CHICAGO – Erick Fedde admitted this would be a big night for him. He was drafted by the Nationals in 2014, pitched for them 102 times from 2017-22, knew he deserved to be cut loose after all that and a 5.41 ERA.

Since then, Fedde has been a different pitcher. He rediscovered himself last season in the Korean Baseball Organization, winning league MVP honors after going 20-3 with a 2.00 ERA and 209 strikeouts. That earned him a two-year contract with the White Sox, for whom he has continued to pitch well.

So tonight’s start, the first time he’s ever faced the Nationals, was going to be memorable for the 31-year-old, no matter the outcome. But especially this outcome.

Behind seven scoreless innings from the most surprising ace in the majors, the White Sox coasted to a 4-0 victory to salvage a split of today’s doubleheader. The Nats never stood a chance against their old pitcher.

Fedde cruised the whole way, surrendering two singles, one double and nothing else to the 24 batters he faced in total. He struck out six, didn’t issue any walks and departed after 99 pitches that allowed him to improve to 4-0 with a 2.60 ERA for a Chicago club that has won only 13 games this season.

CHICAGO – And we’re on to Game 2 of today’s straight doubleheader, the Nationals and White Sox wrapping up a long afternoon and evening on the South Side. This one features an interesting pitching matchup.

Erick Fedde, the former first-round pick of the Nats way back in 2014 who never put it all together in six seasons with them, makes the start for the White Sox. After a year spent in South Korea, where he won the league MVP award, Fedde signed a two-year, $15 million with Chicago and has proceeded to go 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA in eight starts for his new club.

Mitchell Parker, meanwhile, makes his sixth career start tonight, seeking his first win since start No. 2 when he shut out the Astros over seven innings. The rookie left-hander has pitched well since then, he just hasn’t benefited from a lot of run support. (He’s not alone in that department.)

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX (GAME 2)
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 7:50 p.m. EDT (Approx.)
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 55 degrees, wind 17 mph out to right field

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

CHICAGO – Nasim Nuñez sat on the bench on a cold, windy Chicago afternoon for seven innings. Which is nothing new for the rookie infielder. The Nationals’ Rule 5 draftee is going to remain on the roster the entire season for one reason: He’s the ideal pinch-runner.

Nuñez has appeared in only 10 of the Nats’ first 40 games this year. Six of those have come as a pinch-runner. And none of the first five was as meaningful as this one, in which the 23-year-old’s baserunning skills directly set the stage for his team to produce a three-run rally in the top of the eighth and ultimately defeat the White Sox, 6-3, in the opener of today’s doubleheader.

Summoned off the bench to run for Joey Meneses, who had just completed a 4-for-4 afternoon, Nuñez took off on John Brebbia’s pitch to Luis Garcia Jr., watched third baseman Zach Remillard field a grounder and throw to first for the out, and then just kept on going.

"They told me I should go, and it was a perfect situation," he said. "When I got to second and looked up, the third baseman was kind of lackadaisical. He was slow. So the opportunity just presented itself."

Nuñez slid in safely at third base, having just advanced 180 feet on a groundout, and having done it in part while carrying his helmet after it came flying off his head.

CHICAGO – Jackson Rutledge was enjoying his off-day in Rochester, playing video games, when the call came Monday evening. He didn’t recognize the number, so he didn’t pick up at first. When he realized it was Red Wings developmental coach Billy McMillon, he realized he should probably call back.

Sure enough, Rutledge was informed the Nationals’ series opener against the White Sox had been rained out. The two teams would now be playing a doubleheader, and the right-hander needed to pack his things and prepare for a 6:30 a.m. flight to Chicago so he could serve as the team’s 27th man for the day.

Rutledge, who had just thrown 91 pitches Saturday in Scranton and had no reason to believe he’d be appearing in another game until later this week, was understandably caught off guard.

“A little bit of a surprise,” he said. “But I’m happy to be here.”

Truth be told, Rutledge probably figured all along he’d be the first starter called up from Triple-A if a spot in the Nationals rotation opened up. But when that very scenario occurred last month, with Opening Day starter Josiah Gray going on the 15-day injured list with a forearm strain, the call went not to Rutledge but to left-hander Mitchell Parker.

