The primary object of the great game of baseball is to score runs. You can’t win games without doing that. And the Nationals are being made all too aware of that here in the season’s final week.

For the third straight game, they were shut out, this time in a 3-0 loss to the Royals. They have not scored a run in their last 31 innings.

"I think they're pressing, for sure," manager Davey Martinez said. "We've just got to go out there relaxed tomorrow. Just get a good pitch to hit."

The last member of the Nationals to cross the plate? Joey Gallo, via his three-run homer in the top of the sixth Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Gallo, as a matter of fact, has driven in six of the team’s last nine runs.

Not depressing enough? How about this one: The Nats have been held to zero or one run in seven of their last nine games.

Cade Cavalli was in the Nationals Park bullpen this afternoon, throwing 25 pitches of all varieties at full velocity. He was all smiles afterward. He feels like he would be ready to pitch in games soon, if only the calendar had cooperated.

“We just ran out of time this season,” he said. “I hate it, because I want to be out there more than anything. I miss competing like crazy. We just ran out of time. I’m very excited. There’s a lot of fuel for the fire for 2025.”

Cavalli never did pitch in the major leagues this season, just as he never pitched last season following his March 2023 Tommy John surgery. It appeared the 2020 first-round pick was close this summer. He made three minor league rehab starts and also faced live hitters in a simulated game here in D.C. in which his fastball topped out at 98 mph.

And then he was shut down in late June and didn’t pitch competitively again. What happened?

Cavalli did deal with a bout of the flu at one point, but the larger issue involved his arm. It wasn’t injured, per se, but it wasn’t responding to the workload the way he and team doctors wanted it to, especially the day after he pitched. The term “dead arm” was used to describe the condition.

The Nationals need to score a run tonight. Preferably more than a run. But at least a run after getting shut out each of their previous two games. They’ve actually been held to zero or one run in six of their last eight games, which is a tough way to try to win baseball games.

It’s an interesting matchup tonight against Royals right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who you probably remember no-hitting the Nats last year in Philadelphia. You may not remember that they faced him again nine days later and roughed him up for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings. So, who knows if any of that history matters tonight.

On the other side, DJ Herz takes the mound tonight for the 19th and final time this season. While other members of the Nationals rotation have tended to fare worse in the second half than they did in the first half, Herz had been the exception. In 10 starts since the All-Star break, he owned a 2.76 … until he was beaten up by the Mets last week to the tune of seven runs in 3 1/3 innings (sense a recurring theme here?). So now the young lefty has one last shot to end his season on a high note against a Kansas City lineup that has struggled to score runs as well.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 71 degrees, wind 7 mph right field to left field

NATIONALS
RF Dylan Crews
LF James Wood
DH Luis García Jr.
2B José Tena
1B Joey Gallo
3B Ildemaro Vargas
C Drew Millas
CF Jacob Young
SS Nasim Nuñez

Asked if he could remember the last time he made a behind-the-back play in the field like the one he pulled off in the top of the first Tuesday night, Mitchell Parker laughed.

“A long time ago,” he said. “High school.”

And what did Parker think when he realized he had somehow snagged Freddy Fermin’s 98-mph comebacker in such stunning fashion?

“Oh geez, now I’ve got to get it to first base,” he said with another laugh.

Credit the 24-year-old Nationals left-hander for having a keen sense of self-deprecation. He knows how many times he has botched much easier plays in the field than this one, leading to his reputation as one of the worst-fielding pitchers in club history. He also knows he has the ability to get better at it, and Tuesday’s web gem was the best example of that yet.

Neither the Nationals nor the Royals have been able to score runs with any regularity down the stretch of the season, so maybe it was appropriate tonight’s interleague series opener between the two was scoreless into the ninth inning.

The only difference: One of these teams is fighting for its life to secure an unlikely postseason berth, while the other is playing out the string for the fifth straight year.

And at night’s end, the Royals managed to keep their hopes alive with a 1-0, 10-inning victory made possible only because of a Nationals error.

Nasim Nuñez’s low throw to first allowed automatic runner Kyle Isbel to score from second to finally break the scoreless deadlock. And when the Nats couldn’t get their automatic runner home in the bottom of the inning, they were left to stew over their 17th shutout loss of the season.

