The Washington Nationals will go for their first home series sweep of the season when they host the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

The Nationals pulled away late for a 13-3 win on Saturday, allowing them to reach .500 (23-23) for the first time since May 2024. Washington had lost 15 straight games when a win would have improved its record to the .500 mark.

This is the latest Washington has been at .500 since July 2, 2021.

“Obviously, we want our record to be even better than .500,” manager Blake Butera said. “It’s a cool accomplishment to get to .500 at this point in the season, playing the type of schedule we’ve played to this point. Hopefully, we can build off this.”

The Nationals have managed just an 8-13 home record while going 15-10 on the road.

Baltimore, meanwhile, has lost three of four. Scoring has been a problem of late as the Orioles have scored three runs or fewer in eight of their past nine games.

“We’re trying to win every game like we talk about,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “Every time we show up we’re trying to win so the urgency is the same. I think it’s us coming in tomorrow, be ready to win.”

The Orioles send Brandon Young (3-1, 4.15 ERA) to the mound Sunday opposite fellow right-hander Miles Mikolas (1-3, 7.00).

Baltimore is 4-1 in Young’s starts. Last time out, he gave up two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings of a no-decision against the Yankees. He struck out five and walked three.

“BY’s command was not his best, he knows that but he did a great job of just keeping us in it,” Albernaz said.

Young, who has never faced the Nationals, has fashioned a 2.45 road ERA this season, compared to 5.40 at Camden Yards.

Mikolas has managed to shave over four runs off his ERA with improved performances over his past five appearances. Last time out, he started and went 3 1/3 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits as the Washington defeated host Cincinnati.

Mikolas is 1-0 with a 4.41 ERA in three career starts against the Orioles.

The Nationals saw a 4-0 lead shrink to 4-3 in the seventh inning Saturday before erupting for seven runs in their half of the inning.

“They cut to a 4-3 game there in the seventh, and to answer with a seven spot and get the momentum right back in our hands is just tremendous,” Butera said.

Keibert Ruiz had three hits including a homer and drove in five runs, and Jacob Young and Brady House each had two hits including a homer.

Ruiz has hit safely in four of his last five games, batting .381 (8-for-21) with four doubles, three homers, seven runs and 11 RBIs.

House entered the game in the seventh inning and became the fifth player in Nationals history to record two or more extra-base hits off the bench.

CJ Abrams finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI.

Samuel Basallo and Tyler O’Neill hit back-to-back homers for Baltimore. Basallo extended his hitting streak to nine games, raising his batting average from .234 to .278 during that time.

–Field Level Media

Jack Flaherty still is seeking his first victory of the season. Kevin Gausman is coming off his worst outing of the campaign.

Those two veteran right-handers will be the mound opponents in the finale of a three-game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and host Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

Flaherty (0-4, 5.73 ERA) will be making his 10th start of the season. He couldn’t even get out of the fourth inning of his last start, a 10-2 loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday. Flaherty allowed three runs on six hits and issued three walks.

“Just too many long at-bats,” he said. “I’ve got to find a way to shorten those at-bats, get some quicker outs and get us back into the dugout.”

Flaherty has walked 29 batters in 37 2/3 innings this season. Two seasons ago, Flaherty walked 38 batters in 162 innings.

“I know he had a hard time finishing at-bats,” manager A.J. Hinch said after Flaherty’s last outing. “It looked like he was getting into counts and they kept working long at-bats and taking advantage of a few pitches. They definitely made him work.”

Flaherty hasn’t lasted more than five innings in his last five starts. He’s been tagged with the loss in three of his last four games.

He has enjoyed good success against Toronto during his career. In six starts, he’s 5-1 with a 2.08 ERA.

Gausman (2-3, 3.86) recorded his 2,000th career strikeout in his last start against Tampa Bay on Monday. He received a big ovation from the home crowd.

Otherwise, the start was not a source of pride. He surrendered seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings. He had not given up more than four runs in any of his previous starts.

“I’ve had some really cool moments here as a player, where the fans have made you feel some love,” he said of the strikeout mark. “I just wish I would have been able to enjoy it a little bit more. Giving up six runs isn’t fun, but, yeah, it was a cool moment, and I’ll definitely remember that forever.”

