The Nationals have legitimately been getting quality work from a deep stable of relievers for months now, helping keep far more games close than was the case during the season’s first half. And that includes several relievers capable of going multiple innings and posting multiple zeros.

If only they didn’t have to keep asking a couple of those relievers to start games and extend themselves beyond the point where they remain effective.

A lack of reliable (or healthy) starters has left the Nats in this position, needing to keep giving starts to the likes of Paolo Espino and Cory Abbott, who might be good for two or three innings but haven’t been able to sustain that success beyond that point.

It happened again tonight to Espino during an 8-2 loss to the Braves. After retiring the first 10 batters he faced, the right-hander retired only six of the last 11 he faced before, in the process failing to earn his long-coveted first win of the season.

Espino and those who followed him out of the bullpen weren’t helped a ton by their infield defense, which played its sloppiest game in a while.

MacKenzie Gore was back in the clubhouse at Nationals Park this afternoon, back from his fourth rehab start with Triple-A Rochester, fully acknowledging the outcome from his most recent start (six runs, six hits, three homers allowed in 3 2/3 innings) didn’t look great on paper.

“It’s tough. You look at the line last night, it looks like a bad outing,” the left-hander said. “But it’s really just the fourth that was bad.”

Indeed, a closer examination of Gore’s start against Worcester confirms all his troubles came in his final inning of work. When he walked off the mound at the end of the third, he had allowed only one of the 10 batters he had faced to that point to reach (a leadoff homer in the second). He had three strikeouts. He threw 27 of 39 pitches for strikes.

The fourth inning, though, was a mess for Gore. He issued his lone walk of the night. He gave up five extra-base hits, two of them homers. He threw only 18 of 33 pitches for strikes. And he was pulled before completing the inning, his total pitch count up to 72.

“I feel fine. I just haven’t built up as quickly as I thought I would,” he said. “The first three innings were good. The fourth, I just kind of ran out of gas.”

The disparity between the Nationals and Braves has been on display all year long when these two teams face each other. The Nats are 4-13 against Atlanta in 2022, and while there are multiple reasons for that, it’s hard to ignore this fact: They’ve been out-homered by the staggering total of 38 to 14. That disparity only increased Monday night, when the Braves hit three more home runs during an 8-0 shutout victory in which both teams finished with six hits.

This is all to make the point that the Nationals might want to try to break out the power bats tonight against Kyle Muller, called up by the Braves from Triple-A Gwinnett to start this game. The Nats faced the lefty once last season, scoring three runs in 4 2/3 innings off him. He’s made only two big league starts this season, producing a 10.57 ERA.

If the Nationals can score some runs, perhaps Paolo Espino can deliver five solid innings, keep Atlanta in the ballpark and put himself in position to finally earn his first win of the year. This is Espino’s fourth start (fifth overall appearance) against the Braves this season, and he’s allowed 11 runs (nine earned) on 20 hits in 16 1/3 innings.

ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 67 degrees, wins 9 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
SS CJ Abrams
1B Joey Meneses
DH Luke Voit
LF Alex Call
2B César Hernández
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Victor Robles
C Tres Barrera

MIAMI – As he walked from the plate to the home dugout in the top of the second inning Sunday afternoon at loanDepot Park, CJ Abrams had no idea who was approaching him from behind. As far as he knew, he had just scored on Victor Robles’ safety squeeze, extending the Nationals’ lead to 3-0.

And then just as he was about to go down the steps and into the dugout, Marlins catcher Nick Fortes suddenly tagged him from behind. Abrams turned around to look, saw umpire Bill Miller signal out and realized what had just happened.

“They said I didn’t touch the plate,” he said. “But on the replay, you could see it kind of … my cleat kind of bounced up off the plate. But it is what it is. Kept playing, won the game. It’s cool.” 

That last sentence perfectly summed things up. Abrams could’ve let the bizarre (and possibly incorrect) play rattle him. Instead, he shrugged it off, kept playing and wound up playing an important role in the Nationals’ 6-1 victory over Miami.

“He’s really done a great job with that,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He doesn’t sulk over it. He comes back, he watches video and then he shrugs it off, knowing that there’s going to be some more plays that he’s got to make. I love that about him.”

MIAMI – The notion of Aníbal Sánchez wrapping up the season as the Nationals’ most consistently effective starter would’ve sounded ludicrous two months ago, when the notion of Sánchez still being a member of the Nats rotation seemed far-fetched.

Funny how things play out, though, because as the 2022 campaign winds down there’s really no disputing the fact that the Nationals’ best starter has been a 38-year-old right-hander who sat out the entire 2021 season and then missed 3 1/2 months this season with a neck injury.

