Why was Aníbal Sánchez – 38 years old, out of the majors for nearly two seasons, surely not part of the Nationals’ long-term plan – starting against the Braves tonight on South Capitol Street? Because the Nats simply did not have any other viable options at this point.

Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross are injured. So are Jackson Tetreault and Evan Lee. Josh Rogers is still working his way back from the injured list. Joan Adon needs to spend some time at Triple-A to get some things straightened out. Cade Cavalli and Cole Henry have been deemed by the organization not ready for their big league debuts.

So here Davey Martinez found himself tonight, handing the ball to a stalwart of his 2019 World Series rotation who hadn’t come close to pitching up to that standard since. And though he did get charged with the loss after serving up two homers in five innings during a 5-4 defeat, it’s hard to deny Sánchez looked far better than anyone reasonably expected he would at the outset.

"He pitched really well overall," Martinez said. "The first inning, I think he had a little bit of jitters, believe it or not. But then he settled down, and he was throwing the ball really, really well."

The Nationals lost for the 13th time in 14 games – they’ve also lost seven straight to the Braves over the last month – not because of their aging starting pitcher, but because of yet another too-little, too-late offensive performance.

Because they had gone with a four-man rotation this week, the Nationals knew they were going to have to remove someone from their active bullpen today to make room for Aníbal Sánchez, who was officially activated off the 60-day injured list and will make his first big league start in two years tonight.

Trouble is, just about everyone in the current bullpen has pitched well in recent weeks, leaving no obvious candidate for demotion. In the end, the club decided to option Mason Thompson to Triple-A Rochester, even though the 24-year-old right-hander had retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced after returning from his own injury earlier this month.

The Nationals also transferred Stephen Strasburg to the 60-day IL, a procedural move that was needed to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Sánchez. That doesn’t change anything about Strasburg’s potential return from a stress reaction in his ribs, which already was going to sideline him for a considerable amount of time.

Thompson’s demotion certainly had nothing to do with his performance. He’s actually yet to allow a run in seven big league appearances this season. But with the team’s other optionable relievers (Andres Machado, Jordan Weems) also pitching well, someone had to draw the short straw.

Manager Davey Martinez explained the move to send Thompson down as one of caution for the right-hander, who missed three months with right biceps tendinitis.

The National League East has been good to the Nationals through much of their history. They won four division titles between 2012-17 and often beat up on their lesser rivals. That is no longer the case, though. The narrative has completely flipped on its head, and right now the last thing the Nats want to be doing is facing a fellow NL East opponent.

Unfortunately, they’re about to open a four-game series with the Braves. The same Braves team that just swept them at Truist Park last weekend. The same Braves team that swept them last month at Nationals Park. The same Braves team that along with its NL East counterparts has gone a collective 33-7 against the Nationals this season.

Who are the Nats sending to the mound tonight in hopes of reversing that trend? That would be Aníbal Sánchez, the 38-year-old right-hander making his first major league start in two years. It’s been a long road back for Sánchez, who struggled in 2020, sat out 2021 and then signed a minor league deal with the Nationals this spring, only to spend the next 3 1/2 months on the injured list with a cervical nerve impingement. What can be expected of him tonight against a tough Atlanta lineup? Probably best to set the expectation bar low.

Kyle Wright gets the start for the Braves, his second straight against the Nats. Five days ago, he held them to three runs on eight hits while pitching into the eighth inning. He did surrender two home runs in that game: one to Juan Soto, the other to Yadiel Hernandez.

ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 83 degrees, wind 5 mph out to center field

You know all that talk about Juan Soto having a disappointing first half, about being unworthy of the All-Star selection he received last weekend? It doesn’t really apply anymore, because the Nationals star is hitting out of his mind right now and bringing his season totals up to the kind of standard we expected all along.

With homers in both ends of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Mariners, Soto continued his July onslaught at the plate. Over his last 17 games, he’s batting .400 (20-for-50) with four doubles, five homers and 19 walks.

All of that has brought Soto’s season OPS up to .892, sixth-best in the National League.

In fact, Soto now owns a higher on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS than Josh Bell, who for the majority of the last three months has unquestionably been the Nationals’ best offensive player.

With homers in four of his last five games, Soto seems to have figured out his power stroke before heading to Los Angeles for Monday night’s Home Run Derby.