"It all came down to one play. And execution, not being able to hit the ball," manager Davey Martinez said. "It's kind of been a common theme these last few weeks."

Stone Garrett stood in front of the same locker he occupied in the Nationals Park clubhouse last season, right next to good friend MacKenzie Gore, and smiled wide as he was asked what it felt like to be back here for the first time in 2024.

“It’s like getting called up to the big leagues again,” the outfielder said. “Honestly, it feels like the first time I ever got called up.”

Garrett is indeed back in the big leagues, even if for only a few days during the final week of the season. With Andrés Chaparro going on paternity leave, the Nationals called Garrett up from Triple-A Rochester, rewarding the 28-year-old for his perseverance following last year’s devastating left leg injury.

On Aug. 23, 2023, Garrett attempted to make a leaping catch at the right field wall in Yankee Stadium and fell to the ground in agony. He was eventually carted off the field, having suffered a broken left fibula. He also tore a ligament in his ankle on the play, which required “tightrope” surgery to be repaired and ultimately prolonged his full recovery from the gruesome injury.

Though he was able to play in the minor league games by mid-April and made it through the entire season with few interruptions, Garrett clearly wasn’t 100 percent for some time. The Nationals managed his workload, rarely playing him on back-to-back days during the first half. His power numbers regressed. His running form still didn’t look right.

We have reached the final week of the season, and that means six more scheduled home games, all against teams still playing for something. The Phillies, who have clinched the division but are fighting with the Dodgers for home field advantage, will be here this weekend. First up, though, it’s the Royals, who had been among the season’s best stories, trying to make the playoffs after losing 106 games last year. Now, though, Kansas City is fighting for its life, having lost seven in a row while seeing the Tigers shockingly come out of nowhere to catch them in the standings.

The Royals have a lot of young talent, and that includes tonight’s starting pitcher: Cole Ragans. The 26-year-old left-hander was an All-Star this season and enters this game with a 3.24 ERA and 217 strikeouts in 180 1/3 innings. This is the first time he’s facing the Nationals in his career.

Kansas City’s lineup, featuring MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr., will be facing an unfamiliar foe as well in Mitchell Parker. The rookie left-hander makes his final start of the season, hoping to bounce back from a rough outing against the Mets last week and close out what has been an impressive debut campaign on a high note.

The Nationals made a roster move today: Stone Garrett is back in the major leagues, recalled from Triple-A Rochester about 13 months after breaking his leg at Yankee Stadium. He takes the roster spot of Andrés Chaparro, who has gone on paternity leave.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 69 degrees, wind 8 mph right field to left field

A simple ground ball single up the middle may never have felt so good to Dylan Crews.

The Nationals rookie needed that eighth-inning base hit Sunday in Chicago to snap out of the worst slump of his brief big league career, perhaps the worst slump he’s experienced in a long time at any level of the sport.

Crews had been hitless in his previous 19 at-bats before that sharp grounder past Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, a slump that left him staring at a .196 batting average across 106 major league plate appearances. The single didn’t really mean much during his team’s 5-0 loss, but it did at least get that average back over the Mendoza Line.

Heading into the final week of the season, Crews is trying to rediscover his swing. It may be too late to salvage his rookie stat line, but it might do some wonders for his confidence heading into the offseason.

“He’s really fighting through some things,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I’m proud of him, because he’s going to give you everything he has. We’ve just got to get him to slow down a little bit, stay behind the baseball a little bit better.”

CHICAGO – CJ Abrams’ demotion to the minors with one week to go in the season seemingly came out of nowhere. It shocked teammates. It confused the rest of the baseball world. It produced an endless supply of instant takes and opinions that may or may not have been all that informed.

But when the dust settled Sunday and the magnitude of the move sunk in, this much became clear: The Nationals are taking an awfully big risk here. What’s at stake? Abrams’ career trajectory, and the reputation of a franchise trying to re-establish itself as a successful and well-respected ballclub.

The Nats clearly felt they needed to send a message, both to Abrams and to the rest of the clubhouse, that a certain level of maturity and responsibility is expected. To be clear, Abrams didn’t break any official rules. There’s no mandatory curfew on the road. He didn’t get himself into any legal trouble.