The 2,000th strikeout came against Tampa Bay’s catcher, Hunter Feduccia, in the fourth inning.

“My career has been ups and downs and been very different, and not all sunshine and rainbows,” he said. “So I take those things very seriously. And I’m honored by it for sure.”

Gausman will now concentrate on getting his first win in four starts. His last victory was April 25 against Cleveland.

He is quite familiar with the Tigers. He has started 14 games during his career against Detroit, posting a 4-3 record and 3.16 ERA.

The game on Sunday will determine the series. Detroit won the opener 3-2 on Friday night via Spencer Torkelson’s walk-off RBI single. The Blue Jays turned that around on Saturday, winning 2-1 in extra innings on Daulton Varsho’s RBI single.

Detroit’s Riley Greene extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a ninth-inning single. It’s the longest active streak in the majors.

–Field Level Media

Two-time All-Star Steven Kwan has been one of the best leadoff hitters in the majors since 2022.

With Kwan’s ongoing slump showing no signs of ending, Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt made a dramatic move to take some pressure off him.

Kwan has been dropped from first to sixth in the batting order, where he is slated to remain Sunday afternoon when the Guardians wrap up their homestand against the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincinnati right-hander Brady Singer (2-3, 5.79 ERA) will start against Cleveland righty Gavin Williams (5-3, 3.74) in the finale of the three-game series.

“It’s probably been a couple weeks coming, so I have no problem with it,” Kwan said of the change. “I don’t want to hurt the team in any way. I think (Vogt) was just respecting me and wanting to keep things the same.”

A four-time Gold Glove award winner in left field, his struggles have coincided with his new role swinging between left and center in 2026.

Kwan’s batting average is just .204, far and away the lowest of his career, and his on-base percentage is .316.

Moving him down in the order and putting Kwan in left field seemed to alleviate some of the pressure Saturday, when he went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks in Cleveland’s 7-4 win.

“He’s our guy. He’s gonna be back in the first hole,” Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio said of Kwan. “He’s going to be the best first hitter in the game. He’s going to be fine.”

Kwan’s lack of production has been a major reason why the Guardians’ offense has stagnated. Opposing pitchers haven’t had to face franchise icon Jose Ramirez in nearly as many RBI situations.

With the bases empty, Kwan hit only .183 and had a .286 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot that he had occupied since June 19, 2022.

“There have been elements of timing, pitch selection and mechanical things for him this season,” Vogt said. “I told Kwanny, ‘It’s time to get back to who you are.’ “

Williams originally was slated to pitch on Saturday but was bumped back a day for matchup purposes in his first career game against the Reds. He is 5-7 with a 4.40 ERA in 18 career interleague outings.

Singer has plenty of experience against Cleveland from his five years with the Kansas City Royals, compiling a 3-3 record and 4.88 ERA in 15 appearances.

Cincinnati has lost all three of Singer’s starts in May, when he is 0-2 with a 7.62 ERA and averaging a mere 4 1/3 innings per.

Reds manager Terry Francona is also dealing with a young hitter who has run into recent obstacles in rookie first baseman Sal Stewart.

Stewart led the majors in homers at one point in April, but his 0-for-2, one-RBI performance Saturday dropped his average over the last 19 games to .147 with just one long ball and 18 strikeouts.

“Things aren’t going the way I want them, but that’s strictly on me,” said Stewart, who is batting .236 with 10 homers and 31 RBIs in 46 total games. “I’ve got to look for better pitches to hit.”

Francona isn’t making drastic changes yet, but the manager did move Stewart from the cleanup spot to third in the order four games ago. Stewart is hitless in 14 at-bats in his new role.

“Trying to let the game come to you, it’s easier said than done,” Francona said. “He’s started getting pounded inside, which has gotten him a little off what he was doing before.

“He will be OK. He’s too good a hitter.”

The Reds won the series opener 7-6 before losing Saturday.

The teams wrap up their annual, home-and-home Ohio Cup competition with three games in Cincinnati from July 27-29. The Reds currently possess the trophy after going 5-1 against Cleveland in 2025.

–Field Level Media