Even in what everyone acknowledged from the beginning was a rebuilding year, the Nationals were supposed to have a competent lineup. Any group that featured the trio of Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz, plus a couple experienced bats and a couple intriguing young guys, figured to score a decent number of runs.

Here, though, as the season’s first half winds down, is the harsh truth: This lineup has become one of the weakest in the majors. Soto may be starting to look like the best version of himself, and Bell may have produced at a level worthy of an All-Star selection, but the overall story is one of meek power, squandered opportunities and a whole lot of ground balls.

It was all on display tonight during a 2-1 loss that capped a dismal doubleheader sweep to an upstart Mariners club that has now won 10 in a row to thrust itself into the thick of the American League wild card race.

The Nationals? They’ve now lost 12 of their last 13, scoring an average of 2.75 runs per game along the way. They’ve now lost twice as many games (60) as they’ve won (30) for the season, limping into the All-Star break in meager fashion.

"We're not scoring runs," manager Davey Martinez said. "We've got to try to create something. We've got to mix things up."

The Nationals placed Tanner Rainey on the 60-day injured list with a sprained elbow ligament between games of today’s doubleheader against the Mariners, suggesting the team’s erratic closer is out for the remainder of the season and potentially part of the 2023 campaign as well.

Veteran reliever Tyler Clippard, who has spent the last 3 1/2 months pitching for Triple-A Rochester, had his contract purchased and will be in the Nats bullpen tonight for the first time since 2014. But Clippard’s long-awaited return, while sure to please fans, comes as the corresponding move to a major injury to a key member of the roster.

The transactions were announced after reporters had already conducted interviews in the clubhouse following today’s 6-4 loss to the Mariners, so the full severity of Rainey’s injury isn’t yet known. But the decision to immediately place the 29-year-old right-hander on the 60-day IL – typically, pitchers go on the 15-day IL first before getting transferred later to clear a spot on the 40-man roster – suggests the team already knows Rainey faces a long recovery, potentially Tommy John surgery.

That decision hasn't been made yet. Rainey is scheduled to get a second opinion on his elbow, according to a club source, though ligament replacement surgery is a possible outcome.

It had been an up-and-down season for Rainey. He was unscored upon in his first eight appearances, then blew back-to-back save opportunities in May, then another in June. He converted four straight save opportunities in late June but then gave up game-changing homers on back-to-back days to the Marlins during the Nationals’ last homestand.

At his best, Josiah Gray is really good. And last week’s dominating, 11-strikeout showing in Philadelphia was evidence of that.

At his worst, though, Gray really struggles. And today’s 6-4 loss to the Mariners, in which the young right-hander displayed virtually no semblance of fastball command and dug the Nationals into an early hole, was evidence of that.

Starting the front end of a day-night doubleheader, Gray served up three homers to Seattle batters, the most damaging of them Eugenio Suárez’s three-run blast in the top of the first, this coming shortly after he walked two batters while struggling with obvious fastball mechanics issues.

Combine that poor pitching performance with another weak offensive performance – at least until Juan Soto made things interesting with two outs in the bottom of the ninth – and the Nats lost for the 11th time in 12 games while the Mariners extended their winning streak to nine games.

The lack of offensive punch has been painful to watch, even with Soto's three-run, opposite-field homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth today. That blast did prevent the Nationals from being held to three or fewer runs for the 10th time in 11 games. But it still wasn't enough to overcome earlier woes at the plate (or on the bases, from Soto himself, as he fully acknowledged after the game).

Cade Cavalli’s removal from Tuesday night’s start for Triple-A Rochester was for precautionary reasons, and the Nationals’ top pitching prospect appears to have avoided serious injury.

Cavalli came out of Rochester’s game against Omaha in the fourth inning after throwing a pitch and immediately motioning to the dugout. Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy told Rochester-based reporter Dan Glickman the issue was with a finger on Cavalli’s throwing hand.

“He had a little thing on his finger,” LeCroy told Glickman. “It wasn’t really a blister, it was a little small piece of skin that got pulled off his finger. He wanted to keep going, but we thought it would be best not to. I think we got it at the right time, so I don’t think it’s going to be an issue.”

Cavalli had been dominating for a second straight start, allowing one unearned run while striking out six through 3 2/3 innings. This after he carried a perfect game into the sixth inning of his previous start. Over his last seven starts, the 2020 first round pick sports a 2.15 ERA, 0.850 WHIP and 43 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings.