CHICAGO – Alright, let’s give this another try. After Monday’s series opener at Guaranteed Rate Field was rained out, the Nationals and White Sox will play two today. And it’s an old-school, traditional, single-admission doubleheader. Game 1 starts at 4:40 p.m. Eastern, with Game 2 set to start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the opener. If everything goes smoothly, we should wrap up around the same time as we would’ve all along. (Wishful thinking, obviously.)

Both teams are sticking with their pitching plan, so it’ll be Trevor Williams vs. Chris Flexen in the opener as was planned from the outset. Mitchell Parker faces former National Erick Fedde in the nightcap.

Both teams also get to call up a 27th man for the day, and the Nats chose to go with Jackson Rutledge. The right-hander’s season has gotten off to a rough start at Triple-A Rochester (6.67 ERA, 1.630 WHIP in seven games), and he just threw 91 pitches three days ago in Scranton. But he’s only here in case the team needs a few innings of relief in either game. In a perfect world, he won’t be needed and he’ll head back to Triple-A and prepare for his next start.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX (GAME 1)
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 4:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 57 degrees, wind 16 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
CF Jacob Young
LF Eddie Rosario
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
DH Nick Senzel
C Riley Adams
3B Trey Lipscomb
RF Victor Robles

CHICAGO – Erick Fedde holds no grudges against the Nationals. He can’t fault them for giving up on him after the 2022 season, the latest in a string of disappointing seasons for the organization’s 2014 first round pick.

“I definitely understand them moving on,” he said Monday. “I never pitched well.”

While that’s not entirely true – he did pitch well in brief stretches during his time in D.C. – Fedde’s overall performance with the Nats was nothing to be proud of. In 102 big league games (88 starts) over six seasons, he went 21-33 with a 5.41 ERA and 1.523 WHIP. He never came close to pitching like an ace. He was perpetually competing with the likes of Joe Ross and Austin Voth for the final spot in an otherwise star-studded rotation.

That kind of resume doesn’t exactly lead to enticing contract offers. And when nobody came calling with a major league deal after the Nationals non-tendered him in November 2022, Fedde decided the best place to go was across the Pacific Ocean. He signed a $1 million contract with the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization, truly a life-changing decision.

“I think the biggest reason to go over there was I wasn’t going to be on the Triple-A/big league/DFA train that I’ve seen,” he said with a laugh. “Just somewhere I was going to get the ball every fifth day. I was going to have a chance to throw 175-plus innings. And work on some stuff.”

CHICAGO – The Nationals’ series opener against the White Sox was postponed due to heavy rain that descended upon the area this afternoon and doesn’t promise to let up all night.

The two teams will play a traditional doubleheader Tuesday, with the first game starting at 4:40 p.m. Eastern and the nightcap to follow 30-to-45 minutes after conclusion of the opener.

Though it was warm and muggy earlier in the day, the skies began to darken by midafternoon. The grounds crew at Guaranteed Rate Field preemptively rolled out the tarp and covered up the infield before either team could take batting practice, and for good reason: It started raining hard only a few minutes later.

Rather than wait it out for hours and hope conditions improved enough to get the game in tonight, officials called it off slightly more than an hour before scheduled first pitch at 7:40 p.m. Eastern. Neither scheduled starting pitcher began to warm up.

Trevor Williams, tonight’s originally scheduled starter, will now pitch Game 1 on Tuesday, opposed by right-hander Chris Flexen. Mitchell Parker will start as scheduled Tuesday, taking the mound for the nightcap against former Nationals righty Erick Fedde.

CHICAGO – It was a warm, muggy morning and early afternoon here in the Windy City, but it has turned dark and, well, windy in the last 30 minutes. There’s a storm approaching, and they just rolled the tarp out to cover up the infield at Guaranteed Rate Field. This could be a problem throughout the evening.

