LOS ANGELES – It’s been a whirlwind first month in the big leagues for Jake Irvin, who probably wasn’t even supposed to be here so soon. The rookie right-hander was promoted from Triple-A Rochester at the start of the month and legitimately impressed in his first two starts, especially when he held the Giants scoreless for 6 1/3 innings May 8. Things have turned south since then for Irvin, who hasn’t been able to complete five innings in any of his last three starts and has issued four walks in each of his last two.

Tonight, Irvin faces perhaps his toughest challenge to date in a Dodgers lineup loaded with big names and firepower, in the hostile environment that is Chavez Ravine. He’ll need to keep his emotions in check, but more importantly, he’ll need to keep the ball in the vicinity of the plate while simultaneously not letting that lineup do too much damage.

The Nationals would love to provide Irvin with more run support than they gave Trevor Williams on Monday night. That challenge won’t be easy, either, with Tony Gonsolin and his 1.82 ERA on the mound for L.A. Davey Martinez has a new wrinkle tonight, though: Joey Meneses is playing the outfield for the first time this season, with Lane Thomas shifting to center field for the first time this season. The slumping Alex Call is on the bench, with Ildemaro Vargas playing left field and Corey Dickerson serving as DH.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Where: Dodger Stadium
Gametime: 10:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 62 degrees, wind 7 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
CF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
3B Jeimer Candelario
RF Joey Meneses
1B Dominic Smith
DH Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
SS CJ Abrams
LF Ildemaro Vargas

LOS ANGELES – Monday was Memorial Day, the traditional day on the baseball calendar when it becomes acceptable to start drawing broad conclusions about a team or a player’s performance for the season. It also happened to coincide with the Nationals’ 54th game of the year, making this juncture all the more significant.

Yes, the Nats have now completed one-third of their season. Time flies when you’re having fun, right?

The Nationals have had more fun to date than in prior seasons. That’s what happens when you win more games, play in competitive games on a more regular basis and get major contributions from several young players who could be a part of the long-term plan around here if they keep this up.

To be sure, this is not a good team. Not yet. Following Monday’s 6-1 loss to the Dodgers, the Nats find themselves with a 23-31 record. That’s worst in the National League, fourth-worst in the majors. Nobody should be celebrating that.

Still, for a franchise that went 55-107 games one year ago and entered this year with exceptionally low expectations, a 69-win pace can only be viewed as encouraging. The fact the Nationals have played .500 ball since April 20 also helps frame things in a more positive light.

LOS ANGELES – The ball came off Miguel Vargas’ bat at 92.8 mph, a sharp grounder to the left side of second base. CJ Abrams shuffled several steps to his left and put his glove down for what he hoped would be the start of a 6-4-3 double play that would help Trevor Williams get through a fifth scoreless inning at Dodger Stadium.

Abrams did not make the play. The ball squirted away from the Nationals shortstop, who awkwardly stumbled as he tried to corral it in time to save the play. By the time teammate Luis García finally tracked it down, Vargas was safe at first and Jason Heyward was safe at third, having aggressively advanced 180 feet on the error.

What transpired after that illustrated one of baseball’s great “What if?” scenarios. Williams proceeded to give up six runs before the inning ended, all of them unearned, the decisive sequence in the Nationals’ 6-1 loss to the Dodgers.

If Abrams makes the play and the inning ends a few batters later with no damage, would Williams have continued to dominate? Or would he still have had a nightmare of a time trying to hold down a potent Los Angeles lineup for the third time in the game, no matter what transpired before?

We’ll never know, of course. All we do know is how the bottom of the fifth did play out tonight, and it was especially ugly from the Nats’ perspective.

LOS ANGELES – Victor Robles bounded into the visitors’ clubhouse at Dodger Stadium this afternoon, grabbed his glove and headed out toward the field, a hop in his step not seen much over the last three-plus weeks as he’s resided on the injured list.

“Doing much better,” the Nationals center fielder said as he headed out for a pregame workout.

Out since May 7 with back spasms, Robles hadn’t been doing much activity on a baseball field through his first two weeks on the IL. That’s finally starting to change, and today offered an opportunity to increase his workload.

“He’s actually doing a little bit of running, some agility stuff,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s been hitting off the tee, doing some flips. So he’s definitely progressing a little bit. He feels a lot better, which is a great sign.”

If things go well today, Martinez said Robles may start hitting soft-toss on the field before Tuesday’s game. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s that close to returning to the active roster, though. This type of injury requires patience and the understanding it impacts all aspects of his game.

