In nine appearances for the Senators, including a scoreless inning Tuesday, the 29-year-old has a 4.32 ERA with seven walks and nine strikeouts across 8 1/3 innings. He has also hit three batters.

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By Sunday, the Nationals must either activate him onto the roster, adding him to a surging team that has won three straight series and, as of Tuesday afternoon, sits just 6 ½ games back of the National League East-leading Philadelphia Phillies. Or the team can designate him for assignment and, from there, trade or release him.

If designated, Rosenthal can accept the assignment to whichever minor league club the Nationals choose, or he can reject the assignment and elect to become a free agent, much like outfielder Gerardo Parra did with the San Francisco Giants before joining the Nationals.

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Throughout Rosenthal’s rehab process, which started with simulated games in Florida, the right-handed pitcher has been an occasional presence in the clubhouse. Since making his first appearance for Harrisburg — a scoreless inning against Hartford with a strikeout — he’s played catch with the team several times before catching a ride north for his next appearance.

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The reliever has said the entire time that “health-wise, everything feels good” and that his issue is “100 percent” physical. He asserted repeatedly this is not the byproduct of a mental block and said he talked with a few other pitchers who underwent Tommy John surgery, as he did in 2017, and heard that what he’s working through is “normal.”

“Unfortunately, missing last year, I wasn’t able to get a lot of high-competitive game reps, and I think that’s just something that I need for my nerves,” Rosenthal said on April 29. “Being an athlete, letting my body figure things out. To be able to do what I want to do, it takes some reps to do that. I feel like that’s really where I’m at.”

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Manager Dave Martinez has repeated the team just wants Rosenthal healthy and for him to return to the majors.

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The Nationals gambled on Rosenthal, who had endured Tommy John surgery, missed an entire year of baseball and rehabbed relentlessly. They guaranteed him $7 million. After a solid spring training, Rosenthal’s season got off to a rocky start.

Rosenthal pitched in five games, tossing 48 pitches, before recording an out. By that cool April night in Philadelphia, it had been 20 months since he’d recorded an out in the majors.

Even afterward, though, the problems didn’t dissipate. He made two more appearances, one against the Giants and another against the Colorado Rockies, and, in two innings, he allowed four runs on three walks, two walks and two hit batters. He sent several pitches to the backstop and threw only 31 of his 58 pitches for strikes. His 2019 major league ERA stands at 36.00 after those seven appearances.

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TUESDAY’S LINEUPS

White Sox (29-30)

Leury Garcia, CF

Yoan Moncada, 3B

Jose Abreu, 1B

James McCann, C

Tim Anderson, SS

Eloy Jimenez, LF

Charlie Tilson, RF

Yolmer Sanchez, 2B

Reynaldo Lopez, P

Nationals (26-33)

Trea Turner, SS

Adam Eaton, RF

Anthony Rendon, 3B

Juan Soto, LF

Matt Adams, 1B

Brian Dozier, 2B

Victor Robles, CF

Yan Gomes, C

Stephen Strasburg, P