So the disciplinary demotion was about making a larger point. To Abrams: It’s time to make smarter decisions. To the rest of the players: Everyone is expected to adhere to certain standards of professionalism, and those who don’t are going to risk the consequences.

It’s not unlike the time Mike Rizzo designated Shawn Kelley for assignment after the reliever showed up manager Davey Martinez during a blowout game in July 2018. Rizzo famously declared after making that transaction, “You’re either in, or you’re in the way,” a quote that would then be displayed prominently in the tunnel that leads from the clubhouse to the dugout at Nationals Park.

CHICAGO – A road trip that began with a sweep at the hands of a playoff contender, saw one cornerstone of the franchise’s rebuild get demoted for disciplinary reasons and saw another flirt with a no-hitter, came to an end this evening with another loss that was dragged out a couple extra hours for good measure.

The Nationals’ rain-delayed, 5-0 loss to the Cubs completed a dismal, 1-6 final road trip of the season that didn’t include many uplifting moments.

From a three-game sweep in New York to three losses in four days at Wrigley Field that included CJ Abrams’ surprise demotion and MacKenzie Gore’s lone bright spot on the mound Saturday, the Nats now limp home to finish out the 2024 season with six games against a pair of contenders with plenty still at stake: the Royals (American League wild card) and Phillies (National League home field advantage).

At 69-87, the Nationals need to win three of those final six games to surpass last year’s win total of 71. The way they hit the ball on this trip, that could be a tall order.

They scored a grand total of 14 runs in these seven games, and 11 of those came in two contests alone. They were held to zero or one run in the other five games.

CHICAGO – This wasn’t the season Trey Lipscomb expected. And it’s certainly not the way he expected it to end, with a surprise promotion to the majors for the final week after CJ Abrams’ unexpected, disciplinary demotion.

But here Lipscomb is, getting one last chance to make an impression on the Nationals before season’s end. And he wants to make the most of it and head into the winter feeling good about the way things wrapped up.

“Honestly, just finish strong,” the infielder said. “That’s been my mentality at Triple-A: Finish strong. And I feel like I’ve been able to do that. I feel like the last week of the year, that’s what you want to do.”

This is, remarkably, Lipscomb’s fifth stint in the big leagues this year. He didn’t technically make the Opening Day roster, but he joined the Nats in Cincinnati the next day after Nick Senzel suffered a freak thumb injury during warmups. He spent the next six months bouncing back and forth between the majors and Triple-A, unable to produce enough offensively to stick up here but always on the club’s speed dial when a roster need arose.

His major league totals – a .207/.276/.239 slash line with three doubles, one homer and 11 stolen bases in 205 plate appearances – don’t look great. But his glovework - especially at third base, where he has four Defensive Runs Saved - was top-notch.

CHICAGO – It’s been a lovely weekend, weather-wise, here, but that’s not the case today. It’s been raining all morning, and it’s supposed to continue to rain all afternoon. That complicates the scheduled series finale between the Nationals and Cubs

The Nats are off Monday, but the Cubs play in Philadelphia, so they can’t just spend the night here and try again Monday. Chicago was officially eliminated from the National League wild card race Sunday, so technically this game no longer means anything. Major League Baseball doesn’t like to cancel games altogether, but it’s been known to happen when there’s a late-season rainout like this between two teams out of the race, so we’ll have to see how this plays out.

If they play, it’s Jake Irvin on the mound for the Nationals looking to continue his late-season surge. The right-hander has allowed a total of two runs on six hits over 13 1/3 innings his last two outings. He’s got his ERA down to 4.07, and if he gets the chance to make two more starts he could get that number under 4.00 by season’s end.

Shoto Imanaga gets the ball for the Cubs, and the Nats did not see him well when they met last month in D.C. Imanaga, who might win NL Rookie of the Year, allowed three runs on four hits over seven innings, striking out eight. He gave up a homer to Dylan Crews but not much else that evening.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 72 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right field

CHICAGO – MacKenzie Gore’s emotions already were running high long before he took the mound this afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Gore is close friends with CJ Abrams, the fellow first-round picks of the Padres forever joined at the hip for their inclusion in the August 2022 blockbuster that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego. Now, here was the 25-year-old left-hander preparing to face the Cubs while his 23-year-old shortstop was preparing to head to West Palm Beach for the season’s final week as part of his disciplinary demotion by the club.