Sánchez added another impressive chapter to his out-of-nowhere resurgence this afternoon, tossing five scoreless innings and allowing only two hits to the Marlins during a feel-good, 6-1 victory over the franchise for whom he made his major league debut 16 long years ago.

Thanks to the efforts of Sánchez, four relievers, another Joey Meneses home run and three hits from CJ Abrams, the Nationals left town with one win to salvage the weekend. They end their season series against the Marlins with an abysmal 4-15 record, but today’s win at least ensured they didn’t drop a 16th game to one opponent for the first time in club history.

They also avoided reaching the 100-loss mark for the first time since 2009, though it will take a perfect 10-0 finish now against the Braves, Phillies and Mets to prevent that inevitable event from occurring.

MIAMI – Despite plenty of consideration over the last few weeks, the Nationals will not shut Josiah Gray down yet, giving the right-hander at least one more start this season.

Gray will pitch Wednesday against the Braves in D.C., the club decided today.

That decision was made both with consideration about the state of Gray’s arm at the end of his first full big league season, as well as the uncertain status of Patrick Corbin, who had to depart his last start in Atlanta after tweaking his back and will miss at least one turn through the rotation as a result.

“One, he’s still strong. He’s still throwing the ball well,” manager Davey Martinez said of Gray. “And two, we don’t know what’s going to happen with Corbin yet. But I like the way he threw the ball (Friday). The big thing is, he threw a lot more changeups; we want to continue to see him develop his changeup. So we’re going to give him another start and go from there.”

Gray had some encouraging moments during Friday night’s loss to the Marlins, in which he went six innings and began to rely more on his emerging sinker and changeup in addition to his slider and curveball, while throwing fewer four-seam fastballs. A potential quality start, though, fell apart during a three-run bottom of the sixth that left the 24-year-old upset at himself afterward.

MIAMI – Though it’s been inevitable for a while now, the Nationals’ march to 100 losses nevertheless isn’t something anyone wanted to be a part of. Alas, the time has arrived to reach that unceremonious milestone, perhaps as soon as today if they can’t salvage one win this weekend against a Marlins team that has absolutely dominated them all season.

If they’re going to delay the inevitable for at least one more day, the Nats simply are going to need to score more runs than they have against this Miami pitching staff. How bad has it been? In 18 head-to-head games, they’ve scored an average of 2.55 runs, posting a .205/.279/.312 slash line. Is it any wonder they’ve gone 3-15 in those games?

Today’s Marlins starter looking to continue the trend is Edward Cabrera, who of course dominated the Nationals in his one previous outing against them this year: one run, two hits in six innings during a 12-2 win here on June 7.

Aníbal Sánchez starts for the Nats, and while that thought may have sent shivers down everyone’s spines earlier this summer, remarkably the veteran right-hander has become their most consistently effective starter down the stretch. Over his last six starts, Sánchez is 2-1 with a 1.53 ERA, having allowed a grand total of five runs on 14 hits over 29 1/3 innings. How about that?

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 1:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

MIAMI – If they had the ability to vote for this year’s National League Cy Young Award winner – and they most certainly do not – the Nationals would unanimously select Sandy Alcantara. With all due respect to anybody else they’ve faced this year, how could they go with anyone other than the Marlins ace, who has dominated everyone around the league but has saved some of this best performances for them.

And you can add tonight’s gem to the list. With power and efficiency, Alcantara toppled the Nationals, 4-1, and nearly tossed his second complete game against them this week.

The lanky right-hander struck out 11 and saw his pitch count climb a bit (99) compared to his 103-pitch complete game Sunday at Nationals Park. That prompted manager Don Mattingly to lift him after he struck out the side in the eighth and turn to closer Dylan Floro to finish it off.

That didn’t diminish Alcantara’s performance tonight, in which he allowed only five batters to reach base, with Alex Call reaching three times on his own and everybody else combining to reach twice. Call somehow managed to reach base in six of his seven plate appearances against Alcantara this week, cracking a code nobody else in the Nats lineup could figure out.

There’s no shame, of course, in getting beat by Alcantara, now 14-8 with a 2.32 ERA for the season. But he’s been remarkably dominant against the Nationals, who in five starts went 4-0 with an 0.90 ERA, averaging eight innings per outing.

MIAMI – Patrick Corbin won’t make his next scheduled start while he waits for his back to heal, and the Nationals haven’t decided yet if he’ll return to make one final start before the season ends.

