Washington
Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats drop opener with Rangers, 7-1; 4-game win streak snapped…
CJ ABRAMS’ WORLD:
Going into last night’s series opener in Arlington, TX, CJ Abrams had reached base safely in 15 straight games, with a .317/.414/.700 line, five doubles, three triples, four home runs, and eight walks in 70 plate appearances over course of the on-base streak, and hits in 14 of the 15 (reaching via HBP on an 0 for 3 night in his only hitless game in that stretch).
Abrams homered (7) and walked twice in the series finale in Miami on Monday night, and his manager, Davey Martinez, talked about how important those walks were to the shortstop for his continued development.
“We talk all the time about him walking, and I said, ‘You’re going to have to do that. Get on for the next guy.’ When you walk, it’s a double, a triple,’” Martinez told the Nats’ 23-year-old infielder, repeating his persistent message for Abrams.
“He’s doing outstanding, he really is. And I’ve said this before, he’s matured so much just in his overall game.”
It’s not just his skipper and Nationals fans who’ve noticed Abrams taking things to another level this season…
CJ Abrams is way too good to have been acquired in a trade with MacKenzie Gore and James Wood and Robert Hassell and Jarlin Susana. pic.twitter.com/ogHDoL1xww
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) April 29, 2024
Abrams did swipe a bag in the finale with the Marlins too, his 6th in 8 attempts this season.
Last night in Texas, Abrams reached base via infield single in his first at-bat, extending that on-base streak to 16-straight games, stole his 7th base, and scored when Luis García, Jr. hit a two-out single to left to drive in the first run of the game, 1-0.
Talking Abrams with Audacy’s The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the FAN in D.C. last Wednesday, GM and President of Baseball ops Mike Rizzo pinpointed last June as the turning point for Abrams, the 2019 1st Round pick by the Padres acquired in the deal which sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego in 2022.
“I remember we sat down with CJ,” Rizzo recalled, “… and had a nice meeting with him and said, ‘Hey this is what is expected of you and this is how you need to conduct yourself’ and several players took him under [their] wing and showed him how to prepare, get a routine as a major league player.”
“And I know [Third Base and Infield coach] Ricky Gutierrez has been very instrumental in his defensive work,” the GM added, “and [Hitting Coach] Darnell [Coles] has worked with him in a lot in the batting cages.”
“His chase rate is down … the pitches he’s swinging at are better pitches, he knows what he can handle,” Rizzo explained. “And the pitches that he had trouble with when he first came up to the big leagues, and when he played in San Diego, he’s worked really, really hard to compensate for that and to overcome that.
“You start with a really talented you player, you get a work ethic that is extremely good, you got an attitude of a kid that’s got some swagger to him, that wants to be great, doesn’t want to settle to be good, and I think you’re kind of seeing this guy scratch the surface of what he can possibly be as a player.”
GORE IN TEXAS:
Evan Grant, who’s covered the Rangers for the Dallas Morning News since 1997, previewed last night’s game with an ominous tweet for the home team in Globe Life Field:
To keep in mind tonight: Washington LHP MacKenzie Gore throws a 97 mph fastball and throws it 55% of time.
Rangers are hitting .181 vs. fastballs from LHPs this year, 28th in majors. Their xwOBA of .274 ranks 30th.
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) April 30, 2024
While the Rangers haven’t hit left-hander’s fastballs well, Gore started the series with a .278 BAA on his fastball overall this season, after opposing hitters hit .279 on the pitch in 2023.
Gore held Rangers off the board through three, but gave up three straight hits in the fourth, with Nathaniel Lowe, Adolis García, and Jonah Helm connecting for their second, third, and fourth hits off the southpaw as a team and tying things up at 1-1.
The Nationals’ starter was up to 74 pitches overall after he struck out two and fielded a weak grounder for three straight outs after the hits, having thrown 31 pitches in the fourth, with 17 swinging (five on his heater, six on his curve, five on his change, and one on his slider), and a total of six called strikes on the night.
Marcus Semien tripled on a 1-0 fastball from Gore with one out in the fifth, and he scored to put the Rangers ahead on a dribbler in front of the plate off of Corey Seager’s bat which the Nats’ starter fielded and angrily threw to first as the go-ahead run scored, 2-1.
Gore issued his first walk of the game with two out, on his 88th pitch, and hit the next batter on pitch No. 89, but got out No. 3 and stranded both baserunners with his 91st pitch.
