park on a beautiful 80-degree evening in South Beach, completing the four-game mop.

Jake Irvin set the tone for the visitors. Looking to bounce back after last week’s rough outing against the Dodgers, the right-hander pitched six strong innings to improve to 2-2 on the year. He’s the first Nats starting pitcher to be credited with a win since Mitchell Parker on April 21 against the Astros.

MIAMI – The Nationals had a few empty lockers in their clubhouse ahead of their series finale against the Marlins.

Victor Robles and Cade Cavalli both left the team to take the next steps in their respective rehabs.

Robles, on the 10-day injured list since April 4 with a left hamstring strain, is on his way to join Triple-A Rochester for a rehab assignment. The Red Wings start a six-game home series against Syracuse (Mets) tomorrow.

“He went out. He'll play. He's going to Rochester, so he'll start tomorrow,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame media session. “We'll get him out there and, like I said, we'll take it as quick but as slow as possible in the same breath. Just want to make sure he's completely healthy.”

Robles didn’t record a hit in four big league games to start the year, but did draw three walks in five plate appearances for a .600 on-base percentage while also stealing two bags and scoring two runs. Injuries limited him to 36 games last year.

MIAMI – The Nationals have an opportunity for a four-game sweep tonight. It would be their first four-game sweep since Sept. 23-26, 2019 against the Phillies, which was actually a five-game sweep due to a doubleheader on Sept. 24. Washington's only other four-game sweep of the Marlins was Sept. 18-21, 2014 here in Miami.

A win tonight would also give the Nats at .500 record for the first time since starting the year 1-1 in Cincinnati.

If their offense continues producing like it has over the first three games, they’ll have a good chance.

The Nats have outscored the Marlins 26-14 over the first three games, thanks to 11 runs on Saturday and 12 runs yesterday. CJ Abrams, Jesse Winker, Trey Lipscomb and Jacob Young have led the way by collectively going 22-for-49 (.449) with 16 runs scored, 11 RBIs, five walks and five stolen bases over the weekend.

That foursome will try to continue creating “havoc” on the basepaths against Marlins starter Trevor Rogers. The left-hander is 0-3 with a 4.10 ERA and ​​1.519 WHIP over his first five outings to start the season after he was limited to just four starts last year with bicep and shoulder issues. He’s 3-2 with a 3.22 ERA and 1.349 WHIP in eight career starts against the Nats.

MIAMI – The Nationals came into this four-game series with the Marlins in search of some offense.

No, this team is not built to hit home runs, with their 26 longballs ranking 21st in the major leagues. They’re built to get on base, use their speed to advance by stealing or taking an extra base on a ball put in play, and then scoring with productive at-bats at the plate.

They have been very good at the first two parts of that formula (they are second in the majors with 48 stolen bases). But not so much with the third (bottom third in runs scored).

They began the weekend with their slash line with runners in scoring position ranking near the bottom of the majors and with their 60 RBIs with RISP last in the National League.

But they have found a good mixture of that formula through the first three games in South Beach, thanks in large part to CJ Abrams, Jesse Winker, Trey Lipscomb and Jacob Young.

MIAMI – The Nationals entered Sunday’s game against the Marlins looking to win their fourth series of their last six, which would be an impressive finish to the season’s first month after they dropped four of their first five.

Very quickly it looked like they would have to wait until Monday night’s finale to wrap up this four-game wrap-around set, as they fell behind 7-0 in the first two innings with Patrick Corbin on the mound.

But the boys battled back rapidly, scoring 10 unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take the lead and then two more insurance runs late to keep it. And on the ninth anniversary of the infamous “Dan Uggla Game” in Atlanta (when the Nats rallied from a 10-2 deficit to beat the Braves 13-12 thanks to Uggla’s three-run home run in the ninth) the Nationals showed their relentlessness again in a 12-9 victory in front of a stunned announced crowd of 15,894.

“This group, I say all the time, they fight, they play hard and they're just relentless. They really are," manager Davey Martinez said after the epic rally. "They stick together. It's been a fun group so far. They want to win. They really do. They're hungry to win and you can see that. There was no give up. We were down and we kept working good at-bats and hit some big home runs."

The first five runs were manufactured in the fourth against Marlins lefty starter Ryan Weathers, with the usual suspects from yesterday’s offensive outburst leading the way.

MIAMI – After yesterday’s offensive outburst, Davey Martinez is hoping the bats will continue swinging well to get more consistent production moving forward.

One bat he’s hoping to get going in particular is Nick Senzel.

Senzel has been moved up to the No. 2 hole – behind CJ Abrams and in front of Jesse Winker, both lefty hitters – for this afternoon’s game against Marlins left-handed starter Ryan Weathers. Senzel's right-handed bat has recorded hits in four of his last five games, including his third home run of the season last night, and has a career slash line of .285/.333./.463 with a .796 OPS against left-handed pitching.

Martinez hopes moving Senzel up the order will help kickstart his offense.

“He's notorious for hitting left-handed pitching,” the skipper said of Senzel. “So I wanted to break up those lefties a little bit. Winker will hit behind him. It balances out our lineup a little bit more. So I decided to do that today.”

MIAMI – The Nationals find themselves winners of the first two games of this four-game set against the Marlins. With a win today, they’ll be winners of four of their last six series, which would be an impressive stretch as the season’s first month comes to a close next week.

The offense exploded for 11 runs yesterday, the most in a single game this season. How do they follow it up? CJ Abrams, Jesse Winker, Trey Lipscomb and Jacob Young will look to continue creating havoc on the basepaths. Some more contributions from the middle of the order would also be very welcome.

Patrick Corbin makes his sixth start this afternoon. He was roughed up in his first four, but was solid in his previous outing with 5 ⅓ scoreless innings. The veteran lefty will try to keep this Marlins team at bay after not facing them last year with his career 5-7 record, 4.05 ERA and 1.218 WHIP against them.

Ryan Weathers also makes his sixth start for the Fish. The 24-year-old lefty came to Miami from San Diego last year in a trade for Garrett Cooper. He is 2-2 with a 3.16 ERA and 1.403 WHIP to begin the year and 1-1 with a 6.35 ERA and 1.412 WHIP in two career starts against the Nats.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot park
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors