ATLANTA – Davey Martinez has managed games of far more significance since joining the Nationals in 2018, but since Day One he has treated every single one of them the same way, forever looking just to "go 1-0 today."

So Martinez managed his 1,000th career game with the same goal as any of the previous 999, which meant doing whatever he thought necessary to try to beat the Braves tonight in another tight, low-scoring affair.

That meant pulling starter Jake Irvin after 5 1/3 innings with a pitch count of 83 and entrusting a big moment to Robert Garcia, a move that backfired and ultimately led to the Nats’ 4-2 loss before a sellout crowd at Truist Park.

Pitching for the third straight day, Garcia gave up the game-tying and go-ahead runs during a ragged bottom of the sixth that defined this affair. And when fellow left-hander Joe La Sorsa surrendered an insurance run in the eighth and the Nationals lineup continued to come up short with runners in scoring position (0-for-9), Martinez’s 550th career loss became official.

The Nats also missed out on a second straight opportunity to clinch a season series against the Braves for the first time since 2017. They’re still 6-4 against Atlanta this year, still needing to win one of the final three head-to-head matchups.

ATLANTA – Though his injury didn’t prove to be as devastating as it appeared to everyone who watched it happen Friday night, Alex Call still did need to be placed on the injured list today with a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his left foot.

The Nationals made that transaction this afternoon, officially putting Call on the 10-day IL and recalling catcher Drew Millas from Triple-A Rochester to take his roster spot for now.

Call hurt himself charging in from right field in the bottom of the second on a shallow fly ball that ultimately was caught by second baseman Luis García Jr. Call fell to the ground in agony about 20 feet behind García, suffering a non-contact injury that left him and plenty others worried he had torn his Achilles’ tendon.

But the 29-year-old, who had been trying to play through a case of plantar fasciitis, felt the “snap” in his foot, not ankle. And though he had to be carted off the field, an MRI of the foot revealed the tear of the fascia, which actually left him encouraged at night’s end.

The injury is serious enough to require an IL stint, though the Nats don’t know yet how long that stint will be.

ATLANTA – There were a lot of encouraging things about Friday night’s game for the Nationals. Except for the one thing that matters more than anything else: the outcome. Their 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Braves was ugly, with CJ Abrams committing a throwing error to allow the winning run to score.

So, they’ll have to dust themselves off and try to get back on track tonight in the second game of the weekend series, hoping to score more than two runs this time. They’ll be facing a seemingly less daunting opposing pitcher in Charlie Morton, the 40-year-old right-hander with a 4.29 ERA. The Nats have roughed up Morton twice this season, scoring 13 runs on 19 hits in 10 2/3 scoreless innings. Abrams (4-for-9, two homers) has excellent numbers against him, though you have to also note the two others with awful career numbers against him: Luis García Jr. (2-for-16, seven strikeouts) and Joey Gallo (0-for-20, two walks, 16 strikeouts).

Jake Irvin has been outstanding in his two starts against Atlanta this season, totaling 12 scoreless innings with 14 strikeouts. The right-hander is still trying to right his wayward ship overall, though, having posted a 6.20 ERA over his last eight starts, victimized by a whopping 14 homers in the process.

The Nationals did make a roster move this afternoon, officially placing Alex Call on the 10-day injured list with a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his left foot. For now, his replacement is Drew Millas, giving the team three catchers through the rest of the weekend. We’ll have to see what they decide to do Monday when they promote Dylan Crews from Triple-A and have to remove someone from the roster to make room for the top prospect.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 7:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 84 degrees, wind 7 mph left field to right field

ATLANTA – The Nationals determined Friday they were ready to promote Dylan Crews to the major leagues. But not until Monday, when the team opens a high-profile, three-game home series against the Yankees.

It all makes sense, of course. Teams are always going to try to let their top prospects debut at home, reaping the benefits of the extra attention (and extra ticket sales) that come with that. But it was impossible not to at least ponder one particular question Friday afternoon: If the Nats have already decided Crews is ready to play in the big leagues, why not call him up immediately?

That question became even more pertinent in the bottom of the second inning Friday night, when Alex Call came charging in from right field on a shallow fly ball and felt something snap in his left foot. As Call was being carted off the field in pain, it was only natural to wonder what the team would do to replace him, and whether Crews’ debut would suddenly be bumped up 48 hours.

“I don’t know that yet,” manager Davey Martinez said when asked directly about the possibility after the game, a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Braves. “I’ve got to talk to (general manager Mike Rizzo).”

It may become moot if Call’s injury turns out not to be as serious as it looked in the moment. He was cautiously optimistic by night’s end that he avoided catastrophe, that he had only felt the already stretched plantar fascia in his foot snap, which could actually relieve the pain he had been experiencing and allow him to return to the field in short order. Perhaps he might not even need to go on the injured list.

