PITTSBURGH – Donovan Casey was sitting in a meeting with his Rochester Red Wings teammates Thursday afternoon, learning about nutrition, when manager Matt LeCroy told the group someone had just been called up by the Nationals.

Casey, a 26-year-old outfielder, just assumed it was one of the pitchers, probably a reliever. Until the name that came out of LeCroy’s mouth sounded a little too familiar.

“At the time, I was shoveling food in my mouth,” he said. “He says: ‘Donovan Casey, you’re going up.’ And I was like, huh? … It threw me off a little bit. It was a very emotional day. But I’m happy to be here.”

Casey was retelling the story Friday afternoon inside the visitors’ clubhouse at PNC Park, having indeed been the one who got the call-up to the big leagues for the first time, the shock now wearing off. He had spent the previous 24 hours letting his family and friends know the news, packing up his belongings and making his way with his wife from Rochester to Pittsburgh, where a major league uniform awaited him.

“Emotional,” he said of his phone calls to break the news. “Obviously, when I first told my wife I was getting called up, she was like: ‘Really?’ I was like yeah, I’m not messing with you. She was ecstatic. Honestly, she was more excited than I was. She’s been through the whole entire grind with me, all the ups and downs. I love my dad to death, but I had to tell her (first) because she’s been through thick and thin. It was very emotional.”

PITTSBURGH – The Nationals placed Dee Strange-Gordon, who remains in the team’s downtown hotel with an illness, on the injured list today. The club did not specify which IL the utilityman was placed on, nor divulged what his ailment is, which is how they handled situations the last two seasons when a player tested positive for COVID-19.

Asked this afternoon how Strange-Gordon was doing, manager Davey Martinez said only: “I can’t really talk about much, but he’s doing better.”

Martinez added that no other players were unable to report to the clubhouse. Three players were seen this afternoon wearing masks while indoors, a protocol this season for vaccinated team members who have been deemed close contacts to someone who tests positive. Any unvaccinated players who are determined to be close contacts would have to quarantine for five days.

Strange-Gordon initially was announced as part of the Nationals lineup for Thursday’s series opener against the Pirates, though he never did appear at the ballpark. About 30 minutes before first pitch, the club announced he had been scratched for unspecified reasons.

Players on the COVID-19 IL are removed from the 40-man roster, and the Nats moved quickly today to acquire someone else to take Strange-Gordon’s spot, claiming outfielder Joshua Palacios off waivers from the Blue Jays.

PITTSBURGH - Manager Davey Martinez could also use a more consistent performance from his lineup, which on Thursday busted out for three quick runs in the top of the first against Pirates starter J.T. Brubaker and then went mostly silent the rest of the way.

As expected, the Nationals have made a roster move today. Dee Strange-Gordon has been placed on the injured list with an unspecified ailment. As Martinez said Thursday night, he’s back at the hotel with an illness. He has come off the 40-man roster, which is what happens when someone is placed on the COVID-19 IL. (The Nats immediately filled that 40-man roster spot by claiming outfielder Joshua Palacios from the Blue Jays an optioning him to Triple-A Rochester.)

Taking Strange-Gordon’s spot on the big league roster is outfielder Donovan Casey, one of the four prospects acquired from the Dodgers last summer for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. Casey had played in six games for Rochester so far, hitting .250 with two doubles, two triples, a homer and six RBIs.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 6:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 66 degrees, wind 13 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
RF Juan Soto
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Josh Bell
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Yadiel Hernandez
3B Maikel Franco
CF Lane Thomas
SS Alcides Escobar
RHP Erick Fedde

PITTSBURGH – Victor Robles is the Nationals’ starting center fielder. And he’ll continue to be their starting center fielder. As long the matchups on a particular day work in his favor.

For the third time in eight games to begin the season, the matchup isn’t in Robles’ favor. Pirates starter J.T. Brubaker has a particularly tough slider, so Davey Martinez decided to leave Robles on the bench tonight and instead play Dee Strange-Gordon in center field.

