NEW YORK – The Nationals are still determining when and how much they intend to keep pitching Josiah Gray through the season’s final month, acknowledging the 24-year-old right-hander is fast approaching a workload beyond any he’s handled before.

For now, the club is trying to manage Gray’s innings by giving him extra time between some starts, in this most recent case skipping his last turn in the rotation altogether. The Nats, though, do want to make sure he gets more opportunities to pitch in meaningful games, particularly games against teams playing in a pennant race down the stretch.

All of that brought more significance to tonight’s game at Citi Field than it might otherwise have held. Making his first start in 13 days, in his hometown with friends and family members in attendance, Gray went up against a tough Mets lineup that’s trying to lead its team to a division title and then more come October.

The end result? Despite some encouraging moments along the way, Gray nonetheless was charged with six runs in five-plus innings, turning what was shaping up to be a competitive game into a comfortable 7-3 Mets victory that left the Nats with a 9-43 record against division opponents this year.

"Obviously, I enjoyed pitching back here in New York and getting a little bit of rest," he said. "The results didn't go my way, but I felt really good. It was a lot of fun to pitch here in New York."

NEW YORK – MacKenzie Gore’s path toward pitching for the Nationals before season’s end became clearer today when the rehabbing left-hander took what should be his final step before he’s cleared to face live hitters.

Gore threw a bullpen session this afternoon at Citi Field, the third time he’s thrown off a mound as he returns from elbow inflammation. Provided he emerges from this latest session with no setbacks, he’ll now be slated to pitch a simulated game against teammates next week in St. Louis, according to manager Davey Martinez.

That 50-pitch simulated game would offer Gore his first opportunity to face live hitters since his July 25 outing for the Padres, after which he was placed on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation. The Nationals acquired the 23-year-old in last month’s Juan Soto-Josh Bell blockbuster and inherited his rehab program.

All along, the club’s intention has been to get Gore ready to pitch in a major league game before season’s end.

“Our goal, if everything goes well, is to get him to start a game here and see how he feels after that,” Martinez said. “Hopefully everything goes well, and we know when wintertime comes, he could just go on his regular program and get ready for spring training.”

NEW YORK – It’s September, which means pennant races. And the Nationals are going to find themselves smack dab in the middle of several of them over the season’s final month, even if they aren’t battling for a postseason berth themselves.

Beginning tonight, the Nationals have 31 games left on their schedule. All but six (against the Marlins) will be played against contenders, including three this weekend with the Mets. So, yeah, this is going to be an awfully stiff challenge for a team that currently owns a 45-86 record.

Josiah Gray kicks things off this evening with his first career start at Citi Field, just a short drive from his home in New Rochelle, N.Y. Gray has been looking forward to pitching in New York for a while, and after having his last turn in the rotation skipped, he should be plenty fresh for this one. He’s been on a nice run since he last pitched Aug. 20 in San Diego; over his last three starts, he’s got a 3.12 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings.

The Nationals won’t see Jacob deGrom this weekend. They will see Max Scherzer on Saturday night. First up, though, is left-hander David Peterson, who quietly has compiled a 3.21 ERA over 89 2/3 innings this season. The Nats faced him back on May 30, though, and scored four runs in 4 2/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 75 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

It’s been some time since the Nationals (or any Major League Baseball club) has experienced a normal, full spring training, not since 2019 to be precise, after the pandemic threw a wrench into plans for both the 2020 and 2021 camps and the league’s lockout of players delayed and shortened the annual event in 2022.

With Wednesday’s announcement of the 2023 Grapefruit League and Cactus League schedules, MLB affirmed its intent to get back to normal next spring, something the Nats certainly will appreciate.

The Nationals’ exhibition opener is scheduled for Feb. 25 against the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., with the finale slated for March 26 against the Marlins, also in Jupiter, just a short drive from their camp in West Palm Beach.

In between are 29 total games in Florida, including 15 designated home games at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, where the Nats will train for the sixth consecutive year. They’ll play three road games in their home park against the Astros, their cohabitants since the facility opened in 2017.

For each of the last two springs, Florida-based teams faced only those who trained on their same side of the state, reducing travel and potential coronavirus spread. They’ll go back to facing a broader group of opponents next spring, which in the Nationals’ case means home-and-home series with the Yankees (who train in Tampa) and Tigers (who train in Lakeland).

Throughout this long season, from the interminably long stint on the injured list with a neck strain to his struggles on the mound once he did return, Davey Martinez insisted Aníbal Sánchez just needed time. Give the right-hander time, the manager said, and he would prove he can still pitch at this level.

