NEW YORK – Dominic Smith is familiar with Citi Field. It’s the only home major league ballpark he’s ever known. That is at least until this season.

For the first time in his career when he arrived at Citi Field yesterday for the Nationals’ opener against the Mets, he came down the tunnel from the team bus in the left field corner and entered the visitor’s clubhouse instead of going all the way around to the first base-side home clubhouse, like he had during his six seasons with the Mets.

“It feels good, it was good. It feels good to be back,” Smith said yesterday in front of his new locker at Citi Field.

“Going in the back way was definitely a different way for me to go in. The tunnel, everything was a little bit different today. But yeah, you definitely do have memories when you come back here. Obviously, I was drafted here and I remember coming here after I got drafted 17, 18 years old, so it's pretty fun still being able to come back here and play baseball.”

Smith was the Mets’ first-round draft pick (No. 11 overall) out of Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, Calif., in 2013. He would make his major league debut with the Mets four summers later on this very field as one of the organization’s top prospects.

NEW YORK – Every Josiah Gray start so far this season has resulted in a loss. Both for the Nationals and the right-hander himself.

That’s not all on Gray, however. Take away his rough first outing against the Braves and he has been excellent over his last three, pitching to a 2.16 ERA and only one home run allowed.

That stretch of dominance carried over into tonight’s series opener against the Mets, as the New Rochelle, N.Y. native showed in front of 20,507 fans near his hometown to earn a 5-0 win, his first of the season.

It’s also his first win since July 6, when he recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts over six innings of two-run ball in Philadelphia.

"Just going with the game plan early on," Gray said after the game. "Just seeing how they were adjusting to my stuff, how they were swinging the bat, how they were taking pitches and just a lot of good opportunities early to just throw strike one. So the more we did that, the more we kind of just commanded the zone and were able to utilize that. So just doing a lot of strikes early and having the putaway pitches was (what) led to a lot of success today.”

NEW YORK – Sean Doolittle took a significant step forward in his rehab from a procedure on his left elbow.

The left-hander, signed to a minor league deal and working out at the Nationals complex in West Palm Beach, finally faced live hitters in a batting practice session for the first time since the early portions of spring training.

“Doolittle actually threw a live BP,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame meeting with the media in his office at Citi Field. “I'm still waiting on the results now, but the gist of it is that he felt really good. And so I want to see what the velo is and how many pitches he threw. I haven't got it yet.”

Even with the specific details of the outing still to be known, getting on the mound and facing live hitters is no small feat for the 36-year-old.

“We were trying to get him about 20 pitches,” Martinez said. “So like I said, I haven't seen the results yet. But from what I heard, he said he felt really good afterwards.”

NEW YORK – The Nationals have arrived in the Big Apple for what is, oddly, just their second series against a division rival. The new schedule format implemented this season means they will face National League East opponents fewer times than in past years. This three-game set against the Mets will be their first against a division foe since the season-opening series against the Braves, and the first on the road.

Josiah Gray gets the ball to start tonight’s opener in a homecoming for the New Rochelle, N.Y. native. With a respectable 3.74 ERA over his first four starts, the right-hander will look to earn his first win after starting the season 0-4, due mainly to a lack of run support. The Nationals offense has been held scoreless in each of Gray’s last three starts and has only scored one run in any game he’s started, coming well after he departed his first start in the ninth inning on April 1 via a Keibert Ruiz solo home run.

Meanwhile, José Butto will fill Max Scherzer’s spot in the rotation to start the opener for the home side. The former Nationals and current Mets ace would have been on schedule to start tonight, but is instead serving a 10-game suspension following his ejection Thursday for having a foreign substance on his hand during a game.

Butto is a 25-year-old right-hander who is the Mets’ No. 15 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. In his season debut on April 16 in Oakland, he pitched five innings of one-run ball, but surrendered five hits and four walks while only striking out two.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 56 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right field

As he stood on the mound with one out in the bottom of the ninth Friday night in Minnesota, the potential tying run in scoring position and the potential winning run on base, Kyle Finnegan could’ve panicked about the jam he had just put himself and the Nationals in. Instead, he considered the best-case scenario that could play out if he could just do his job and trust his teammates behind him to do the rest.