MacKenzie Gore’s Line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks, 91 P, 59 S, 5/3 GO/FO.
Gore finished the night with 18 swinging strikes, adding one on his curve in the fifth, and he leaned on his curveball overall, throwing it 25% of the time (up from a season average 18%), with 45% fastballs, 15% changeups, and %15 sliders. [ed. note – “Checks math, twice.”]
Jordan Weems and Jacob Barnes gave up a run each in the sixth and seventh, respectively, as the Rangers added to their lead with three off of Tanner Rainey in the eighth, and took the opening game of the three-game series, 7-1, snapping the Nationals’ four-game winning streak.
Outside of Abrams’ early run, the Nationals didn’t do much against Jon Gray (1 ER on 3 H in 8.0 IP), and they dropped the first of three in Texas.
“We’ve been playing well,” Martinez said after the loss. “We hit the ball really well before we came in here, so let’s come back tomorrow and try to go 1-0 tomorrow.
“The bats weren’t good today, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it, it’s one game.”
In assessing Gore’s outing, the manager said his starter put together a solid turn in the rotation.
“Look, he gave up two runs, right? He threw the ball really well. His pitch count was up. We knew coming into today that we were going to keep him around 90 pitches. Last outing he had 102, but I thought he threw the ball really well.”
BONUS QUOTE:
With the loss, the Nationals wrapped up the first month-plus of the 2024 campaign at 14-15, in 4th place in the NL East as of the end of the game last night.
Davey Martinez offered his take on the first month of the season when he spoke to reporters in Arlington:
“You look back and there’s some games we could have won, we could have been above .500, right? But overall, we’re playing good baseball, we’re playing hard, our pitchers have done well, other than today our bullpen has been pretty good, so we got to keep going. It’s April, it’s nice to win games in April. Now we’re going into May. I break the season down and I always tell myself, ‘We can win 15 games a month, that’s pretty good.’ So let’s win 16 next month.”
Washington
19-Year-Old Transgender University of Washington Student Fatally Stabbed
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This story contains descriptions of fatal violence against a transgender person.
The Seattle Police Department are searching for a suspect after a 19-year-old University of Washington student was stabbed to death in an off-campus student apartment complex on May 10.
Seattle Police Department Detective Eric Muñoz told NBC News that the victim is “believed to be a 19-year-old transgender female” who was enrolled at the university. The victim has not yet been publicly identified by name. She was found in the housing complex laundry room shortly after 10 p.m. on Sunday night.
The housing complex, Nordheim Court, is privately managed but affiliated with the university, located near an upscale shopping center in Seattle’s U-Village neighborhood. According to NBC News, residents received an official alert from UW to stay inside their homes and lock all windows and doors — an alert that was lifted around 1 a.m. with the acknowledgment that “a death investigation remains ongoing.”
According to SPD detective Eric Muñoz, police and the fire department attempted lifesaving measures but ultimately “pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.”
“Officers are actively searching for the suspect, believed to be a black male with a beard, 5’6-8” tall, wearing a vest with button up shirt, and blue jeans,” Muñoz wrote in a blotter report.
Muñoz noted that the victim would be identified by the medical examiner’s office in “the coming days.” The SPD did not immediately respond to Them’s request for comment.
This is the seventh known trans person to be violently killed in 2026. In mid-April, 39-year-old transmasculine farmer Luca RedBeard was fatally shot in rural New Mexico. Last week, police in Marion County, Florida opened a homicide investigation into the shooting death of a 29-year-old who went by multiple names and referred to “transitioning” on social media. In Kentucky, an investigation into the disappearance of 22-year-old trans college student Murry Foust remains ongoing.
Police are asking anyone with information about the University of Washington case to call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206-233-5000, emphasizing that anonymous tips are accepted.
This is a developing story.
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Washington
How the Sea Mar Museum Is Preserving Latino History in Washington
On a quiet stretch of Des Moines Memorial Drive in South Seattle, the Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture rises like a long‑overdue acknowledgment. Its brick exterior doesn’t shout; it invites. Inside, the rooms hum with the stories of families who crossed borders, harvested fields, organized classrooms, and built communities across Washington state—often without seeing their histories reflected anywhere on a museum wall.
For Rogelio Riojas, founder and CEO of Sea Mar Community Health Centers, the museum is a promise kept. “We wanted to make sure the contributions of Latinos in Washington state are recognized and preserved for future generations,” he told The Seattle Times when the museum opened in 2019. It was a simple statement, but one that captured decades of work—both visible and invisible—by the region’s Latino communities.