So the Nationals gave Sánchez all the time he needed, from that three-month IL stint to his first five starts that resulted in five losses and a 7.56 ERA. And wouldn’t you know what happened after that? The 38-year-old indeed is proving he can still pitch at this level, capped off by his best performance in two years this evening.

With seven innings of one-run ball, Sánchez shut down the Athletics to earn his first win since September 2020 and lead the Nats to a 5-1 victory that also included some bright moments for a few of their much younger building blocks.

This represented the first time Sánchez reached the seventh inning in a big league game since Aug. 23, 2020 in a win over the Marlins. The previous time he had done it? Game 1 of the 2019 NLCS in St. Louis, when he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

"I knew he still had it in him," Martinez said. "I saw him this winter throwing. He was passionate about coming back, and his heart was in it. He was hurt, and now he's just out there fully healthy and pitching well."

Cade Cavalli officially was placed on the 15-day injured list this afternoon with right shoulder inflammation, an ailment the Nationals rookie insisted he intends to return from before season’s end.

“I’m not going to be shutting it down completely,” he said. “We’ve got something to work forward to. There’s still some season left. That’s where my head’s at. I want to go compete again this year for this club. I’m very positive, and I think it’s really good.”

Cavalli said he woke up Saturday morning feeling “some abnormal soreness” following his major league debut the previous night. He attempted to play catch that afternoon as planned, but after about 10 throws with no improvement in his condition he informed the training staff what was going on. He underwent an MRI on Sunday which revealed inflammation of his shoulder capsule, but no damage to his rotator cuff or labrum.

Manager Davey Martinez said the 24-year-old right-hander will be shut down for two weeks, after which the club will decide how to proceed. Cavalli is cleared to do everything but throw during this period of time, and he went through rigorous workouts focused on his legs and his back the last two days.

Even in a best-case scenario, there doesn’t seem to be much time for Cavalli to make it back to start before the season ends five weeks from today. But Martinez wants him to stay busy and proceed with a mindset that he will pitch by then, and Cavalli himself is adamant that’s what he intends to do, not shut down until 2023.

It’s the final day of August, a month that began with the biggest trade in Nationals history and will conclude with another dismal record. The Nats enter tonight’s game 8-18 this month. It’s not as bad as their 6-19 mark from July, but it’s barely better than that.

You know who would love to get a win tonight? Aníbal Sánchez. The 38-year-old is 0-5 with a 5.72 ERA in eight starts, but he’s actually pitched much better of late. Over his last three starts (all no-decisions), he’s got a 2.51 ERA while holding opponents to a .180 batting average. You’d think a matchup against an Athletics lineup that is among the worst in baseball would be advantageous, but that didn’t prove to be the case for Erick Fedde on Tuesday.

The Nats get their first-ever look at James Kaprielian, Oakland’s 28-year-old right-hander who was originally a first-round pick of the Yankees and then got roughed up by them in his last start to the tune of eight runs in 2 2/3 innings. Kaprielian has a command problem; he’s walked 10 batters over his last 7 2/3 innings. Patience from a sometimes overanxious Nationals lineup will be key tonight.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly clear, 81 degrees, wind 9 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
2B Luis García
RF Joey Meneses
1B Luke Voit
DH Nelson Cruz
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Lane Thomas
SS CJ Abrams
3B Ildemaro Vargas
LF Josh Palacios

Tuesday’s news about Cade Cavalli, who is going on the injured list and could be done for the season with right shoulder inflammation, was incredibly discouraging for the Nationals.

Now here’s an even more discouraging thought: What if Cavalli’s injury prompts the team to shut down MacKenzie Gore and Josiah Gray before season’s end as well?

That’s certainly on the table, when you consider what Davey Martinez said when asked if the Cavalli situation might make the club more cautious about handling its two other young starters the rest of the way.

“Yeah, we’re going to look at all that stuff,” he said, later adding: “We’re going to spend the next few weeks just watching these guys, watching them progress, and see where we’re at.”

There are concerns about all three of them, for varying reasons.

This was supposed to be an uplifting homestand for the Nationals, a chance to watch one of the brightest pieces of their future make two starts and the team as a whole face a pair of fellow rebuilding clubs and perhaps emerge with more victories than losses before embarking on a September schedule that figures to be unrelenting.

What, exactly, has gone right for the Nats so far? Next to nothing. They lost two of three to the Reds, including Cade Cavalli’s disappointing debut. Then they learned Cavalli won’t be making his next start this week because he’s heading to the injured list with shoulder inflammation that could bring an abrupt halt to his rookie season.