“I execute this pitch here, he’s going to hit it on the ground and we’re going to turn a double play and win,” Finnegan recalled thinking to himself in that moment. “To see it play out, and to be able to trust your defense that they’re going to make a play, it’s everything.”

Sure enough, Finnegan’s first pitch was a 94 mph sinker on the inside corner, jamming José Miranda, who hit a sharp grounder to third. Jeimer Candelario scooped it up and threw to second baseman Luis García, who made the quick turn and fired to Dominic Smith at first base for the game-ending, 5-4-3 double play.

The Nationals couldn’t have drawn it up any better. And these days that’s exactly how they’re drawing it up, because their infield defense has become a legitimate strength after causing so many headaches last season.

The Nats have turned 25 double plays through their first 21 games. Only the Cardinals, who have played one more game, have turned more among all major league clubs.

MINNEAPOLIS – During the final days of the 2022 season, Mason Thompson entered Davey Martinez’s office for the same kind of exit interview everyone on the Nationals roster was given before leaving for the winter.

It was a chance for Thompson to discuss what he felt he did well and what he did not do well in his first full big league season. And, more importantly, it was a chance for Martinez and his staff to tell Thompson what they believed he could do to get better.

The primary message they wanted to get across to the big reliever: Throw strike one, because things get a lot easier for him once he does.

“They broke down my numbers and said: ‘When you get ahead, you’re basically unhittable,’” Thompson recalled Sunday. “That was the main focus this offseason, just pounding the zone. For me, it’s produced a good result.”

That’s putting it mildly. After tossing 2 1/3 innings with one unearned run scoring on his watch and emerging as the winning pitcher in the Nationals’ 10-4 thumping of the Twins, Thompson finds himself the owner of some enviable season stats. His ERA is 1.15. His WHIP is 0.638. He has 13 strikeouts and only one walk.

MINNEAPOLIS – The Nationals aren’t going to score 10 runs every day. They know that. They know as much fun as Saturday’s lopsided win over the Twins was, that’s not often going to be their path to victory.

For these Nationals to win, execution in key moments is imperative. If they only provide themselves with a handful of legitimate scoring opportunities each game, they’re going to have to make the most of them and hope their pitching is good enough to make it stand up.

The pitching was good enough this afternoon at Target Field. Patrick Corbin gave up three runs in six innings, a quality start that can only be deemed a success for the long-struggling left-hander. The lineup, however, did not come close to making the most of its few scoring opportunities, in one particular instance giving away outs in spectacular fashion to help make a 3-1 loss to Minnesota possible.

Thus did the Nats fail to do something they haven’t done in nearly two years: sweep a three-game series, last achieved in June 2021 against the Pirates. And they certainly didn’t do something they hadn’t done in nearly four years: sweep a road series, last achieved in August 2019 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

"The guys played hard, and they played hard today," manager Davey Martinez said. "To come out of here, when these guys have been playing well, and win two out of three with a day off coming up tomorrow, it feels good."

MINNEAPOLIS – Two members of the Nationals lineup started each of the season’s first 20 games. Only one of them will have started each of the first 21 games.

Lane Thomas is not playing today’s series finale against the Twins, the right fielder finally getting a chance to rest more than three weeks after Opening Day.

“Just felt like giving him a day off today,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I’ve been wanting to give him a day off, so I thought today would be a good day for him.”

Thomas has been perhaps the team’s most consistent hitter so far, though he has cooled off in recent days. Owner of a .323 batting average through the first 16 games, he’s gone two for his last 17 with seven strikeouts, including three during Saturday’s 10-4 win at Target Field.

The 27-year-old talked this spring about his desire to get off to a strong start, recognizing how streaky he was last season. He’s been pleased with the way he’s put together quality at-bats for the most part this month.

MINNEAPOLIS – Do you remember the last time the Nationals swept a three-game series? Here are some hints: 1) Kyle Schwarber was their leadoff hitter, 2) Ryan Zimmerman was a pinch-hitter, 3) Brad Hand got the save. If you said June 16, 2021, when the Nats beat the Pirates to complete a three-game sweep in D.C., congratulations!

