CLEVELAND — After every series it seems as if Washington Nationals manager Blake Butera has been asked some variation of what he learned about his team, or how his team fared against a formidable opponent.

Just past the Memorial Day benchmark when baseball’s contenders start to separate from the pretenders, the Nationals are sitting in second place in the National League East, tied with the Philadelphia Phillies as of Wednesday afternoon and ahead of the Miami Marlins and New York Mets.

The Mets and Phillies both have a drastically higher payroll than the Nationals.

That Washington is sitting above .500 in late May is a surprising development for an organization in the first year of a new regime. And though it’s far too early to look at wild-card standings, the Nationals are only two games back of a postseason spot.

Advertise with us

It’s becoming increasingly harder to ignore the Nationals’ quality play of late, which has included beating some impressive teams. Even with Wednesday’s 3-2 loss, the Nationals wrapped a six-game road trip against the NL East-leading Braves, and the American League Central-leading Guardians with two series wins. The Guardians entered the series winners of eight of their last 10.

The Nationals led 1-0 entering the fifth inning, when the game got away from them. Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges reached base on a fielding error. Washington right-hander Miles Mikolas, who entered the game in the second inning as the bulk reliever, induced a pop up from Bryan Rocchio on the next at-bat before allowing a double to rookie Travis Bazzana.

José Ramírez’s sacrifice fly tied the game, and Mikolas was replaced by left-hander Richard Lovelady. Chase DeLauter hammered a first-pitch slider for a two-out RBI single that gave the Guardians a 2-1 lead. Kyle Manzardo reached base on a single, and Angel Martinez’s RBI single extended the lead to 3-1. Lovelady walked Daniel Schneemann to load the bases, but he stopped the bleeding after getting Steven Kwan to line out to shortstop CJ Abrams.

Mikolas threw 3 2/3 innings, allowing two unearned runs on five hits, and Lovelady was charged with an earned run. Orlando Ribalto and Clayton Beeter each threw a scoreless inning to keep the game within reach.

The Nationals staged a rally in the ninth inning after back-to-back singles by Abrams and Curtis Mead.

Advertise with us

Mead scored on Daylen Lile’s sacrifice fly to cut the led to 3-2, but José Tena and Jorbit Vivas struck out to end the rally.

The offense was just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and the pitching staff allowed too much hard contact to complete the sweep.

But going 4-2 on this six-game road trip is an encouraging sign for the young ball club.