Corbin, who had to depart Tuesday night’s start in Atlanta in the first inning after tweaking his back, has been able to play catch on flat ground since then. But he has not yet thrown off a mound, and until he’s able to do that the club won’t have him start a game.

“At this point, because he’s not going to be able to throw a bullpen, we might skip him,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We’re undecided who’s going to pitch in his spot, but when we get back home we’ll have (Cory) Abbott, (Paolo) Espino and TBD.”

The Nationals have five other healthy starters, so they can proceed without Corbin if they need. Josiah Gray could pitch on normal rest Wednesday against the Braves, though Martinez admitted after Friday night’s start the right-hander could still be shut down due to his career-high workload this season.

The real issue comes Saturday, when the Nats are scheduled to face the Phillies in a day-night doubleheader. MacKenzie Gore, who is slated to make his fourth rehab start for Triple-A Rochester on Monday, could come off the injured list to start one of those games. If not, the team would need to find someone else (or go with Corbin).

MIAMI – It was only six days ago the Nationals faced Sandy Alcantara. The Marlins ace went the distance that afternoon at Nationals Park, tossing a complete game on only 103 pitches. The good news: The Nats managed seven hits off the right-hander. The bad news: They scored only one run. And because they were so aggressive, often putting the first or second pitch of an at-bat in play, they allowed him to keep his pitch count so low, he was able to cruise through nine innings.

So, what’s the strategy tonight at loanDepot Park? Continue to be aggressive and hope more of those hits produce runs? Or try to make Alcantara work and perhaps get him out of the game sooner and force the Marlins to go to their bullpen? There’s no right answer, of course. The Nats just have to hope they can find a way to beat the Cy Young Award favorite and avoid their 99th loss of the season.

Erick Fedde makes his 25th start of the year for the Nationals, his fourth against the Marlins. Historically, the right-hander has been successful against them, but he labored last weekend in D.C., allowing three runs on seven hits while throwing 87 pitches in only four innings before getting hooked. Fedde has got to find a way to be more efficient tonight to give his team a chance against Alcantara and Co.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 6:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
1B Joey Meneses
DH Luke Voit
LF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Victor Robles
C Riley Adams 

MIAMI – There are 12 games remaining on the Nationals’ schedule, 12 games that need to be played in 12 days (with one off-day still on tap but a day-night doubleheader also on the slate). Which means Davey Martinez and Jim Hickey have 12 more starting pitchers to name, which is becoming a more daunting challenge than either man anticipated.

In a perfect world, the Nationals would’ve had more starters than dates that needed to be filled. They would have Cade Cavalli and MacKenzie Gore ready to finish strong and perhaps allow Josiah Gray to shut down early. They would have the ability to prevent Patrick Corbin from making a run at 20 losses. They would have kids they could summon from their farm system to take over at the end for veterans who just don’t need the work at this point.

But this is not a perfect world, and so Martinez and Hickey may be forced to do some things with their rotation they’d rather not.

Consider Gray, for example. The Nationals have been talking for months about their preference not to let the 24-year-old’s workload get too heavy in his first full professional season. The intention was always going to be to shut him down at some point in late September.

But following Friday night’s 5-2 loss to the Marlins – in which Gray looked really sharp for five innings before faltering in the sixth – Martinez admitted this decision has gotten tougher in the wake of Corbin’s recent back injury. (The left-hander, who was removed from his last start after only 12 pitches, played catch Friday and reported improvement, but there’s still no guarantee he returns to pitch before season’s end.)

MIAMI – As he’s done throughout his first full big league season, Josiah Gray did some things tonight that could only leave the Nationals encouraged about his prospects for long-term success.

Gray didn’t surrender a home run for the first time since June 18. And he didn’t walk a batter through his first five innings of work against the Marlins, keeping his pitch count much lower than he has throughout most of the summer.

But just as he’s done throughout his first full big league season, Gray also did just enough to turn what could’ve been a strong start into something much less satisfying. With a ragged, three-run bottom of the sixth, the Nats right-hander lost his shot at a quality start and left his team in a position to eventually lose 5-2.

Gray’s 10th loss of the season sent the Nationals to their 98th loss of the season. With presumptive Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara set to start for Miami on Saturday, they very well may take the field Sunday afternoon trying to avoid reaching the 100-loss mark for the first time in 13 years.

A lack of offense beyond Lane Thomas’ leadoff homer in the first and Joey Meneses’ RBI double in the eighth didn’t help matters. But in the end, Gray proved to be the story of the night, for both encouraging and discouraging reasons.

