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The Washington Nationals are back on the road tonight, as they visit the Marlins for a three-game weekend set starting Friday. Blake Butera is sending lefty Foster Griffin to the mound, while Clayton McCullough is putting Robby Snelling (Marlins no. 2 prospect, MLB no. 32) out there for his big league debut.

Keibert Ruiz went nuclear at the plate Thursday afternoon, finishing a triple shy of the cycle as the Nationals knocked off the Twins 7-5 to win the series at Nationals Park. Ruiz homered, doubled twice, drove in four runs and scored three times, while Curtis Mead added two RBIs as Washington improved to 17-20 on the season. After a back-and-forth start that ended with the game tied at five in the sixth, Ruiz made noise with a go-ahead solo homer in the seventh before Mead added an insurance RBI single later in the inning. Jake Irvin allowed four runs across five innings, while PJ Poulin earned the win in relief and Gus Varland recorded the final four outs for his fourth save. 

The Nationals jumped ahead early after Ruiz opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first before adding another run-scoring double during a three-run fifth inning. Minnesota fought back behind Ryan Jeffers, who finished with three hits, including a homer and two doubles, while Brooks Lee added two RBIs. Simeon Woods Richardson struggled to contain Washington’s lineup, allowing five runs over 4.1 innings. The win capped a rollercoaster homestand for Washington, one that they finished 3-3 with all of the wins being in their last four games. 

On Deck…

This weekend series will continue on Saturday, as the Nationals have Zack Littell going up against Janson Junk, who’s been strong thus far in 2026.

In the hole…

Sunday will mark the series finale, as Cade Cavalli will face veteran Sandy Alcantara in a Mother’s Day matinee in an important matchup for both righties.

The Nationals’ pitching staff has quietly turned into one of baseball’s better run-prevention groups over the last two weeks. Since April 24, Washington owns a 3.08 ERA, the sixth-best mark in MLB during that stretch, trailing only clubs like Tampa Bay, Milwaukee and Los Angeles. The Nationals have allowed just 37 earned runs in 108 innings over that span, the fifth-fewest earned runs in baseball despite facing playoff-caliber lineups such as the Braves and Brewers.

What makes the stretch unusual, though, is how messy it has looked underneath. Washington has still surrendered 53 total runs during that timeframe, tied for 15th-most in MLB, because of defensive mistakes continuing to inflate scoring totals. The Nationals’ 16 unearned runs in that span are the most in baseball, meaning nearly one-third of the runs scored against them have come without being charged to the pitching staff. In other words, while the defense has continued to create chaos, the rotation and bullpen have quietly flipped the club’s identity by consistently limiting actual damage once innings begin to unravel.

The Nationals have quietly gotten some of their best offensive production from behind the plate lately. Since May 1, Washington’s catchers Keibert Ruiz and Drew Millas, own a combined .350 batting average, the highest mark of any catching group in Major League Baseball during that span. The production has helped stabilize the lower half of the lineup while the Nationals continue mashing all around.

Ruiz has led much of that surge, including the best extra-base-hit game of his career in Thursday’s 7-5 win over Minnesota. The switch-hitting catcher recorded the first game of his MLB career with three or more extra-base hits, continuing what has been one of his strongest offensive stretches of the season. Millas has also contributed quality at-bats and on-base production in limited opportunities, giving Washington tons of offensive consistency.

Foster Griffin has easily become the Nationals’ steadiest rotation piece to open 2026. After entering the season with just seven career MLB starts prior to this year, the 30-year-old left-hander owns a 2.27 ERA across his first seven starts with Washington while the Nationals have gone 5-2 in games he’s started. Griffin has allowed three earned runs or fewer in every outing this season and is coming off six innings against Milwaukee on May 2 in which he surrendered three runs, but none earned, while allowing just three hits. The left-hander has consistently limited damage, worked efficiently into games, and stabilized a Nationals rotation that has quietly flipped its identity over the last two weeks.

• Day: 10-9 | Night: 8-11 | Home Record: 6-13 | Road Record: 12-7

• Month Record: 3-3 | Current Streak: W2 | Previous Month Record: 12-15

• A.L. Teams: 4-2 | N.L. Teams: 14-18 | N.L. East: 4-6

• vs. LHSP: 8-5 | vs. RHSP: 11-15

• Series Opener: 4-8 | Series Opener at Home: 1-5 | By Series: 5-6-1

• White Script Nationals: 3-7 | Red Curly W: 2-1 | City Connect: 0-3 | Blue Jersey: 4-5 | Road Gray: 9-4 | 42: 0-1

The Nationals and Marlins enter this weekend’s series in South Florida nearly dead even historically, with Washington holding a razor-thin 182-181 advantage in the all-time regular season matchup (since 2005). The rivalry has been one of constant swings over the last two decades, with both clubs trading stretches of dominance. After Miami won the season series in both 2022 and 2023, the Nationals flipped the script in 2024 by going 11-2 against the Marlins, outscoring them 72-35 in the process. The Marlins took last year’s seies at 7-6, with both teams scoring exactly 72 runs. Washington has won 17 of the last 26 meetings overall dating back to 2023, including a 15-7 offensive explosion in D.C. last September. Offensively, the Nationals have historically held the edge in the matchup, posting a .746 OPS against Miami compared to the Marlins’ .730 mark, while also scoring 49 more total runs in the all-time series.

Miami enters the weekend at 17-21 and sitting fourth in the NL East, though the Marlins have played better baseball than their record may initially suggest. Their offense has been carried by middle infielders Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards, who are both hitting above .325, while catcher Liam Hicks has emerged as one of baseball’s breakout bats with a .956 OPS and nine home runs. Despite ranking below .500, Miami’s run differential sits at just minus-6, they don’t look like a team spiraling out of contention.

Robby Snelling will make his MLB debut Friday night against the Nationals, becoming the latest young arm to arrive as part of Miami’s long-term rebuild. The 22-year-old left-hander has dominated Triple-A Jacksonville to begin the season, posting a 1.86 ERA with 44 strikeouts across 29 innings while allowing just 11 hits and holding opponents to a microscopic 3.4 H/9. Across all levels since being drafted in 2022, Snelling has built a reputation as a bat-misser, recording 443 strikeouts in 384 minor league innings with a career 3.07 ERA. After a rocky 2024 season split between the Padres and Marlins organizations, Snelling rebounded in a major way last year, posting a 2.51 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A while striking out 166 batters in 136 innings.