Cavalli, along with Single-A Wilmington infielder Darren Baker, was selected to represent the Nationals in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium. His status for that exhibition is unclear at this point.

Let’s give this another try, shall we?

After their interleague series opener was rained out Tuesday night, the Nationals and Mariners are now set to play two today. The postponed game will be made up at 6:05 p.m., but first is the originally scheduled 12:05 p.m. matinee.

Both managers stuck with their Tuesday night starters for today’s opener. So it’s Josiah Gray for the Nats, trying to pick up where he left off seven days ago in Philadelphia when he struck out a career-high 11 batters. And it’s Chris Flexen for the Mariners, trying for his ninth consecutive start allowing three or fewer runs.

Davey Martinez’s lineup Tuesday had Luis García in the leadoff spot for the second straight game. García may not necessarily profile as a top-of-the-order hitter over the course of his career, but for now it makes sense to have him get the extra at-bats instead of the struggling César Hernández or Lane Thomas.

SEATTLE MARINERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 12:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 7 mph out to right field

Aníbal Sánchez last took the mound for a major league game Sept. 26, 2020, going 5 1/3 innings to beat the Mets. Since then, he has sat out an entire season, re-signed with the Nationals on a minor league deal, thought he made the Opening Day 2022 roster, proceeded to spend the next 3 1/2 months on the injured list with a neck ailment suffered on the charter flight north from spring training and made four minor league rehab starts.

All of which will lead to the sight of Sánchez taking the mound at Nationals Park on Thursday to face the Braves, his first big league start in nearly 22 months.

“He’s excited about it, and I’m excited for him,” manager Davey Martinez said Tuesday in announcing the decision. “He put himself through a lot to get back.”

Yes, he did. What initially figured to be a minor annoyance, a quick stint on the IL to begin the season, instead turned into an agonizing wait for Sánchez, who at various points along the way thought he was healthy again, only to experience more neck discomfort when he tried to ramp up his throwing program.

At last, though, he’s good to go. The 38-year-old made it through one rehab start at the club’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, then three starts for Triple-A Rochester, and convinced team officials he was ready to come off the IL and finally make his season debut.

With one massive storm cell having already swept through town and more expected later tonight, the Nationals’ series opener against the Mariners was postponed, with a day-night doubleheader now scheduled for Wednesday.

The call was made around 8:15 p.m., some 70 minutes after the originally scheduled first pitch and about 2 hours after the heaviest of the rain fell during a downpour that included intense wind, lightning and thunder.

The postponement might have been made official earlier if not for the fact this is a two-game series between interleague opponents who rarely face each other. With a 12:05 p.m. finale scheduled Wednesday before the Mariners fly to Texas to open a weekend series Thursday night, the notion of waiting it out tonight was intriguing.

But as more rain began to fall after 8 p.m., with more lightning visible and thunder audible, the Nationals announced the postponement and subsequent doubleheader on Wednesday.

The two teams will begin the day with their originally scheduled 12:05 p.m. game, with Josiah Gray (who was supposed to start tonight) getting the ball for the Nationals. Fans who held a ticket to tonight’s postponed game can now use it for Wednesday’s 6:05 p.m. game, with Erick Fedde making the start.

Juan Soto could’ve skipped the Home Run Derby, and nobody would’ve batted an eyelash. He already put on a show last year at Coors Field, and given most sluggers’ reluctance to partake in the annual pre-All-Star Game competition, he would’ve been excused had he said no this time.

Soto, though, embraces the idea of going head-to-head with some of baseball’s best power hitters, especially on this stage. And then when you consider the positive effect last year’s Derby seemed to have on his second half performance, there was no way he was going to decline the invitation for Monday’s big show at Dodger Stadium.

“I mean, for me, it worked last year,” he said with a laugh this afternoon. “You see the second half that I had. I’m just going to try and see how it feels in there, and try to enjoy the show. At the end of the day, it was really good. It was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot, and I’m going to try to do the same thing. Being around all those stars, being a part of it, even if I don’t win I’m going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

Soto joins an already impressive field, with back-to-back defending champion Pete Alonso, Ronald Acuña Jr., Kyle Schwarber and Albert Pujols having committed so far, and three more names still to come.