If they’re able to play, the Nationals open a three-game series with the White Sox, hoping for better results against these guys than they had over the weekend against the darker colored Sox from Boston. They’re going to need to do more offensively, for sure, and a return to earlier form from CJ Abrams would sure help.

The Nats will also hope Trevor Williams can keep doing what he’s done all season. The right-hander has allowed a total of two runs over his last four starts, and he still hasn’t served up a homer in seven starts this year.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Where: Guaranteed Rate Field
Gametime: 7:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 66 degrees, wind 7 mph right field to left field

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

Kyle Finnegan had pitched in 241 big league games before taking the mound Tuesday night at Nationals Park. Appearance No. 242 carried more weight than usual.

“This one, for whatever reason, felt a little more meaningful,” the right-hander said afterward. “It’s been a while since we’ve been over .500. We’ve been putting in all the work behind the scenes, and to see it starting to come to fruition has been exciting. And to do it against Baltimore in this series is special.”

Finnegan’s 62nd career save was his first as a member of a Nationals team with a winning record. That fact wasn’t lost on the 32-year-old, who has become one of the organization’s longest-tenured pitchers but not long enough to have experienced the good old days when meaningful baseball was played on a nightly basis on South Capitol Street.

So Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over the Orioles, with Finnegan recording the final three outs and then receiving high-fives from teammates as pink LED lights glowed above and a crowd of nearly 30,000 roared with approval, was arguably the biggest game he’s ever pitched.

One night later, he found himself right back in the spotlight, posting another zero in the top of the 10th to give his teammates a chance to win in the bottom of the inning. They couldn’t pull that one off, ultimately losing 7-6 in the 12th, but it was through no fault of their closer.

They turned out in large numbers – 34,078 of them, to be precise – to watch the conclusion of this two-game rivalry series, wondering if the Nationals would be able to duplicate their performance from Tuesday night’s opener and emerge with a sweep over the Orioles.

They didn't duplicate the performance. But they did put on a show that thrilled everyone in attendance, twice producing last-ditch rallies to tie the game before ultimately falling 7-6 in 12 innings.

With a furious rally in the bottom of the ninth, the Nats tied the game and sent it to extras. With another furious rally in the bottom of the 11th, they tied the game again and continued the proceedings deeper into the night. 

The magic ended there. The Orioles scored twice off a wild Jordan Weems in the top of the 12th, and the lineup could only score once in the bottom of the inning.

It was a thrilling ending to a highly captivating series between interleague rivals, who offered the large bipartisan crowd plenty of reason to want to see more of these matchups down the road.

Keibert Ruiz is in the Nationals lineup tonight, the 11th time he’s been in the lineup over the team’s last 13 games. He’s in there despite the career-worst 3-for-51 slump he’s stuck in. It’s quite possible he’s in there because of that slump, most of which has occurred since the 25-year-old catcher returned from a stint on the injured list with a bad case of influenza.

“When you get sick like that and miss 15 days, your timing is going to be off. And he lost a lot of weight,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s really working his way back. The only way he’s going to get his timing is by going out there and playing. He’s got to play.”

Ruiz has been playing a lot. Already a workhorse when healthy and productive, he’s getting just as much playing time now, perhaps even more. Last week he started on four consecutive days, though he was designated hitter for one of them.

The results have been tough to watch. Ruiz has one homer, two singles and one walk since coming off the IL. And there hasn’t been a lot of hard contact, with weak grounders and popups far more common.

Martinez believes the slump has to have a direct connection to his illness and recovery. He’s not worried about how Ruiz is holding up physically during this stretch.

The Nationals have finally gotten over the .500 hump. Let us never speak of that again. Of course, it would help if they gave themselves a little cushion, so one loss wouldn’t leave them right back where they started.

A win tonight would give the Nats a two-game sweep over the Orioles. It’s May, and it’s only a two-game series, but that would have to qualify as some sort of statement made by a rebuilding club against the club with the American League’s best record.