ATLANTA – They got the best start they’d seen from MacKenzie Gore in weeks. They got nine hits off Chris Sale and found a way to push across two runs despite a lineup missing CJ Abrams and Luis García Jr. They overcame what appeared to be a serious left foot injury to Alex Call that could throw a wrench into their plans to promote top prospect Dylan Crews three days from now.

The Nationals put themselves in position for an unlikely win over the Braves tonight, if only they could finish the job late.

Alas, they could not. Unable to push across another run late despite several opportunities, they instead watched as Atlanta won 3-2 on Abrams’ throwing error with two outs in the bottom of the 10th.

"It sucks," the All-Star shortstop said. "We all fought. It came down to the wire, extra innings. We wanted to continue to fight, and it just ended like that."

A tight ballgame that saw both talented lefty starters pitch effectively turned into a contest of bullpens late. The Nats couldn’t score against the Braves relievers. The Braves did score against their counterparts, getting the tying run home against Jacob Barnes in the seventh, but did not get the winning run home in regulation, with Barnes and Robert Garcia combining to retire the side in the eighth and rookie Eduardo Salazar cruising through a 1-2-3 ninth to force extra innings.

ATLANTA – Davey Martinez laughed as he recalled his one and only playing experience against Randy Johnson.

On May 24, 1998, the inaugural Devil Rays franchise faced the Mariners at the Kingdome, with the Big Unit on the mound for Seattle. Tampa Bay’s regular lineup featured two Hall of Famers in Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs. Neither of whom played that day, because of the particular challenge left-handed hitters faced against Johnson, who had the ability to screw up a good hitter for weeks with one dominant start.

The only lefty in the lineup that day: Martinez, who batted second. And then proceeded to strike out four times.

Some 26 years later, Martinez was thinking about that scenario as he planned his lineup for tonight’s series opener against Chris Sale. Which explains why CJ Abrams and Luis García Jr. are sitting against the Braves’ left-handed ace and Cy Young Award favorite.

“It’s funny, because when I was looking at how good Chris has been this year, it reminds me a lot of Randy Johnson, where all the lefties sat,” Martinez said. “He’s been really good, so it’ll be a lot of righties in there, and see if we can beat him that way.”

INF/OF Terrin Vavra has been claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners.

ATLANTA – There’s big news today about Dylan Crews, if you haven’t seen it yet, but the top prospect won’t be making his major league debut until Monday. Between now and then, the Nationals have a three-game series with the Braves this weekend, and that’s a challenge in itself, even if Atlanta has been dealing with a ton of injuries and is no longer a shoo-in to make the playoffs.

This is a big start for MacKenzie Gore, whose once-promising season has been slipping away over the last two months. In his last 10 starts, the left-hander is 1-5 with a 7.09 ERA, with an ugly 38-to-29 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s got to find a way to throw strikes tonight, but he’s also got to find a way to throw quality strikes, keep his pitch count down and at least get through five innings having given his team a chance.

The challenge is no easier for the Nationals at the plate, because they have to face Chris Sale. The likely National League Cy Young Award winner frontrunner at this point with a 14-3 record and league leading 2.62 ERA. One of those losses, though, did come to the Nats back on June 7, when Sale allowed only two runs over seven innings but was outdueled by Jake Irvin in a 2-1 victory.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 7:20 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 81 degrees, wind 8 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
RF Alex Call
LF James Wood
1B Juan Yepez
C Keibert Ruiz
DH Andrés Chaparro
2B Ildemaro Vargas
3B José Tena
CF Jacob Young
SS Nasim Nuñez

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated LHP Keegan Akin from the Paternity List.
• Optioned LHP Nick Vespi to Triple-A Norfolk.

ATLANTA – The Nationals are calling up Dylan Crews to make his major league debut. Against Juan Soto and the Yankees.

Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in last summer’s draft, will be promoted from Triple-A Rochester prior to Monday night’s series opener against the Yankees, a source familiar with the decision confirmed. The 22-year-old outfielder’s first big league game will be a star-studded affair, with fellow top prospect James Wood joining him in the Nats lineup against a Bronx Bombers lineup led by Aaron Judge and former Nationals star Juan Soto.

The news of Crews’ pending promotion, which was first reported by 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen, comes three days prior to his planned debut. That mirrors the timeline the Nats used when promoting Wood to make his debut July 1, also the Monday night opener of a homestand, also against an opponent from New York (the Mets).

Unlike Wood (one of five prospects acquired from the Padres in the August 2022 blockbuster trade for Soto and Josh Bell), Crews hasn’t dominated in the minors this season. He enters Friday night’s game with a solid-but-unspectacular, .272/.343/.456 slash line, 21 doubles, 13 homers, 68 RBIs and 25 steals in 99 total games split between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester. But Crews has steadily improved as the season has progressed and over his last 19 games sports a .309/.370/.531 slash line.