LOS ANGELES – You don’t often find the Kansas City-Los Angeles trip on a major league club’s schedule, but that’s what the Nationals are experiencing this week. They just took two of three from a rebuilding Royals team. Now they’ve got three games against one of the sport’s true powerhouses.

Davey Martinez’s bullpen should be in good shape tonight after all of the prominent guys were held out of both Friday and Sunday’s games. Now, the rest of the team just has to figure out a way to put themselves in position to need those top relievers late, which is no small task.

It starts with Trevor Williams, who has done a very good job of giving his team a chance just about every time he’s pitched. Williams, though, faces a tough Dodgers lineup tonight, even if that group doesn’t look quite as star-studded as it has in recent years. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman are still some kind of 1-2 punch.

The Nationals have all the regulars back in their lineup after several of them got Sunday off. Martinez has made a few changes in the order, most notably Joey Meneses bumped down to the cleanup spot behind Jeimer Candelario, and CJ Abrams moving up to the eighth position with Alex Call now batting ninth. Those guys will be taking their hacks against rookie right-hander Bobby Miller, who impressed in his major league debut last week. Miller was the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2020, a mere seven spots behind Cade Cavalli, for what that’s worth.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Where: Dodger Stadium
Gametime: 9:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 64 degrees, wind 7 mph out to center field

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The job of a major league manager can be both simple and incredibly complicated at the same time. Simple: Do everything you can to put your players in the best position to win that day’s game. Complicated: Figure out when it’s appropriate to do that, and when it’s more appropriate to prioritize long-term considerations over short-term success.

It can get even more complicated for the manager of a team clearly in rebuilding mode that is more focused on the future than the here and now, then even more complicated than that when the manager is trying to prove he should retain his job after his contract expires at season’s end.

All of those circumstances converged for Davey Martinez in the latter innings of Sunday’s game at Kauffman Stadium. His Nationals, a rebuilding team that nonetheless has exceeded expectations to date, were in a position to complete their first three-game sweep on the road since August 2019, when a veteran-laden squad took three straight from the Cubs at Wrigley Field and made it clear they were serious World Series contenders.

Leading the Royals 2-1 thanks to seven dominant innings from MacKenzie Gore and a couple of clutch hits from Ildemaro Vargas and Michael Chavis way back in the top of the fourth, the Nats now had to try to close this game out. Or more specifically, Martinez had to figure out how to try to close this game out while also resting a number of his top relievers and regular position players who were being given the day off.

In the bullpen, Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey and Carl Edwards Jr. were all deemed off limits. Each pitched in Saturday’s win, with Edwards having also pitched in Friday’s win. Each would’ve been pitching for the fourth time in five days had he been used, and that’s generally not something a manager wants to do to a reliever in late-May.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For as much progress as they’ve made this season, especially in the young pitching department, one achievement continues to elude the Nationals: The series sweep.

You’ve probably heard this one by now, but to reiterate: The Nats have not swept a three-game series since June 2021 against the Pirates, and they haven’t swept a road series since August 2019 at Wrigley Field. They’ve had their fair share of opportunities to do it since, including two chances earlier this season against the Twins and Mets, but they entered this afternoon’s finale at Kauffman Stadium still searching for that coveted sweep.

MacKenzie Gore did everything in his power to make it happen, striking out a career-high 11 over seven innings of one-run ball. The Nationals lineup did the bare minimum to put the team in position, scoring two runs in the fourth but nothing else. That left little margin for error for the bullpen, the challenge all the greater with all of that group's top arms unavailable again due to recent usage.

So it was left to Chad Kuhl to try to close it out. That plan worked Friday night. It did not work today, with Kuhl surrendering the game-tying homer in the eighth and then the game-winning run (albeit an unearned run) in the ninth to leave the Nats dealing with the sting of a 3-2 walk-off loss.

"You wanted the sweep today," said Dominic Smith, whose ninth inning error proved especially costly. "We come here every day to win. We're not satisfied with just winning a series. To come up today with a chance to have a sweep ... that was something that was definitely on our minds that we wanted to achieve. We had multiple opportunities to do that. For it to go out like that, it's definitely a tough feeling."

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Nationals’ top prospect is moving one step closer to the major leagues.

James Wood has been promoted from High-A Wilmington to Double-A Harrisburg, a source familiar with the move confirmed. The 20-year-old outfielder is slated to join the Senators for this evening’s series finale at Reading, then continue with them on this week’s road trip to Bowie.

Wood, one of the five prospects acquired from the Padres in last summer’s Juan Soto-Josh Bell trade, had more than proven his ability in 42 games with Wilmington, batting .293 with nine doubles, five triples, eight homers, 36 RBIs, eight stolen bases, a .392 on-base percentage and a .972 OPS.

“When he hits the ball, he hits it hard,” manager Davey Martinez said. “And he’s walking, so that’s a good sign. They felt like this was the time to move him up, and he definitely deserved a shot to go up to Double-A.”

A 6-foot-6, 240-pound physical specimen, Wood entered the season as one of baseball’s top-rated prospects, ranking as high as No. 3 in the sport by Baseball Prospectus. A second-round pick of the Padres in 2021, he has made a steady climb up the prospect ladder and was already considered by many to be the best player the Nationals received in last summer’s blockbuster trade.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – This isn’t the first time this has been written this season (or last season, for that matter), but the Nationals have a chance today to complete their first three-game sweep since June 2021, and their first chance to sweep a three-game road series since August 2019. The fact this isn’t the first time this has been written tells you just how many opportunities they’ve had to end that streak and haven’t been able to pull it off.

Perhaps today’s finally the day, though, with MacKenzie Gore on the mound against the Royals. The left-hander actually hasn’t had a really good start in a while, plagued of late by walks and high pitch counts. This would be a good day for him to morph back into the pitcher who impressed through most of April and early May, especially because the Nationals bullpen had to churn out five innings in Saturday’s win.

Gore will have several non-regular faces behind him in the field today, with Davey Martinez giving a bunch of regulars the day off against Kansas City lefty Daniel Lynch. Stone Garrett gets the cleanup spot, with a 6-7-8 of Ildemaro Vargas, Michael Chavis and Riley Adams. The backups had a nice offensive day one week ago against the Tigers; we’ll see if they can duplicate that this afternoon.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Gametime: 2:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 80 degrees, wind 5 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
LF Stone Garrett
1B Dominic Smith
SS Ildemaro Vargas
3B Michael Chavis
C Riley Adams
CF Alex Call

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – What is it about the sixth inning at Kauffman Stadium that brings out the best in the Nationals lineup?

Maybe the guys just need to spend five innings at the plate getting comfortable with their surroundings, since they’ve hardly ever played in this ballpark. Maybe it’s a reflection of the Royals pitching staff, with fading starters unable to get through an opposing lineup a third time and middle relievers unable to clean up the mess. Maybe it’s just sheer baseball coincidence and not an actual sign of anything.

Whatever the reason, the Nationals are happy to accept the results. Because for the second time in 24 hours they flipped a switch in the sixth, scored a bunch of runs and emerged victorious at the end of the day, this time by a count of 4-2 over Kansas City.

"Hey, it's been good," said manager Davey Martinez, whose team is now 18-16 since April 20, the fourth-best mark in the National League during that span. "We've been battling, and the at-bats got good again. We're starting to get the ball up a little bit, and staying in the middle of the field."

This rally wasn’t quite as dramatic as Friday night’s top-of-the-sixth explosion, when the Nats scored eight runs and saw Luis García become the first player in club history to record two doubles in the same inning. But it was plenty impressive in its own right.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Asked this afternoon if he expected his bullpen to be in better shape for today’s game against the Royals after it was severely depleted during Friday night’s loss, Davey Martinez couldn’t help but laugh.

“They’re out there right now,” the Nationals manager said, motioning in the direction of the field from his office at Kauffman Stadium. “I’ll get more of a sense once they get loose and come back in, but I think we should be in good shape.”

This has become something of a daily dilemma for Martinez, who has needed to mix and match his relievers this week way more than in the past. That’s in part because the Nats have been playing in exceptionally close games, which doesn’t afford a manager the opportunity to give his best late-inning arms regular days off.

That was the case Friday night, when Martinez deemed Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey unavailable because each had pitched the previous two days. Andrés Machado and Thaddeus Ward also were unavailable, according to Martinez, because of recent usage, and Mason Thompson was only going to be used in case of emergency.

The situation should be better today. All five of those relievers should be available if needed. Ultimately, though, the Nationals are going to need others to start pitching well enough to be worthy of high-leverage assignments.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Nationals won Friday night’s series opener, but it required all manner of wackiness to pull it off, especially when it came to bullpen usage in the final three innings. Davey Martinez can only hope for an easier path to victory this afternoon as his team tries to secure a series win.

Josiah Gray gets the start, so that helps right off the bat. The right-hander has been the club’s most consistent starter, allowing two or fewer runs in eight of his 10 outings. He did, however, walk six batters Sunday against the Tigers, and that limited him to only five innings even though he gave up only one run. Gray will need to be around the strike zone more this afternoon, especially against what on paper is a weak Royals lineup (last night’s 10-run outburst notwithstanding).