“I would love to see Albert hitting bombs,” Soto said of Pujols, whose first Derby appearance came in 2003 when Soto was 4. “He was amazing when he was in his first Home Run Derby, and I want to see how fun it can be. It might be his last Home Run Derby.”

On the heels of a rough road trip against division contenders, the Nationals return home this week, with another four-game series against the Braves looming before the All-Star break. Before that, though, comes a quick two-game interleague series with the Mariners. It’s the first time these two franchises have met since 2017, only the sixth head-to-head series ever between them. (The Nats will return the favor with a two-game trip to Seattle next month.)

The Mariners, unfortunately, are as hot as any team in baseball right now, riding an eight-game winning streak into this series. They’ve done with excellent pitching, including from tonight’s starter: Chris Flexen, who hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his last eight starts. The right-hander shut out the Padres over 6 2/3 innings in his last start July 4, which means he’s had plenty of rest entering tonight’s outing.

Josiah Gray was great in his last start, striking out a career-high 11 in a 3-2 win at the Phillies six days ago. The right-hander will look to pick up where he left off tonight against a Mariners lineup that ranks 11th in the American League in runs and batting average, though seventh in homers and second in walks.

All of this, of course, is contingent upon the weather. The forecast isn’t great, with strong storms expected throughout the region late this afternoon and this evening. Given that this is only a two-game series, with a 12:05 p.m. start Wednesday, you’d think they won’t be so quick to postpone tonight. But as always, we’ll see what Mother Nature (and MLB) has in store.

SEATTLE MARINERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Thunderstorms, 84 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right field

We’ve reached the final week of the first half of the season, the All-Star break looming after that, not to mention the 2022 MLB Draft (which begins Sunday night). And then looming right after that, of course, is the trade deadline.

Three weeks from today, on Aug. 2, the fates of contenders and rebuilding clubs alike will be shaped with a flurry of deals. And though the Nationals don’t figure to be as active as they were one year ago, when they traded away eight players in the span of 24 hours, they almost certainly will be active.

A year ago, general manager Mike Rizzo was still trying to decide if he’d be a buyer or seller at the deadline. The events of a disastrous July made that decision crystal clear by month’s end. This time around, there’s no question if the Nats will be sellers. The only question is how many players will be dealt before the deadline.

Let’s be clear, though, about one key factor here: The Nationals don’t have the two big-time trade chips they did last year. There is no Max Scherzer and there is no Trea Turner for Rizzo to dangle to a contender and receive multiple top prospects in exchange for.

(Sure, Rizzo could theoretically put Juan Soto up for sale and see just how huge the return would be. But there’s been no indication from anyone that’s part of anyone’s plan at the moment. The Nats have given every indication they intend to continue to try to sign Soto long-term. And even if that doesn’t happen yet, he’s under club control another 2 1/2 seasons and is still viewed as the centerpiece of their next contending roster, if the rebuild proceeds as the organization hopes it will.)

We saw this happen last year.

Everyone was panicking because Juan Soto’s overall offensive numbers weren’t up to his superstar standards about one-third of the way through the season. Then around mid-June, he started heating up at the plate and went into the All-Star break as one of the game’s hottest hitters.

People debated whether or not he should participate in the Home Run Derby, an event known for ruining hitters’ swings, after finally rediscovering his rhythm at the plate. But Soto did it anyway, hitting 46 home runs before being eliminated in the semifinals by eventual champion Pete Alonso.

“This is the time of year where I think he does start heating up,” Davey Martinez said of Soto. “I don't know why that is, because he always has his streaks in the beginning when he hits the ball really well. But he's swinging the bat really well right now.”

We’re now seeing almost the same story play out in 2022, which again brings up the question: Should Soto participate in the Home Run Derby?

ATLANTA – The rules say every team needs at least one representative in the All-Star Game, so despite a disappointing season, we knew there would be at least one Nationals player going to Los Angeles for this year’s Midsummer Classic.

That player is Juan Soto, announced on the “MLB All-Star Selection Show” on ESPN.

“It feels great to be part of it representing the Washington Nationals,” Soto said of his selection after today’s loss to the Braves. “It feels great to be out there and be on the list of all the All-Stars that the Washington Nationals have had in the past. And to be around those guys, it feels great.”

There was a lot of speculation as to whether Soto or Josh Bell or both would join Davey Martinez on Braves manager Brian Snitker’s National League team at Dodger Stadium. Now we know it will just be the left-handed slugging outfielder going to his second straight All-Star Game.