It remains to be seen how Crews fits into the Nationals lineup and outfield, but he has most frequently led off for Rochester while playing center field. He has, however, shifted to right field the last two days, and that figures to be his most likely initial position in the majors, with Wood starting in left field and Gold Glove Award candidate Jacob Young in center.

Juan Yepez joined the Nationals on July 5, taking over the first base job for the struggling, demoted Joey Meneses, and proceeded to hold that job every day. For more than a month.

It wasn’t until Aug. 13 that someone else started at first base, in this case rookie Andres Chaparro. Even then, Yepez remained in the lineup, serving as the Nats’ designated hitter for the next three nights.

Finally on Sunday, after starting 37 consecutive games since his call-up from Triple-A Rochester, Yepez got to rest. He wasn’t in the lineup for the first time, though he still wound up appearing in the game as a pinch-hitter.

At this point, his production had cooled off. After posting a gargantuan slash line of .330/.380/.523 through his first 28 games, he saw those numbers plummet to .132/.191/.132 over an 11-game stretch that concluded with another game off Wednesday evening.

“It’s late-August,” Yepez said. “Some of us are tired. Some of us are going good. That’s how baseball works.”

Corbin Burnes shortened his hair and lengthened his start, but what happened tonight wasn’t pretty.

Burnes allowed four runs in the sixth inning and the offense ran cold again in the Orioles’ 6-0 loss to the Astros before an announced crowd of 22,212 at Camden Yards.

The Yankees lead the division by 1 ½ games, the Orioles’ largest deficit since being two back on June 25.

After surrendering a career-high eight runs and 10 hits last week, Burnes was poised to produce his 20^th quality start. However, the Astros sent eight batters to the plate in the sixth, broke open the game and forced manager Brandon Hyde to dig into his bullpen after 5 2/3.

Burnes allowed six runs (five earned) and eight hits. Damage came heavy with two outs in the sixth, when Ben Gamel singled at only 77.8 mph off the bat to drive in a run, Burnes fielded Jake Meyers’ bunt and threw the ball past first base, and Shay Whitcomb delivered a two-run single.

Now an O's team that has fallen to second-place, one that lost twice via walk-off results at Citi Field, one that has lost four of six and six of 10 and that is 29-32 since June 13, goes into a demanding stretch of games.

The Orioles host first-place Houston for four at Camden Yards beginning tonight. Then the Birds fly across the country and play three in Los Angeles against the first-place Dodgers starting Tuesday night.

It's a tough seven-game run for an O's team that is 16-16 since the All-Star break and got swept three in a row at Houston in late June. The Orioles scored 11 runs in that series opener but lost 14-11 at Minute Maid Park. Then they lost 5-1 and 8-1 decisions, outscored in that series, 27-13 by the American League West leader.

With a win by the Yankees 6-0 over the Guardians today, the Orioles (74-54) are one game back in the AL East heading into tonight's game.

While O's starting pitchers have allowed two earned runs or less six times the past eight games, the Baltimore bullpen has been scored on six straight games with an ERA of 6.43 in that span. The O's pen has allowed eight homers the the last six games over 21 innings.

The lack of fresh relievers impacted starter Trevor Rogers.

The Orioles optioned Rogers early this afternoon within a bevy of roster moves that included calling up left-hander Nick Vespi and selecting right-hander Matt Bowman’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk.

Rogers’ next turn in the rotation was Sunday but the spot became listed as TBA.

“Just kind of where we are bullpen-wise,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We feel like we needed to get some help in the bullpen, get some guys that are able to pitch tonight. Cade (Povich) is gonna throw tomorrow, so we want Trevor to stay ready. We’ll see what happens here. We just want him to stay ready and we’ll see how things shake out the next couple weeks.”

The Orioles sent outfielder Kyle Stowers and second baseman Connor Norby to the Marlins for Rogers at the trade deadline. He’s posted a 7.11 ERA and 1.842 WHIP in four starts and hasn’t gone more than five innings.

Right-handed reliever Matt Bowman, if he gets into a game with the Orioles, would be pitching for his fourth MLB team this season.

He got into five games in April with Minnesota, four with Arizona in May and one with Seattle in June.

He has actually already pitched this year at Oriole Park, throwing two scoreless on May 12 for the Diamondbacks.

Now after his transactions-filled year and season he wouldn’t mind finding a home with the team from his home state.

Bowman, 33, is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA over 15 combined innings with a 1.200 WHIP. Since 2016 he has a career 4.22 ERA in the majors over 200 1/3 innings for six clubs.