For the second straight day, Kansas City sends a starter to the mound with an ERA over 7.00. Friday night, it was Jordan Lyles. Today, it’s Brady Singer, the one-time top prospect who has not yet come close to realizing his full potential. The 26-year-old right-hander is 3-4 with a 7.48 ERA and 1.642 WHIP, and he’s been hit hard by everybody: Left-handed batters own a .948 OPS against him, righties are at .881.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 79 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
CF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – When it came to deciding who he would entrust to record the final outs required to defeat the Royals in a wild ballgame Friday night, Davey Martinez didn’t really have the chance to consider a multitude of options.

Kyle Finnegan wasn’t available after pitching each of the previous two nights. Same for Hunter Harvey. Andres Machado needed a night off after throwing 27 pitches Thursday. Thaddeus Ward also pitched in that game, and the rookie Rule 5 draft pick has yet to appear on back-to-back days this season. Mason Thompson, who threw 12 pitches Thursday, might have been available if absolutely necessary, but Martinez preferred to stay away from him as well.

So that left … who exactly in the Nationals bullpen?

Erasmo Ramirez had already entered in the seventh after Patrick Corbin loaded the bases and proceeded to allow Kansas City to score five runs without recording an out.

Carl Edwards Jr. had to pitch out of the seventh-inning mess Ramirez created, then return to at least start the eighth.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Luis García stepped to plate to begin the top of the sixth tonight at Kauffman Stadium, hoping to jumpstart a Nationals lineup that to that point had been shut down by, statistically, the worst pitcher in the major leagues. He promptly doubled to deep left.

Some 19 minutes later, García was back at the plate, batting for the second time in an inning that had now turned into one of the Nats’ best sustained rallies of the season. He promptly doubled down the left field line again, this time driving in two runs.

In becoming the first player in club history to record two doubles in the same inning, then later becoming only the second player in club history to record six hits in a game, García became the focal point of an eight-run rally that propelled the Nationals to what should’ve been an easy victory against a Royals team that owns the second-worst record in the majors.

Instead, the Nats needed every one of the eight runs they scored in the sixth – not to mention the three they added in the eighth – to escape with a wild, 12-10 victory that got way too close for comfort when Erasmo Ramirez imploded in the bottom of the seventh, spoiling what would’ve been a quality start by Patrick Corbin.

"It feels great, especially when my teammates are battling every at-bat," García said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "We never got down at all, stayed focused and battled every at-bat. It's a great feeling."

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Ten months removed from elbow surgery, Sean Doolittle will begin pitching in competitive games again. For now, that will still be at the minor league level.

Doolittle is scheduled to join the bullpen at High-A Wilmington and make his season debut Saturday, Nationals manager Davey Martinez said. It will be the left-hander’s first actual game appearance since April 19, 2022, when he suffered a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in a win over the Diamondbacks.

Doolittle spent the next several months attempting to return without surgery, hoping to make it back for the season’s second half. But when the elbow pain returned during bullpen sessions, he opted to go under the knife.

Rather than have the more invasive Tommy John surgery, which would’ve knocked him out for 12 to 18 months, Doolittle decided to go with an internal brace procedure, a relatively new option for pitchers in which the damaged ligament is wrapped and strengthened instead of replaced altogether.

Doolittle had that surgery done in July, and at the time hoped it would allow him to be ready for the start of the 2023 season. But his timeline was slowed during spring training, and the Nationals shut him down and had him start the rehab process all over again in late March.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The nicest thing about Major League Baseball’s new schedule this season is that it allows every team from one league to play every team from the other league every year, alternating between a home series one year and a road series the next. For the Nationals, that means road trips to some places they haven’t visited much in the past, and Kansas City is high on that list.

The Nats have played at Kauffman Stadium only twice in club history. In August 2013, they took two of three from the Royals, the lone loss coming when Craig Stammen allowed two runs in the bottom of the eighth. And in May 2016, they also took two of three from the Royals, the lone loss coming thanks to a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon in the bottom of the ninth. Now the Nationals are back here, facing a Kansas City team that would have the worst record in the majors if not for the sham that is the 2023 Oakland Athletics.