Yes, it’s been a long time, and a lot of things have changed around here. But today, these Nationals have an opportunity to finally accomplish that feat again if they can beat the Twins for the third straight day.

To do that, they’re going to need to keep their bats hot after Saturday’s 10-run explosion. The weather’s a little bit warmer today, if that helps at all. They’re facing another relatively unknown pitcher in Bailey Ober, a 27-year-old right-hander who was squeezed out of the Twins’ Opening Day rotation but was just called up from Triple-A St. Paul to make a spot start. He pitched well in the minors, and he’s got solid big league numbers as well (3.82 ERA, 1.146 WHIP in 31 career starts), but the Nats have never seen him before.

The Nationals also need Patrick Corbin to give them a chance, something that has too often proved too difficult a challenge for the left-hander. Corbin was better in his last start, though, holding the Guardians to two earned runs (four overall) in six innings, all of the damage coming in one inning. He’s had a full week of rest, so that could help as well.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MINNESOTA TWINS
Where: Target Field
Gametime: 1:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 42 degrees, wind 9 mph out to right field

MINNEAPOLIS – As the mercury dropped to 35 degrees – remarkably 2 degrees colder than it was Friday night for what temporarily stood as the coldest game in club history – the Nationals bundled up in long sleeves, gloves, hoodies, balaclavas, anything they could find to protect themselves from the elements and took the field this afternoon in search of the kind of offense that has eluded them throughout the season’s first 20 games.

And then a funny thing happened. They scored two runs in the top of the first. Then two more in the top of the second. And they just kept going and going until they walked out of Target Field with a resounding 10-4 victory over the Twins and their stunned (and well-compensated) ace.

Who cares what the thermometer read. The Nationals inexplicably have been at their best this month the colder it’s been. Their best offensive display to date had come in Colorado, which of course also has the added benefit of thin air. Now they’ve won two games in a row in Minnesota despite the ever-present threat of snow flurries, and in the process secured their first series victory of the young season. On Sunday, they'll attempt to complete their first three-game sweep since June 2021.

"If we keep playing like this," manager Davey Martinez said, "I hope it's 20 degrees for the next four months."

That probably won't be happening without a massive shift in global warming trends, so eventually the Nationals will have to learn how to hit on a hot day. But for now, it's been a winning formula, Friday night via a late rally to eke out a 3-2 win. Today’s came far more comfortably, with offensive fireworks both early and late, and contributors up and down the lineup.

MINNEAPOLIS – The role of designated hitter can be tougher than it sounds, especially for someone who has spent most of his career playing a position in the field but then finds himself only batting four times a game and watching the rest of the game from the dugout.

It’s admittedly been an adjustment for Joey Meneses through the first month of this season. Having played either first base or the outfield most of his professional life, the 30-year-old has become the Nationals’ everyday DH.

Perhaps that has something to do with Meneses’ slow start at the plate. He enters this afternoon’s game against the Twins batting .227/.266/.333 through his first 18 games, and he just finally hit his first home run Friday night.

“He’s trying to develop a routine DHing,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It’s tough when you’re DHing every day to find a routine, when you’ve never done it before.”

With that in mind, Martinez decided to have Meneses and Dominic Smith switch roles this afternoon. Though Smith is the superior defensive player, he’ll serve as DH and give Meneses a chance to play first base and keep himself more engaged in the game.

MINNEAPOLIS – After playing (and winning) the coldest game in club history Friday night, the Nationals are back at it this afternoon for what might even be a colder game despite the earlier start time. Temperatures again are in the 30s, and the wind has picked up, making it feel even colder. Gotta love it.

The Nats’ bats finally got hot just in time Friday night to pull out a 3-2 win. They’ll be facing a tougher pitcher today in Pablo López, who just signed a four-year, $73.5 million extension with the Twins. The 27-year-old right-hander has a 1.73 ERA, 0.808 WHIP and 33 strikeouts in 26 innings so far this season, so he certainly earned that contract. The Nationals do know him from his five seasons with the Marlins and faced him three times last year, scoring five runs on 10 hits over 15 1/3 innings.