Then they went out and opened a three-game series with the Athletics – owners of the second-worst record in baseball – and proceeded to slog their way through an uninspired, 10-6 loss in which Erick Fedde didn’t make it out of the third inning.

"It's for sure frustrating," Fedde said. "I should've just pitched better, I guess."

It was the latest lackluster loss in a season filled with them. The Nationals (43-86) now lead the A’s (49-81) by 5 1/2 games for worst record in the majors, not that it matters these days with the new draft lottery giving the sport’s three worst teams the same 16.5 percent chance of securing the No. 1 pick in next summer’s draft.

Would you believe the Athletics have never played at Nationals Park before? That’s right, the last time the A’s were in D.C. was June 9, 2005, when Liván Hernández tossed eight strong innings on 127 pitches, Nick Johnson cleared the bases with a three-run double and Chad Cordero pitched the ninth for his 17th save in a 4-3 victory at RFK Stadium. So, yeah, it’s been a while.

These teams finally meet again here owning the two worst records in the majors. In the past, that might’ve actually put some added weight to these games, as something of a battle for the No. 1 draft pick. But Major League Baseball’s new draft lottery gives the teams with the three worst records at season’s end the same odds of landing the No. 1 pick (and it’s still only a 16.5 percent chance). So, there’s no valid reason to be rooting for the Nationals to lose the next three nights, because it won’t make any difference in their draft positioning.

Erick Fedde gets the ball tonight for his second start since returning from shoulder inflammation. The right-hander was really pleased with his outing one week ago in Seattle, when he allowed two runs over five innings, striking out six and showing off a nice curveball that he said felt better than it had in a long time. He’ll look to keep that going tonight and build up his pitch count from the restricted total of 81 he was at last week.

The Nats lineup against A’s left-hander Cole Irvin features Lane Thomas in the leadoff spot and CJ Abrams at the bottom. It’s the first time Abrams has hit ninth since joining the club. Perhaps Davey Martinez is trying to take some pressure off the rookie, who is just 6-for-44 since his promotion from Triple-A Rochester.

Be aware there is a line of thunderstorms approaching from the west. It’s not a question of if it will hit us, it’s only a question of when it’s going to happen. Let's hope it’s early enough to allow the game to begin as scheduled at 7:05 p.m. Stay tuned.

CJ Abrams has never struggled to hit. Not as a teenager, when he was named Georgia High School Player of the Year. Not as a first-time professional, when he hit .401 in 32 games with the Padres’ rookie ball team in Arizona. Not last season at Double-A, where he had a .363 on-base percentage in 42 games before suffering a leg injury. And not this season at Triple-A, where he posted an .840 OPS in 38 games.

Twelve games into his Nationals career, though, Abrams’ offensive struggles are hard to ignore. He’s just 6-for-44 so far, good for a .136 batting average. He has zero extra base hits. He has yet to draw a walk. He has yet to score a run. He has struck out 12 times.

Extremely small sample, yes. But if you’ve been watching and wondering where the highly touted prospect’s offensive game is, you’re not alone.

“At times, you can see he gets a little frustrated,” manager Davey Martinez said. “And I have to reiterate: ‘Hey, you’re doing fine.’ ”

As he’s done with countless other young players struggling to get going at the plate, Martinez makes sure to mention how he hit .139 in 53 games as a rookie with the Cubs in 1986. He went on to have a long and productive career, finishing with a .276/.341/.389 slash line and 1,599 hits across 16 major league seasons.

Would you believe there are only 34 games remaining in the 2022 season? (Some of you may be thinking right now: That's 34 games too many.) We haven't quite reached the home stretch yet, but we are down to the final 20 percent of the regular season.

There's plenty not to look forward to as the Nationals brace for a September filled with games against NL East contenders, but there are a few things worth anticipating. Like a rotation that could feature Cade Cavalli, MacKenzie Gore and Josiah Gray at the same time for at least a couple of weeks. A middle infield combo of CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia. The unexpected emergence of Joey Meneses and Ildemaro Vargas, who one month ago were nobodies and now are the Nats' two most productive position players.

The team will get back to work Tuesday night when the Athletics come to town for the first time, believe it or not, since 2005 at RFK Stadium. In the meantime, let's take some time to answer your questions. If you've got something to ask, type it up in the comments section below. Then check back for my replies throughout the morning ...

It hadn’t happened in 43 games, 43 long games without a member of the Nationals rotation leaving the ballpark with a win added to his season total. It had long since surpassed the 1949 Senators (35 games) as the longest such winless streak in modern major league history, and though there had been several reasons beyond the rotation for this, it still was the ultimate indignity for this group of starters and the organization as a whole through a miserable summer.