How would Gore channel all that emotion today? As well as the Nationals could possibly have hoped.

Carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Gore thoroughly dominated Chicago’s lineup in one of the best performances of his career, leading the Nats to a 5-1 victory on a sun-splashed Saturday at the Friendly Confines that was played under less-than-normal circumstances.

"I thought they did really well. We kept it together," said manager Davey Martinez, who held a pregame meeting to inform his players of Abrams' demotion. "They went out there, and it all really started with MacKenzie. MacKenzie got out to a good start, and the guys were just very comfortable.”

CHICAGO – CJ Abrams’ 2024 season is over, and not for any baseball-related reasons.

The Nationals optioned Abrams to Triple-A Rochester this morning, a stunning transaction at this late stage of the season that club officials said was made not for performance or service-time reasons.

“It’s an internal issue,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I’m not going to get into specifics, or talk about specifics, because I need to keep these guys and everything on the down-low. I’ve got other guys out there I want to support. I’m going to support CJ. He’s a big part of our Nats family, and he will be. But at this point, for me, it’s the right thing to do.”

Abrams, who earned the first All-Star selection of his career with an impressive first half, had been mired in a prolonged slump since July but had one of his best games in months Thursday night when he went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two stolen bases in the Nats’ 7-6 loss to the Cubs. He was back in the lineup Friday afternoon and went 0-for-3 with a walk, then was summoned to Martinez’s office for a long postgame meeting and was informed he was being demoted.

Prior to the game, an X post from Cody Delmendo of CHGO Sports said Abrams “was at the Bally’s casino in the loop until 8 am this morning,” citing a source. Asked about that report, Martinez said: “I’m not going to get into any specifics. I’m going to handle this internally.”

CHICAGO – It hasn’t been an especially uplifting road trip for the Nationals. They’ve lost all five games they’ve played so far against the Mets and Cubs. They lost Luis García Jr. and Jacob Young to injuries. They’ve scored a grand total of nine runs, and six of those came in Thursday night’s loss here.

But it’s a new day, so maybe today is the day things click again for the boys and they combine good pitching, hitting and defense and emerge victorious. They’ll look for a good start out of MacKenzie Gore, who has been excellent. Over his last five starts, the left-hander sports a 1.95 ERA and 1.048 WHIP with 27 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings. (There was one dud in there against the Braves, but despite giving up seven runs he was only charged with two earned runs in that one, so the ERA wasn’t destroyed.)

More than anything, the Nats need to hit and they need to score runs. They’re facing a wily veteran today in Kyle Hendricks, who is 4-11 with a 6.25 ERA over 118 innings this season. But it should be noted the right-hander has been much better recently, with a 2.93 ERA over his last three starts.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 84 degrees, wind 9 mph right field to left field

NATIONALS
CF Dylan Crews
LF James Wood
DH Luis García Jr. 
1B Juan Yepez
2B José Tena
C Keibert Ruiz
RF Joey Gallo
3B Ildemaro Vargas
SS Nasim Nuñez

CHICAGO – The Nationals’ primary focus during these final weeks of the season surely is on the bevy of young players they’ve added to the roster this summer, many of whom they believe will form the core of their next winning ballclub.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t still some opportunities for veterans to help their own causes here down the stretch. Which is why Trevor Williams was on the mound at Wrigley Field this afternoon.

Williams is not part of the Nats’ long-term plan. The 32-year-old right-hander spent the last 3 1/2 months on the injured list with a flexor strain in his elbow. He’s a pending free agent. But he worked his way back from the injury before season’s end, and the Nationals decided it was worth it to give him two big league starts, both to help him as he enters free agency and to give their other young pitchers some extra rest near the end of a long season.

Williams rewarded the Nats for giving him this opportunity, tossing five innings of one-run ball in his return to competition. They would end up losing to the Cubs, 3-1, but it certainly wasn’t their starter’s fault.

"It was awesome to see him pitch the way he did," manager Davey Martinez said. "He threw the ball really well. It almost looked like he didn't skip a beat, which was great."

CHICAGO – Though he’s out of the lineup this afternoon, Jacob Young sounded reasonably sure his left shoulder injury won’t prevent him from returning to play for the Nationals soon.