Walking through the galleries feels like stepping into a living archive. One of the most arresting sights is a pair of original farmworker cabins, transported from Eastern Washington. Their narrow wooden frames and sparse interiors speak volumes about the migrant families who once slept inside after long days in the fields. The cabins are not replicas or artistic interpretations; they are the real thing, weathered by sun, dust, and time. They anchor the museum’s narrative in the physical realities of labor that shaped the state’s agricultural economy.
Sea Mar describes the museum as “dedicated to sharing the history, struggles, and successes of the Latino community in Washington state,” a mission that plays out in photographs, letters, student newspapers, and oral histories contributed by community members themselves. These aren’t artifacts chosen from afar—they’re family treasures, personal archives, and memories entrusted to the museum so they can live beyond the kitchen tables and shoeboxes where they were once kept.
The story extends beyond the museum walls. Just steps away is the Sea Mar Community Center, a sweeping, light‑filled gathering space designed for celebrations, performances, workshops, and community events. With room for nearly 500 people, a full stage, a movie‑theater‑sized screen, and a catering kitchen, the center was built with one purpose: to give the community a place to see itself, gather, and grow. Sea Mar describes it as “a welcoming space for families, organizations, and community groups to gather, celebrate, and learn,” and on any given weekend, it lives up to that promise.
Together, the museum and community center form a cultural campus—part historical archive, part living room for the region’s Latino communities. Students come to learn about the Chicano activists who reshaped the University of Washington in the late 1960s. Families come to see their own histories reflected in the exhibits. Visitors come to understand a story that has long been present in Washington, even if it wasn’t always visible.
The Sea Mar Museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., offering free admission to anyone who walks through its doors. For many, it’s more than a museum—it’s a recognition, a gathering place, and a testament to the people who helped shape the Pacific Northwest.
Preserving Latino History and Community Life in Washington was first published on Washington Latino News (WALN) and republished with permission.
Washington
Mother’s Day Bunch at Lady Madison | Washington DC
Celebrate Mothers Day with à la carte brunch at Lady Madison featuring seafood, entrées, desserts, and premium beverage options.
Celebrate Mothers Day in sophisticated style at Lady Madison, located inside Le Méridien Washington, DC, The Madison. Join us on Sunday, May 10, 2026, from 12:003:00 PM for an elevated à la carte brunch experience in downtown Washington, DC.
Enjoy a refined selection of chef-driven brunch classics, fresh seafood, seasonal salads, and elegant entrées. Highlights include a Build Your Own Omelette, Crab Benedict with lime hollandaise, Chilled Seafood Trio, and signature mains such as Roasted Rack of Lamb, Cedar Plank Sea Bass, and Marinated New York Strip Loin.
End on a sweet note with classic desserts including Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, Fruit Tart, Strawberry Shortcake, and Passion Fruit Cake.
Enhance your experience with beverage offerings, including bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys for $30 with house selections. Piper-Heidsieck Champagne is also available by the glass for $16 or by the bottle for $49.
Reserve on OpenTable:
https://www.opentable.com/booking/experiences-availability?rid=1426987&restref=1426987&experienceId=695240&utm_source=external&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=shared
À La Carte Menu
Les ufs & Brunch
Egg White Frittata $24
spinach, tomato, mushrooms, green onion
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Build Your Own Omelette $24
ham, smoked salmon, vegetables, cheeses (choose up to 3)
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Crab Benedict $24
lime hollandaise, salsa cruda
Served with pommes de terre rissolées or seasonal fruit
Brioche French Toast $17
berry compote, whipped butter, maple syrup
Les Froids & Salades
Chilled Seafood Trio $28
Jonah crab claws, shrimp, cocktail sauce
Spring Berry Salad $17
brie, berries, champagne vinaigrette
Golden & Crimson Beet Salad $18
red wine vinaigrette
Add protein: shrimp, salmon, skirt steak +18 | chicken +16
Les Plats Principaux
Roasted Rack of Lamb $42
mint sauce, huckleberry reduction, sweet potato purée, asparagus
Cedar Plank Sea Bass $49
saffron rice, spring vegetables
New York Strip Loin $42
mushroom sauce, truffle croquette potatoes, haricots verts
Les Desserts $14
Crème Brûlée Cheesecake
Fruit Tart
Strawberry Shortcake
Passion Fruit Cake
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