“It means a lot not only for me, but for the organization,” Soto said. “To represent the Washington Nationals out there and knowing that Davey is coming with me is gonna be great. We'll see how fun it's gonna be and how excited we will be.”

ATLANTA – When it rains, it pours. An ironic use of that phrase on a beautiful day just outside downtown Atlanta.

But it’s true for the Nationals, who dropped their fourth straight game and were swept by the Braves with today’s 4-3 loss in 12 innings in front of 32,053 at Truist Park.

Jordan Weems, who pitched two impressive scoreless innings Friday night, was charged with the bottom of the 12th. The Nats intentionally walked Matt Olson to put two runners on for the right-hander. Austin Riley, who hit the tying home run in the eighth inning, stepped up to the plate and delivered the game-winning RBI single.

Tanner Rainey put up two zeros in the 10th and 11th innings, not without some tense moments, though.

Going back to the seventh, Davey Martinez brought in Kyle Finnegan to face the top of the Braves order and protect a 3-2 lead. Finnegan struck out the side easily, and since he last pitched Wednesday, he was plenty rested to go back out for a second inning.

ATLANTA – Hunter Harvey was seen in the Nationals clubhouse this morning before the series finale against the Braves at Truist Park. His hair is hard to miss.

That meant a roster move was coming. When it became official about 30 minutes later, the Nats had reinstated Harvey, optioned Joan Adon to Triple-A Rochester and transferred Jackson Tetreault to the 60-day injured list.

“I've been feeling a lot better since the last time, so that's always a plus,” Harvey said at his locker of his recovery from a right pronator strain. 

The Nationals placed him on the injured list on April 21 after he pitched only 2 ⅔ scoreless innings over four appearances. Now after missing 71 games, he’s finally back.

“It took a little bit longer than we wanted to,” Harvey said of his rehab. “I had a couple of setbacks, but we took a little bit extra time and made sure everything was OK, and now I feel a lot better than I did before.”

ATLANTA – The Nationals need a win today to salvage this three-game series against the Braves and end this mostly miserable road trip on a high note.

Paolo Espino will lead them on the mound as he makes his sixth consecutive start. The right-hander hasn’t posted similar numbers as a starter to those he did when he was strictly a reliever. In 20 appearances out of the bullpen, he had a 2.03 ERA over a mainly low-leverage 26 ⅔ innings. Since he joined the rotation on June 12, Espino is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in 22 innings over five starts. He gave up three runs in one inning of relief against the Braves in his second outing of the season on April 12.

For the offense, Ian Anderson may present the best opportunity to do some damage off a Braves starter. The right-hander is 7-5 with a 5.09 ERA over his first 16 starts of the season. He gave up four runs on six hits and four walks in four innings plus three batters against the Nats on June 13. He has a 9.82 ERA in just 11 innings over his last three starts.

César Hernández is on the bench and not in his usual leadoff spot, with Luis García batting first instead. Manager Davey Martinez also has Juan Soto and Josh Bell swapping places in today's batting order.

All-Stars will be announced later today, so we’ll see soon who will be the Nationals’ representative in the Midsummer Classic.

ATLANTA – There was reason for optimism heading into this Patrick Corbin start.

His overall numbers still weren’t great in the form of a 4-10 record and 5.68 ERA over his first 17 outings. But he had been really effective over his last two starts with a 1.20 ERA, 16 strikeouts and three walks over a combined 15 innings. He pitched eight innings of one-run ball and recorded a season-high 12 strikeouts on June 28 against the Pirates and then pitched another seven innings of one-run ball on Monday against the Marlins.

But the third time was not the charm for Corbin this afternoon at Truist Park, as he was charged with four runs over six innings in a 4-3 loss to the Braves before a crowd of 40,632 fans.

Like a lot of his outings, Corbin had his ups and downs throughout this start. He faced the minimum in four of his six innings, with 1-2-3 innings in the third and sixth, and double-play balls in the second and fifth. It was the first and fourth innings where he struggled.

In the bottom of the first, ​​Corbin almost worked around a Ronald Acuña Jr. leadoff single as he retired the next two batters. But Austin Riley hit a slider over the plate into the left-field seats for a two-run homer and an early 2-0 Braves lead.