Young, who jammed the shoulder sliding into second base on a stolen base attempt during Thursday night’s 7-6 loss to the Cubs, said he’s still sore, but “it’s nothing crazy.”

“Just diving in the outfield, diving into bases throughout travel ball all the way up to pro ball, stuff like that happens where your shoulder gets put into maybe an uncomfortable position,” he said. “It’s not your throwing shoulder, so it doesn’t affect that at all. You kind of know what it’s going to be like in the morning. It’s going to be sore, maybe not feel great. Then you just give it some time, let the doctors do what they do and get it back to feeling good.”

The Nationals are still waiting for MRI results on Young’s shoulder, so manager Davey Martinez isn’t making any proclamations yet about his status for the rest of this weekend series or next week’s final six games of the season.

For now, Young is sitting this afternoon’s game, with Dylan Crews taking over in center field and Joey Gallo starting in right field.

CHICAGO – When last we saw Trevor Williams on a big league mound, he was tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball to beat the Braves and improve to 5-0 with a 2.22 ERA and 1.076 WHIP. It was May 30, and the veteran right-hander looked like one of the best comeback stories of the season.

And then Williams reported a sore elbow and landed on the injured list. Nearly four months later, he’s finally returning to the mound this afternoon, activated off the IL and ready to make two final starts to a season that was severely interrupted.

What can we reasonably expect from Williams today against the Cubs? Who knows? He’ll almost certainly be limited to five innings and 80 pitches, give or take. If he can recapture his early season form, he’ll keep the ball down in the zone, induce weak contact and put the Nats in position to win. Whether he can do all that remains to be seen.

The Nationals would love to supply Williams with the kind of run support they supplied Patrick Corbin on Thursday night (even if it came in a 7-6 loss). They’ll face right-hander Jameson Taillon, who did not pitch when the two teams met in D.C. last month but has enjoyed a solid season (10-8, 3.54 ERA, 1.162 WHIP in 26 starts) and has strung together three straight quality starts entering this one.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 2:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 83 degrees, wind 9 mph out to right field

CHICAGO – They got a rare, clutch homer from Joey Gallo off a left-hander. They got plenty of offense from CJ Abrams and James Wood. Shoot, they even got three hits from Darren Baker.

So how did the Nationals still end up losing tonight’s series opener at Wrigley Field? Because Patrick Corbin endured through another subpar start, and the bullpen couldn’t stop the bleeding after that, with Robert Garcia ultimately the pitcher of record in a 7-6 loss to the Cubs that also saw Jacob Young depart with an apparent shoulder injury.

A much-needed big night at the plate from a lineup that struggled mightily this week against the Mets still wasn’t enough for the Nats, who have now dropped four in a row to begin their final road trip of the season.

Unlike their just-completed sweep at Citi Field, they produced more than enough offense tonight to win. But just like the last two nights, they gave up a boatload of runs, now 17 allowed in their last 24 innings.

"That was tough," Gallo said. "I thought we did a good job of battling. We took the lead, they took the lead, we took the lead back. It's just how baseball goes. It was a great game, but unfortunately we came out on the losing end."

CHICAGO – Luis García Jr. is still dealing with a sore right wrist, so that means Darren Baker gets to start his first major league game tonight, in a ballpark very familiar to the rookie infielder.

Baker will start at second base for the Nationals in their series opener against the Cubs, the first time he’s had a chance to be in the lineup since making his big league debut earlier this month. That it happens to be taking place at Wrigley Field, where two decades ago his father managed for four seasons, was coincidence and fortuitous timing. But it nevertheless makes for a nice moment for the 25-year-old.

“It just kind of happened,” manager Davey Martinez said. “After last night, with Luis still sore, I said Darren’s going to play second today. I wanted to give him an opportunity. And if Luis doesn’t get better, I might (continue to) let him play second against righties.”

García has dealt with a sore wrist at multiple points during the season, and it got worse when he took a swing in the third inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Mets. He departed an inning later and sat out Wednesday’s game as well.

The Nationals were hopeful García would be ready to return tonight, but Martinez described the condition of his wrist as “the same” as it has been. At this late stage of the season, they won’t take any chances.