MIAMI – MacKenzie Gore will make another rehab start for Triple-A Rochester, leaving the left-hander with enough time to make only major league start for the Nationals before season’s end.

Gore, who threw 67 pitches over four innings of one-run ball Wednesday in his third rehab start, will return to Rochester and attempt to build up to five innings Monday against Worcester.

“We talked to him before he left about trying to throw strike one every (at-bat) and work from there. And as the game went along, they said he started doing a lot more of that,” manager Davey Martinez said. “That’s encouraging. For me, it’s just about honing in on his mechanics, throwing more strikes. And once he does that, I think the five innings and 75 pitches will come.”

Already on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation when the Nationals acquired him as part of the haul of prospects the Padres sent them for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, Gore has slowly built his arm back up over the last six weeks.

The plan all along has included the possibility of one or two major league starts before season’s end. At this point, there wouldn’t be enough time for him to make more than one.

MIAMI – Fresh off what I’m sure was a relaxing day off here in Miami, the Nationals open a three-game weekend series with the Marlins, their last chance to face a team that isn’t in the pennant race before the season ends.

The Nats took two of three from Miami last weekend in D.C. in one of their better performances during an improved September stretch. Their only loss came to Sandy Alcantara, and unfortunately they’ll have to face the presumptive National League Cy Young Award winner again Saturday. So that perhaps puts some added pressure to win tonight’s opener.

That means Josiah Gray needs to put together a solid outing, something he hasn’t done in a while. In three September starts so far, the right-hander has a 9.45 ERA, with 10 walks and five home runs allowed over only 13 1/3 innings. He hasn’t earned a win in any of his last 15 starts.

You would hope the spacious outfield here at loanDepot Park would help Gray keep the ball in the yard. So the key to success, then, may well be his ability to limit the walks that have so often plagued him this year.

The Nationals go up against Braxton Garrett, the rookie left-hander who enters with a 3.68 ERA in 14 big league starts. He faced them once before, on July 4 in D.C., where he allowed only one run on four hits over 7 1/3 impressive innings.

Kyle Finnegan smiles when the subject comes up. He knows he’s one of the slowest-working pitchers in the majors. And he knows people assume that will become a major problem once he’s subject to a pitch clock next season.

Here’s what the Nationals closer wants you to know about that: He spent two seasons in the minor leagues with a pitch clock enforced and had no trouble adhering to it. But until he’s required to speed his process up, he’s not going to voluntarily do it.

“I think it’s just a product of taking what’s given to you,” he said earlier this week. “There’s no clock here, so why not make sure you’re ready to go?”

Nobody’s going to claim Finnegan isn’t giving himself enough time to make sure he’s ready. According to Baseball Savant, he averages 25.6 seconds between pitches when there’s nobody on base, fourth-slowest in the majors. With runners on base, that number goes up to 28.5 seconds, sixth-slowest in the sport.

(Important qualifier here: That “tempo” stat Baseball Savant uses tracks how long it takes from the time a pitcher releases the ball for one pitch until the time he releases it for the next pitch. The pitch clock that Major League Baseball will institute next year - 15 seconds with nobody on base, 20 seconds with runners on base - starts when the pitcher receives the throw-back from his catcher and ends when he begins his delivery. Accounting for that, Finnegan’s pace this season drops to 19.6 seconds with nobody on base, 22.5 seconds with runners on base.)

The Nationals are nowhere near the pennant race this season. They enter the week an astounding 41 games back in the National League East, the largest deficit in club history.

But make no mistake, the Nats will play a significant role in determining who wins the division and who qualifies for the postseason as a wild card, because they’re about to play the majority of their remaining games against those teams.

There are 16 games left on the schedule, 13 of which come against the Braves, Phillies and Mets. It begins tonight with a three-game series at Atlanta. Then, following a three-game respite in Miami, the Nationals host the Braves for three and the Phillies for four in the final homestand of 2022 before finishing the year with a three-game series at New York.

What’s at stake? For the Mets and Braves, a division title. For the Phillies, a chance to end an 11-year playoff drought.

In the only truly close division race in the majors right now, the Mets hold a one-game advantage on the Braves (though they’re tied in the loss column, with Atlanta having two more games than New York still to play). Both have dominated the Nationals this season – the Braves are 10-3, the Mets are 11-5 – but the Nats haven’t faced Atlanta since the All-Star break.

The Nationals have seen Sandy Alcantara enough to know there isn’t a particularly good way to try to beat him. The Marlins ace has a 100-mph sinker, a 90-mph slider, a 94-mph changeup, command of everything and a rubber arm that allows him to keep on pitching all day and all night.