At this point, we know what the plan for success is. The Nationals need to get quality pitching, and they’ll hope Mitchell Parker can pick up right where Trevor Williams and the bullpen left off Tuesday night. Parker has started to show a few little cracks his last couple times out, not that anyone could expect him to consistently be as good as he was in his first two starts. But he needs to be willing to throw the ball over the plate to Baltimore’s hitters, keeping the fastball up and the curveball and splitter down. Can’t afford to give that lineup any free passes.

At the plate, the Nats will have to manufacture runs again, this time against Kyle Bradish, who makes his second start of the season. Bradish, who opened the year on the injured list with an elbow issue, held the Yankees to one run over 4 2/3 innings in his debut. Look for the Nationals to again try to run on him if they can get on base.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 10 mph left field to right field

Trevor Williams is scheduled to take the mound again Monday evening in Chicago, facing one of the majors’ worst teams in the White Sox. When he does, he’ll do so as the proud owner of a 1.96 ERA.

Which won’t show up on the major-league leaderboard, because by then Williams won’t qualify for the MLB leaderboard due to throwing fewer innings (36 2/3) than games his team will have played (39).

It’s an unusual place for someone pitching so well to reside, but at this point it should be clear this is where the Nationals want him to reside. And Tuesday night’s game provided the latest example of it.

Williams absolutely cruised against the Orioles, allowing just two singles over five innings, walking nobody and striking out eight to match his career-high. He threw only 77 pitches and looked very much like he could keep going deeper into the game.

But when his veteran right-hander returned to the dugout following the top of the fifth, Davey Martinez gave him a handshake and informed him his night was over. And there wasn’t really any doubt in the manager’s mind.

Three times in the last week, the Nationals put themselves in a position to get over a hump that for three years now had felt more daunting than the October hurdle they waited years to clear. They kept getting themselves to the .500 mark. They could not get themselves over it.

And then on attempt No. 4 tonight, they finally did it. The Nationals, for the first time since July 1, 2021, are a winning baseball team.

All it took? A 3-0 shutout victory over the Orioles, with Trevor Williams outdueling Corbin Burnes, the lineup manufacturing a few runs and the bullpen continuing its lights-out ways.

Yes, the Nats are 18-17, over the .500 hump at last. And happy not to have to talk about that longstanding negative fact anymore.

"I think it's the mentality that nobody sees us coming," closer Kyle Finnegan said. "We're kind of lurking in the shadows. And we know how good we are. Maybe the league will start to take notice." 

Victor Robles is back on the Nationals roster, but not back in their lineup yet.

The Nats activated Robles off the 10-day injured list this afternoon, the outfielder having proven he has fully recovered from the left hamstring strain he suffered during the season’s first week. The club optioned Alex Call to Triple-A Rochester to clear a roster spot.

Robles played in only four games before suffering his injury running the bases. He was off to a solid start, reaching base in three of his five plate appearances and stealing two bases, on the heels of a strong spring in which he hit .368 with a .455 on-base percentage.

All that progress, though, was disrupted by his injury, which knocked him out a full month. He went on a rehab assignment in Rochester last week and over the course of six games went 7-for-20 with a double, a triple, three RBIs and three walks, convincing club officials and himself he was ready to return.

“I feel great,” he said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “My legs feel great. I have no discomfort when I’m running around.”

OK, who’s ready for Round 1 of the 2024 Beltway Series? The Nationals host the Orioles the next two nights and, in a new twist, both teams will be wearing their City Connect uniforms. (I believe this is the first time any visiting team has ever worn those uniforms, but please correct me if I’m wrong about that.)

The Nats are once again sitting exactly at .500, having now alternated between wins and losses over their last eight games. They’re still trying to get over that daunting hump for the first time since July 1, 2021. If they’re going to do it tonight, they’re going to have to find a way to score some runs off Corbin Burnes.

The former Cy Young Award winner with the Brewers has continued his dominant ways in Baltimore, going 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA and 0.919 WHIP through his first seven starts of the season. He has yet to allow more than three runs in any outing.

Then again, Trevor Williams hasn’t given up more than three runs in a start yet, either, making him the Nationals’ most effective starter to date. This is a tough lineup he’s got to face tonight, and you would imagine Davey Martinez’s leash will again be short, with a well rested bullpen (that also now includes Robert Garcia) good to go whenever needed.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 76 degrees, wind 6 mph out to left field

The Nationals have a lefty in their bullpen again. They had to cut ties with a veteran right-hander to make it possible.