So when it finally ended today, when Patrick Corbin was credited with the win in a 3-2 victory over the Reds, it may not have been cause for wild celebration inside the home clubhouse. But it sure wasn’t something to ignore altogether.

"We were fully aware in here what was going on," said Kyle Finnegan, who finished it off with a perfect top of the ninth. "I think the bullpen had lost a few of those along the way. I know there was one that Paolo (Espino) had that I gave up the lead, and I wound up stealing the win from him that game. To get Pat that win today and put an end to that was awesome."

With six innings of two-run ball – only one of those runs earned – Corbin put forth his best start in a while. And thanks to a couple of clutch hits in the fourth and fifth innings from his teammates, the Nationals bullpen found itself in position to actually close this thing out over the final three innings.

Hunter Harvey retired three of four batters faced in the seventh. Carl Edwards Jr. retired the side in the eighth. And Finnegan retired the side in the ninth with no drama to notch his eighth save.

Cade Cavalli will make his next start for the Nationals on Thursday afternoon, giving the organization’s top pitching prospect two home outings to begin his career before he makes his road debut.

Cavalli is slated to start the finale of a three-game series against the Athletics, with Erick Fedde and Aníbal Sánchez pitching Tuesday and Wednesday nights, respectively.

The 24-year-old right-hander made his major league debut Friday against the Reds, struggling with grip issues on a hot and muggy D.C. evening en route to seven runs allowed over 4 1/3 innings and 99 pitches. He’ll now get a chance to face another rebuilding club in the A’s, who currently own the second-worst record in baseball (ahead of only the Nationals).

Cavalli will be pitching on five days’ rest, just as he did most of the time this season at Triple-A Rochester. The Nationals are going to attempt to continue giving him an extra day of rest as much as possible over the season’s final month, taking advantage of scheduled off-days of their schedule for both Cavalli and Josiah Gray.

“Between him and JoJo, we’re definitely going to try to keep those guys limited a little bit in the next month,” manager Davey Martinez said. “But we definitely want to see him pitch up here. So he’ll pitch Thursday, and then we’ll have some days off coming up. We’ll see how we’re going to work those two guys. We might give them a couple extra days in between.”

A homestand that was supposed to provide the Nationals an opportunity to win some games against fellow non-contenders hasn’t exactly gone as hoped so far. With back-to-back losses to the Reds, the Nats already have dropped this weekend series and now need a victory today just to avoid getting swept.

Which means the pressure’s on Patrick Corbin, and we know how that has typically gone this season. Over his last eight starts, the lefty is 0-7 with a 9.82 ERA. Opponents are hitting .386 with a .441 on-base percentage during this stretch. He’s also trying to avoid becoming the majors’ first 18-game loser since Chris Archer and James Shields in 2016. So there you have it.

You’d like to believe the Nationals lineup could take the pressure off Corbin and score a bunch of runs, but as we all know, that’s just not what this current group does. They’ve totaled 12 runs in their last six games. Since the trade deadline, they’re scoring only 3.3 runs per game, down from 3.8 per game prior to Aug. 2.

CINCINNATI REDS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 87 degrees, wind 9 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
RF Joey Meneses
1B Luke Voit
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Lane Thomas
SS CJ Abrams
C Riley Adams
3B Ildemaro Varga
CF Victor Robles

They watched Cade Cavalli take the mound at 7:05 p.m. on a muggy August evening in the nation’s capital with the kind of anticipation that only comes when a highly rated pitching prospect makes his major league debut.

And when he departed 93 minutes later, all anyone in attendance at Nationals Park could do was feel some mixed combination of emotions.

Clearly, there were things to like about Cavalli’s debut, most notably the fact he struck out six of the first 16 Reds batters he faced. And clearly, there were things to be concerned about regarding the 4 1/3-inning start, namely the seven runs that were charged to him as he struggled mightily to command his repertoire while he sweated buckets on the mound.

It will be some time before we can look back at this 7-3 loss to Cincinnati and say definitively whether it presaged what was to come for Cavalli, or whether it was an insignificant blip to begin a standout career. Suffice it to say, there weren’t a whole lot of conclusions to draw from this, except to note the 24-year-old right-hander obviously has the stuff to get big league hitters out … but only when he commands it well.

Over the course of his 99-pitch debut, Cavalli threw just 57 strikes. Some of his misses were close, with all credit going to the Reds for not chasing after them. But a good number of them didn’t come anywhere close to the strike zone, especially the three errant curveballs that plunked opposing right-handed hitters.