Chad Kuhl gets the ball for his fourth start of the season, and he’s going to need to be better than he has been in his first three outings if he wants to avoid speculation about losing his place in the rotation. Kuhl has allowed four or more earned runs each time out, and he has yet to record an out in the sixth inning. He’ll be challenged to keep Minnesota’s potent lineup in the park this afternoon, especially with the wind blowing out to right.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MINNESOTA TWINS
Where: Target Field
Gametime: 1:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 37 degrees, wind 16 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
LF Alex Call
3B Jeimer Candelario
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García
RF Lane Thomas
DH Dominic Smith
C Riley Adams
SS CJ Abrams
CF Victor Robles

MINNEAPOLIS - Combine the coldest lineup in the majors with the coldest gametime temperature in club history, and it could not have taken anyone by surprise to see nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard for six innings tonight at Target Field.

Did you really expect these Nationals to get hot on a 37-degree April night in the Great White North?

Well, actually, yeah. It just took a while to finally happen.

But once it did, once Joey Meneses launched his first homer of the season in the seventh, and once Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the eighth, everything was OK again for the Nationals, who exchanged high-fives and handshakes on the field and then quickly bolted for the heated clubhouse to further celebrate a much-needed, 3-2 victory over the Twins.

"We were huddled under our one little heater we've got out there (in the bullpen)," closer Kyle Finnegan said. "Taking the lead there definitely gets us going. You start moving around, get the juices flowing a little bit. It's exciting. Take the lead late in a game and then shut it down to get the win? You've got to enjoy a win like that."

MINNEAPOLIS – Trying to find some kind of spark for a lineup that has been shut out its last two games, Davey Martinez has moved Keibert Ruiz up to the No. 2 spot for tonight’s series opener against the Twins.

Ruiz had mostly been batting fifth or sixth this season, with two other games in the cleanup spot. He’s been one of the team’s few productive hitters in recent days, with a pair of three-hit games during the Nationals’ last homestand to raise his batting average 40 points to .262.

Martinez had tried to stick with Dominic Smith in the 2-spot, but the first baseman has looked lost at times at the plate, has zero extra-base hits so far this season and sports a weak .550 OPS. Smith was moved down to the No. 6 position tonight, the lowest he’s batted so far this year.

“We really need to get Dom going. He’s a big part of our offense,” Martinez said. “I just dropped him down a little bit. Keibert’s swinging the bat well. I talked to him today and not changing anything. Just continue to put the bat on the ball. He’s done well, so we’ll give him an opportunity to bat second today and see how it goes.”

Though he hasn’t hit for much power either, with one double in his last seven games, Ruiz has been hitting the ball with more authority, going 9 for his last 24. Even more impressive, he hasn’t struck out during this stretch.

MINNEAPOLIS – Hello from one of the Twin Cities, where there was white stuff falling from the sky just a few minutes ago. Outdoor April baseball in Minnesota: It’s a beautiful thing!

The Nationals come to Target Field for only the second time in their history, the previous visit back in September 2019, when things were just a little bit different. They’ll try to get their bats going this weekend, despite the cold here, with a tweak to their lineup: Keibert Ruiz has been moved up to the No. 2 spot, with Dominic Smith moved down to the No. 6 spot. Davey Martinez has been trying to take pressure off his young guys and let them hit down in the lineup, but at this point he really has little choice but to see how Ruiz handles a prominent position in the order.

Pretty much everything else remains status quo, with Stone Garrett again starting in left field in place of Alex Call, who will come off the bench for the series opener against Twins right-hander Tyler Mahle.

Trevor Williams gets the ball for the Nats, and he’s been solid through his first three starts, entering tonight’s game with a 3.52 ERA and 1.174 WHIP. The right-hander hasn’t completed six innings yet, but that’s not all that important with him, given his history as a swingman who may be best-suited to a maximum of five innings per start anyway.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MINNESOTA TWINS
Where: Target Field
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of snow (seriously), 39 degrees, wind 12 mph out to right field

WILMINGTON, Del. – The Nationals farm system is stacked with elite prospect talent almost two years removed from the organization’s decision to rebuild.