“We look at all his data, and we know Victor struggles against guys with good sliders,” Martinez said. “So tonight I felt like we’re just going to continue to work with him on his swing, get him some extra swings, and then get him back in there tomorrow. We’re looking at all this stuff.”

Robles, who has started five games so far, remains hitless in 15 at-bats. His only two productive plate appearances resulted in a sacrifice bunt and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch that resulted in his lone RBI of the season.

Hitting coach Darnell Coles has been working with Robles on mechanical changes to his swing since late in spring training. Coles wants him starting his hands in a better position to allow for quicker movement to the ball. It remains a work in progress, as the results to date show.

PITTSBURGH – It is an absolutely beautiful afternoon here along the banks of the Allegheny River. Could get a little chilly tonight, but the skies are clear and the vista of downtown and the Clemente Bridge beyond PNC Park is as good as it gets.

The Nationals open a four-game weekend series against the Pirates, hoping to keep the positive momentum they generated in Atlanta going. After seven straight with the Mets and Braves to begin the season, they now get eight straight against the Pirates and Diamondbacks. Perhaps an opportunity to make some headway against lesser competition.

Joan Adon makes his second start of the season, his third as a big leaguer. The kid carried a shutout into the fifth inning against New York before fading. We’ll see if his stamina is built up a bit more now and he can complete that second trip through the lineup.

The lineup that will face Pittsburgh right-hander J.T. Brubaker includes Yadiel Hernandez in left field and Dee Strange-Gordon in center. So that means both Lane Thomas and Victor Robles are sitting. Everything else looks normal, including Nelson Cruz back in the lineup for the second straight day, so his groin must be feeling fine.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Where: PNC Park
Gametime: 6:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 60 degrees, wind 12 mph out to left field

ATLANTA – There are more than 5 1/2 months of baseball left to be played in 2022, and there’s still every reason to believe when this season is complete the Braves will be right there among the National League’s best while the rebuilding Nationals are looking up at a number of other clubs.

One series in mid-April does not change the outlook of either team’s chances this year. That doesn’t, however, mean the Nats can’t leave town this evening and fly to Pittsburgh feeling awfully good about themselves for what they just accomplished.

Shaking off a blowout loss Tuesday night, they bounced right back and won today’s finale 3-1, capturing the three-game series against the defending World Series champions and in the process establishing the formula for success they’ll try to mimic as much as possible over these next 5 1/2 months.

“I feel like it’s a confidence boost, right?” reliever Steve Cishek said. “You got a young team, and you take out the defending champs? I mean, their lineup is incredible. We threw the ball really well the first game and today. That’s a huge confidence boost for the young guys.”

The Nationals got a strong outing today from one of their young starters, with Josiah Gray tossing five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit. They got some early offense from an opportunistic lineup that jumped on Braves ace Max Fried. And then Davey Martinez handed over the final four innings to his four best relievers: Kyle Finnegan, Sean Doolittle, Cishek and Tanner Rainey.

ATLANTA – Less than an hour before today’s scheduled first pitch at Truist Park, Nelson Cruz was in shallow left field, stretching, exercising and testing out his tight groin with Nationals executive director of medical services Harvey Sharman. He didn’t know yet if he’d be playing this afternoon or not after sitting out Tuesday night’s game.

Then Cruz walked back to the visitors’ dugout, headed down to the batting tunnel underneath the stands, and some 15 minutes later the Nats put out their lineup. With Cruz batting third and serving as designated hitter.

“He came in, got treatment, said he felt better,” manager Davey Martinez said earlier in his office. “I want to get him in the cage, let him hit, see where we’re at. We haven’t posted a lineup yet because we’re waiting on him.”

Cruz wasn’t able to play Tuesday, telling Martinez before the game he “couldn’t get loose.” The manager immediately told the 41-year-old to get some treatment and see if he could feel well enough to pinch-hit later in the game. Once the Nationals were trailing by double-digits, there was no reason to take a chance, so Cruz never appeared.

He’s back in there today, though, for the sixth time in seven games to begin the season. And in the short time he’s been with the club, he’s established a trusting rapport with his skipper.