The day has come, and not a moment too soon for a Nationals organization (and fan base) that desperately needs something to get excited about. Cade Cavalli makes his major league debut tonight, which makes this the most prominent debut for a Nats starting pitcher since Lucas Giolito in 2016.

What can we expect from Cavalli against a Reds lineup that doesn’t feature a lot of prominent names? Probably a good number of strikeouts. Possibly more than a couple walks as well, unless he can get them to chase out of the zone. Watch his pitch count, as well, because he does tend to pile up those numbers, which could prevent him from going more than five innings (if that) tonight.

The two best things the Nationals can do to help out Cavalli: Play good defense behind him, and score some runs off Reds left-hander Mike Minor (who enters with a 2-10 record and 6.44 ERA). CJ Abrams at shortstop should help in that regard. And Luis García is officially back from a groin injury, a welcome return for the club.

CINCINNATI REDS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 83 degrees, wind 7 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
LF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
RF Joey Meneses
1B Luke Voit
DH Nelson Cruz
C Keibert Ruiz
SS CJ Abrams
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Victor Robles

It’s a special occasion when a pitcher makes his major league debut, all the more so when he starts the game, and especially when he enters that start as a highly touted prospect who could figure prominently into the organization’s long-term plan.

So make no mistake, Cade Cavalli’s big league debut tonight is a big deal for the Nationals, who desperately need their 2020 top draft pick to realize his full potential and help lead this rebuilding pitching staff for years to come.

Cavalli will be the 28th starting pitcher to make his major league debut for the Nationals since 2005, and that list is littered with long-forgotten names (Shairon Martis, J.D. Martin, Taylor Jordan) who never really amounted to anything. It also includes a few other highly touted prospects, some of whom did go on to realize their full potential for the Nats (Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann) or for other clubs (Lucas Giolito).

What’s most notable, though, is the lack of prominent pitching debuts for this franchise in recent years. Cavalli is only the sixth Nats starter to make his major league debut the last four years, joining the likes of Austin Voth (2018), Wil Crowe (2020), Joan Adon (2021), Evan Lee (2022) and Jackson Tetreault (2022).

The last first-round pick to debut as a starter was Erick Fedde in 2017. The last one to debut with significant fanfare was Giolito in 2016. And the last one to actually earn the win in his first career start was none other than Strasburg way back on the glorious night of June 8, 2010.

The Nationals waited 4 1/2 months for Cade Cavalli to arrive from Triple-A and finally provide a much-needed big arm to a rotation that has struggled all year long.

Now that the hard-throwing right-hander is on his way to D.C. to make his highly anticipated major league debut, here’s the irony: The Nats rotation is currently in the middle of its best stretch of the season.

During their just-completed, six-game road trip to San Diego and Seattle, Nationals starters more than held their own against a couple of playoff contenders. They collectively posted a 2.79 ERA, holding opponents to nine total runs across 29 innings. Go back over their last 14 games, and that ERA is still a respectable 3.91 (nearly two runs better than the group’s worst-in-the-majors 5.89 mark for the entire season).

There’s been so much improvement, the Nats could afford to demote Cory Abbott (who allowed two runs over six innings in his most recent start), first to the bullpen and then to Triple-A following Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Mariners. And they might also end up moving Paolo Espino to the bullpen after he starts Saturday, no matter the result, because they’ll have five other starters with Cavalli joining the mix.

Combine that kind of competent work from the rotation with the continued strong performance of the bullpen (2.02 ERA since Aug. 13) and you get the best sustained period of pitching the Nationals have had all year.

SEATTLE – The focus of the remainder of the Nationals’ season is going to be on the handful of young players they’re now trying to build around, a group that will see its highest-profile addition yet Friday night when top pitching prospect Cade Cavalli makes his major league debut.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still some room for an older player or two to take advantage of the opportunity he’s being given to make a name for himself, and possibly earn his way into the Nats’ 2023 plans as well.

We’ve already seen Joey Meneses do it with six homers in his first three weeks in the big leagues. Now how about Ildemaro Vargas, the 31-year-old utility infielder who has suddenly become the Nationals’ everyday third baseman and just finished off a strong road trip with a bang.

Vargas’ two-run homer off Mariners closer Paul Sewald with two outs in the top of the ninth this afternoon lifted the Nats to an unexpected 3-1 victory in the finale of a brief, two-game series. It was Vargas’ second homer of this West Coast trip, his previous one coming in his first at-bat in San Diego during Thursday night’s win over the Padres.

"I've always worked hard to get an opportunity like this one, to where I get an opportunity to play every day," Vargas said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "I'm very thankful to the team, the organization, for the opportunity I've gotten. I'm just trying to take advantage and keep working hard and contribute any way I can."