Trading stars such as Max Scherzer and Trea Turner netted top prospects Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz, who are now a part of the young core leading the major league club. Last summer’s trade of Juan Soto and Josh Bell also brought the Nationals in return MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams at the big league level, while Robert Hassell III, James Wood and Jarlin Susana instantly became some of the franchise’s top prospects.

Three straight last-place finishes in the National League East gave the Nats top draft selections in Brady House and Elijah Green, with the No. 2 overall pick coming later this summer.

And of course, the Nats continue to have success signing top talent on the international market, including one of the top prospects of the 2021 class in Cristhian Vaquero, and another highly ranked prospect in Jeremy De La Rosa.

If you count them up, that’s at least five outfielders the Nationals have as top prospects in hopes of some combination of them manning the three spots in Washington on the next competitive team.

It was a frustrating couple of days for the Nationals, who were swept by the Orioles without scoring a run in either game of their first Battle of the Beltways matchup of the season. And yet, there were still signs of encouragement, most notably in the form of Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore. But about that lineup ... yikes.

In a strange bit of scheduling, the Nats were off Monday, are off again today and will be off again next Monday in between road series at the Twins and Mets. So let's take this opportunity to delve into the topics of your choosing.

If you've got something about the Nationals you'd like to ask, submit it in the comments section below. Then check back throughout the morning for my responses ...

If this season is going to be about the development of young pitchers above all else, there are probably going to be more nights like this. Nights when the Nationals’ inept lineup can’t generate any semblance of consistent production, leading to a loss despite a quality effort by the club’s pitching staff.

Add tonight’s 4-0 loss to the Orioles to the growing list. Shut out for the second straight night by a Baltimore pitching staff that didn’t exactly come to town with a sparkling resume, the Nats never really felt like they were in it. They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, dropped their second straight to their interleague rivals and fell to 5-13 overall.

"We're in a funk as a team," manager Davey Martinez said. "Just can't drive in that run. We out-hit them today. We just can't get that one big run across the board there."

The silver lining, then, was provided by MacKenzie Gore, who was far from outstanding in his fourth start of the season yet still showed the flashes of dominance that make the Nationals hope they’ve found their No. 1 starter.

Gore allowed three runs in six innings, all of them coming in the third and fourth. Before and after, he allowed only one batter to reach, striking out seven and departing with a 3.43 ERA and more strikeouts (25) than innings pitched (21) for the season.

Victor Robles is getting his first day off of the season tonight, which isn’t all that newsworthy on its own merits. The player who will take over in center field in Robles’ absence, though, is somewhat surprising: Alex Call.

Call is getting the nod in center for tonight’s game against the Orioles instead of Lane Thomas, who will remain in right field as he has been for each of the Nats’ first 17 games this season.

The reason: Manager Davey Martinez didn’t want to move Thomas out of his regular position for just one day, given how well he has played there since Opening Day.

“I could’ve swapped everyone around,” Martinez said. “But I thought the best thing to do was leave Lane where he’s comfortable, put Call in center and leave Stone Garrett where he’s comfortable.”

Garrett is in left field for the third straight game, the only outfield position he has played so far this season in the majors.

Can the Nationals score a run tonight? That’s what’s at stake in the finale of this two-game series against the Orioles. OK, so maybe that’s a little too harsh of a preview, but after Tuesday night’s 1-0 loss, it’s hard not to think about such seemingly trivial matters.

A lineup that couldn’t score a run off Dean Kremer will now attempt to do it against Kyle Bradish, who comes off the 15-day injured list to rejoin the Orioles rotation. The right-hander was knocked out in the second inning of his season debut at Texas when he was struck in the foot by a comebacker. The injury turned out not to be severe, though, and Bradish was able to make a rehab start for Double-A Bowie five days ago, so he’s good to go tonight with no real concerns.

MacKenzie Gore starts for the Nats, looking to bounce back from his first rough start of the season last week in Anaheim. Gore had been excellent his first two times on the mound, but he lost all semblance of command against the Angels and was pulled after throwing 88 pitches in only 3 2/3 innings. This will be another good challenge for the lefty, facing a tough Baltimore lineup that was nonetheless held in check Tuesday by Josiah Gray.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 73 degrees, wind 6 mph out to center field

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