Cedric Mullins is in center field tonight after being absent from the lineups in Queens.

Colton Cowser is playing left field and Ryan O’Hearn is in right. Anthony Santander is the designated hitter.

Adley Rutschman is batting fifth. Jackson Holliday is seventh.

Gunnar Henderson is slugging .717 in 28 games against the American League West this season.

The Orioles have homered in 16 consecutive games, tied for the third-longest streak by any team this season behind the Twins (28) and Orioles (22 straight in June) per STATS.

Not that expectations were high for Patrick Corbin when this season began, but even the least optimistic observer out there had to assume the left-hander would reach his 100th career win along the way, and probably not that far along the way.

Corbin needed only three victories to get there. And even if the Nationals’ intention was to move the long-struggling veteran to the bullpen once Cade Cavalli or Josiah Gray was healthy, he surely would’ve achieved the milestone by then.

And yet here was Corbin taking the mound this afternoon to face the Rockies, making his 26th start of the season, his win total stuck on 99 as his ERA once again approached 6.00. Cavalli and Gray remain on the injured list, as does Trevor Williams, so Corbin still isn’t in danger of losing his spot in the rotation anytime soon.

But at long last, he can breathe a sigh of relief. He has finally reached the century mark, thanks to perhaps his best start of the year.

With six innings of one-run ball and a season-high eight strikeouts, Corbin never let the Rockies get anything going at the plate. And thanks to some long-awaited run support from his teammates, he and the Nats cruised to an 8-3 victory in their series finale against Colorado.

The Orioles were short one reliever yesterday at Citi Field and apparently are making a move to correct it.

Left-hander Nick Vespi is joining the Orioles today, per sources. And there could be more roster changes coming after yesterday’s waiver claim of infielder Emmanuel Rivera.

Vespi made the Opening Day roster with Jacob Webb on the paternity list. He was optioned two days later, recalled May 22 as the 27^th man in St. Louis and immediately returned to Triple-A Norfolk, recalled May 24 when Dean Kremer went on the injured list with a triceps strain, optioned three days later, recalled June 3 and optioned three days later when the Orioles selected Cade Povich’s contract, was recalled June 15 when Kyle Bradish went on the IL with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament, and was optioned again July 3 when Kremer was reinstated.

Teams can’t option a player more than five times in a season without going through the waiver process. Sending him down after the 27th-man designation doesn’t count against the total.

Vespi has appeared in 10 games and allowed four runs and 10 hits in 11 1/3 innings. Three runs were surrendered over 1 1/3 innings in his last major league outing on June 30 against the Rangers.

Upon returning to the dugout following his three-run homer Wednesday night, Luis García Jr. approached his manager with a wide smile.

“Before the at-bat, he had mentioned to me to look for a ball up,” García said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “And the pitch that I hit out was actually up. So I came back and told him: ‘It was right where you said.’”

It was both the latest example of García’s breakthrough season on the field and the relationship he and Davey Martinez have developed over years, helping make this breakthrough season possible.

No player on the Nationals roster received as much criticism from Martinez this spring as García, who after a disappointing 2023 was told it was time to either step up or risk losing his job. At the time, there was reasoned speculation Trey Lipscomb might soon supplant him at second base.

Five months later, García has a stranglehold on the job and has shown no signs of letting it go. The 24-year-old enters today’s series finale against the Rockies with a .294 batting average (sixth in the National League), 22 doubles, 15 homers, 62 RBIs, 19 stolen bases and a .794 OPS that leads all eligible regulars on the Nats.

It’s another surprisingly gorgeous August day here in the nation’s capital, where the home team has a shot at a series win if it can beat the Rockies again this afternoon. The Nationals won Wednesday night in convincing fashion, thanks to an effective and efficient start from Mitchell Parker and a consistent offensive attack highlighted by Luis García Jr.’s three-run homer.

Can Patrick Corbin duplicate Parker’s seven innings of one-run ball? That might be a bit too much to ask out of the veteran left-hander, who for the sixth straight start will be taking the mound in search of his 100th career win. (He entered the season with 97, by the way.) Corbin did enjoy back-to-back quality starts a month ago against the Reds and Padres. In four starts since then, he sports a 10.38 ERA, with 21 runs allowed in only 17 1/3 innings.

The Nats did a nice job at the plate Wednesday night against Rockies right-hander Tanner Gordon. They’ll try to keep that up today against right-hander Cal Quantrill, who did toss a quality start against them two months ago at Coors Field. Quantrill has struggled since then, though, with a 7.23 ERA over his last eight games, with 10 homers surrendered in that time.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 77 degrees, wind 7 mph left field to right field

NATIONALS
RF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams
LF James Wood
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García Jr.
3B José Tena
DH Juan Yepez
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young