So when formulating a gameplan for today’s series finale, manager Davey Martinez decided there wasn’t much sense trying to wait out Alcantara and drive his pitch count up. Better to attack him early and hope for the best.

"The big thing about Sandy is, we know he's going to be around the strike zone," Martinez said this morning. "You can't sit there and wait, because you know he's going to pound strikes. So, be aggressive early, and get a ball that you can hit. You don't have to swing overly hard. Just try to make good, solid contact."

That’s all well and good, but if that approach doesn’t produce runs, all it does is keep Alcantara’s pitch count low enough to allow him to go the distance.

Which is previously what happened this afternoon during the Nationals’ 3-1 loss to Miami. Despite getting another quality start out of Aníbal Sánchez and keeping the game within reach, they could not push across more than one run off Alcantara, who was so efficient he took the mound for the bottom of the ninth with a modest pitch count of 90.

Lane Thomas has become one of the Nationals’ hottest hitters down the stretch of this season, owner of a .357 batting average, .419 on-base percentage and .991 OPS over his last 13 games. And his leadoff homer Saturday helped set the tone for his team’s 5-3 win over the Marlins.

So why isn’t Thomas in the Nats’ lineup for today’s series finale? Consider the numbers against Miami’s starter this afternoon: Thomas is 0-for-11 with six strikeouts in his career against Sandy Alcantara.

Not that anybody has particularly good numbers against Alcantara, who could be on his way to the first Cy Young Award of his career. But in this case, the numbers are so striking, manager Davey Martinez didn’t want to risk Thomas falling into a slump via one bad game at the plate against an ace.

“He’s been swinging the bat well. And I want him to continue to swing the bat well,” Martinez said with a laugh. “I saw the numbers as well, and I thought he’s been playing every day. He’s been playing a lot. I know we’ve had some days off, but I thought give him a day, a little breather, and keep him going.”

Indeed, Thomas has started 30 consecutive games, so he certainly has earned a day off at this point. But he’s also been quite productive during this stretch. Over his last 28 games, he’s batting .310 with seven doubles, a triple, six homers, 14 RBIs and a .913 OPS.

The Nationals haven’t found themselves in this position very much this season, but here they are today: After back-to-back wins over the Marlins the last two nights, they have a chance to sweep a series for the first time in 2022.

To do that, though, they’ll have to either outpitch Sandy Alcantara or score some runs off him. Neither is an easy task. Alcantara remains the favorite to win his first career Cy Young Award this fall, entering today’s start with a 2.43 ERA across an MLB-high 203 2/3 innings. He is the very definition of a modern ace, and the Nationals have had all kinds of trouble against him.

This is Alcantara’s fourth start against the Nats this season. He’s 2-0 with an 0.78 ERA, having allowed only two runs and 19 batters to reach base across 23 innings. He pitched a six-hit, zero-walk shutout the last time he faced them, June 8 here in D.C.

So, if the Nationals aren’t going to outslug the Marlins today, they’re going to have to outpitch them. Aníbal Sánchez, the long-ago Marlins right-hander, faces that task this afternoon. He has pitched quite well recently, with only three runs allowed over his last five starts, spanning 23 1/3 innings. His last outing lasted only two innings, though, because of that long rain delay in Philadelphia one week ago. So he’s plenty rested for this one.

MIAMI MARLINS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 8 mph out to center field

The Nationals’ offensive issues this season really can be boiled down to a simple disparity in their production at the plate: Plenty of contact, not nearly enough power.

Entering the day, the Nats actually led the National League with 853 singles, which would be meaningful if not for the major-league-leading 130 double plays they had grounded into. And it’s not like they’ve made up for that with extra-base hits; they ranked 13th in the NL (25th in the majors) with 367 of them.

So consider what they did today during a 5-3 victory over the Marlins within the context of the season as a whole. The Nationals launched four home runs (all solo), then added a pair of doubles. They wound up, remarkably, with zero singles in this game, yet proved it’s still possible to win without them for only the fifth time in club history.

"Don't get me wrong; I like homers," manager Davey Martinez said. "But I also like homers the right way. These guys swung the bats well today. We hit some balls hard. We hit some balls that went out of the ballpark, which is really nice."

It certainly helped matters that four relievers combined to toss five scoreless innings after Erick Fedde labored through four long innings. Without the work of Hunter Harvey, Erasmo Ramirez, Carl Edwards Jr. and Kyle Finnegan, the Nats don’t pull off back-to-back wins over the Marlins after opening the season 1-12 against their division counterparts.