Tonight’s pitching matchup is a doozy: Patrick Corbin vs. Jordan Lyles, owners of the two highest ERAs in baseball from 2020-22 (minimum 400 innings pitched). The good news for the Nats: Corbin has turned things around this season, with six quality starts in his last seven outings. Lyles, meanwhile, continues to be one of the worst pitchers in baseball, entering tonight a staggering 0-8 record with a 7.15 ERA. His biggest problem (and it’s certainly something Corbin can relate to): He has surrendered a league-leading 14 homers in 56 2/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 74 degrees, wind 12 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
2B Luis García
DH Joey Meneses
3B Jeimer Candelario
LF Corey Dickerson
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Dominic Smith
CF Alex Call
SS CJ Abrams

Lane Thomas is on a heater this month. In 23 games so far in May, he's slashing .326/.367/.620 with a .987 OPS, four doubles, a triple, all seven of his season’s home runs, 15 RBIs and 19 runs scored.

That’s a complete 180-degree turnaround from April, when he hit slashed .260/.327/.302 with a .629 OPS and just four extra-base hits.

Thomas is hoping he can take his production this month and stay consistent throughout the season. One correlation to his strong May is his consistent place atop the Nationals lineup. It may not be the exact reason, but there are definitely parallels.

“I don't know if it has to do with just leadoff or not leadoff,” Thomas said. “I think I've said this before just trying to be a little more consistent at the plate was just my focus this offseason and spring training and now. Just being more consistent with getting swings off in good counts and just get a little confidence in doing that.”

The 27-year-old only hit leadoff eight times over his 25 games in April, with Alex Call getting most of the at-bats in the top spot. But starting May 6, Thomas been put in the leadoff spot in every game he’s played since. Over those 18 games, he’s slashing .325/.374/.571 with a .945 OPS, four doubles, five homers, 11 RBIs and 16 runs scored.

The Nationals’ clutch hits have come in bunches. Either they get a lot or none at all.

And their bullpen hasn’t always been clutch. Either its lockdown or shaky.

For the first half of today’s finale against the Padres, it looked like it was going to be one of those games where they would get neither. But then the script flipped in the seventh inning, as the Nats put up five runs to take a 6-5 lead and the relievers kept that way for Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey in the eighth and ninth.

Finnegan made it through his inning clean. But Harvey, seeking his third save of the season, couldn’t close out the victory.

Facing the Padres’ 2-3-4 hitters, Harvey gave up back-to-back singles to Jake Cronenworth and Juan Soto (who finished the day 1-for-1 with four walks). Harvey was able to then strike out the next two batters, but then served up a three-run home run to Rougned Odor on a 99 mph fastball that ended up just inside the right field foul pole.

The Nationals have had a rough go to the start of the season in terms of opposing starting pitchers. They’re facing left-handed starters at a higher rate than usual, which early on led to some inconsistencies in their lineup constructions.

When the Nats face the Padres’ Blake Snell in this afternoon’s series finale, it will be their 19th time in their first 50 games facing an opposing lefty starter. That’s almost a 40 percent rate, unusually high over the first two months of the season, with possibly more on the way.

“Yes,” manager Davey Martinez answered during his pregame media session when asked if this amount of opposing left-handed starters is unusual. “We've seen a lot of lefties. I think we'll get another one too in Kansas City. So yeah, we have seen quite a bit of lefties. But the thing about it is our left-handed hitters are not doing bad against them, it's kind of nice.”

It’s almost ironic that the Nationals have faced this many southpaws to start the year. Over the offseason, the focus was on acquiring a left-handed-hitting corner outfielder and possibly a backup lefty first baseman to fill out the roster. They were able to get both and then some.

Corey Dickerson was the left corner outfielder and Dominic Smith was the starting left-handed first baseman, allowing Joey Meneses to shift to designated hitter full time. Add switch-hitter Jeimer Candelario and the Nats could actually have more lefty bats than righty in their lineup on a given night.

How are we at Game 50 already? It’s almost Memorial Day Weekend and this season seems to be flying by.

Also, who would have taken a 21–28 Nationals record through the first 49 games? That’s a three-game improvement from where they were at this point last season.

To add one more to the win column and take this three-game series against the Padres, the Nats will turn to Jake Irvin, who is 1-2 with 5.50 ERA and 1.611 WHIP over his first four major league starts. After allowing only one earned run over his first two starts, he’s allowed 10 over his last two, going only 7 ⅓ innings. The young right-hander will look to get back to what led to his early success.

The Padres are throwing veteran left-hander Blake Snell for this getaway-day finale. The 30-year-old has struggled to start the year, going 1-6 with a 5.60 ERA and 1.556 WHIP over his first nine starts. He was knocked around for six runs in just four innings in his last start against the Red Sox.

Snell is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 1.182 WHIP in four career starts against the Nats.