Robert Garcia was activated off the 15-day injured list, the club announced. The corresponding move: Matt Barnes was designated for assignment, likely ending his brief tenure with the organization.

Garcia was eligible to return after spending the last two weeks on the IL with the same influenza bug that previously sidelined catcher Keibert Ruiz. The left-hander initially tried to pitch through it but labored through four consecutive rough appearances before the Nats finally placed him on the IL and gave him time to fully recover.

Once healthy again, Garcia went on a rehab assignment to Single-A Fredericksburg over the weekend and pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out four. He’ll be available to pitch tonight in the Nats’ series opener against the Orioles.

When Garcia was shut down two weeks ago, the Nationals called up Jacob Barnes from Triple-A Rochester. The right-hander has performed well since, going 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 0.857 WHIP in seven games, earning the right to stay in the big leagues.

The Nationals enjoyed a day off Monday, a sorely needed day off. They just played 13 games in 13 days, a stretch that included series against the defending World Series champions, the most star-studded roster in baseball and a four-game wraparound series that concluded with a getaway night game and then a 3-hour flight to the next city.

How’d they handle that grueling stretch? Quite well.

The Nats went 7-6 over the last two weeks, reaching the .500 mark on four separate occasions (though never clearing that magical hurdle when presented the opportunity).

They did this despite what at times has been a listless lineup, hurt by a combination of severely slumping regulars and injured veterans. Davey Martinez had to enlist the likes of Ildemaro Vargas and Alex Call to serve as his No. 5 and No. 6 hitters at times, hardly the names he envisioned when scribbling out potential lineups during spring training.

The Nationals managed to survive – even thrive, some might say – this stretch thanks to mostly quality pitching (3.48 team ERA over the last 10 games), solid defense (until a rough two-game stretch over the weekend) and a grittiness that has allowed them to pull off 12 come-from-behind wins this season (most in the majors).

OK, let's give this another try. If you attempted to join us Friday morning and wondered why I never bothered to answer any questions, the flight I was on at the time had no WiFi. It was quite a frustrating experience, as you might imagine. I couldn't even post a message on here letting everyone know I couldn't actually conduct the Q&A as planned.

Fortunately, I've got two feet on the ground today and a strong WiFi signal coming out of my own basement. So we should be good to go. And in a way, maybe it's better we had to postpone three days. Because there was plenty that took place this weekend worthy of further discussion.

The Nationals are 17-17 and officially in a wild card position as the day begins. It's of course way too early to consider such possibilities, but it's fun to dream for just a second, right?

If you've got something you'd like to ask, please submit your questions in the comments section below. Then check back throughout the morning for my responses. Which will actually be published this time, I promise! ...

The season is not yet one-quarter complete, and there’s far too much time left to know exactly how this is going to play out. But if you’re looking for consistent themes out of the 2024 Nationals, you might be best-served remembering the term Davey Martinez used to describe his team one week ago after it pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in club history: "Relentless."

These Nationals have their flaws, no doubt. The roster has holes, especially the lineup. The pitching can be erratic. The defense has been downright ugly the last two days.

But here at the end of the first week of May, they once again reached the .500 mark, thanks to another impressive come-from-behind victory, this one by the absurd score of 11-8 over the Blue Jays.

A game that started 1 hour, 25 minutes late due to rain, then saw the Nats dig themselves into a 6-1 hole in the third inning, somehow ended with high-fives and handshakes at the center of the diamond, thanks to a relentless offensive attack that included four hits (including a homer) from Luis García Jr., a go-ahead three-run homer from Jesse Winker and then a go-ahead two-run homer from Eddie Rosario to cap off a wild afternoon on South Capitol Street.

"It's been cool, man. It's really cool to see," said Winker, part of a club that now has a major league-leading 12 come-from-behind wins. "I'm going to use this word: It's inspiring to watch. It gives you energy."