WASHINGTON — This spring, after another dynamic bullpen session from the Nationals’ ace, journeyman catcher Tres Barrera thought back through every iteration of Cade Cavalli he had caught.There was the time Cavalli arrived in the organization after the 2020 draft, a first-round pick at the pandemic alternate site who many saw as a future ace, whom Barrera saw as a big guy with a live arm and no idea where the ball was going.There was the time in Triple-A Rochester a couple of years later, when Barrera took a closer look. He saw a pitcher with undoubtedly more control and better stuff, but he still watched the big righty with some bewilderment. Cavalli’s routine, Barrera noticed, looked different each time he pitched.He threw weighted balls against the wall, then stopped. He played catch a lot, then a little. He threw long toss, then didn’t.“He was just trying, searching for something that clicked for him,” Barrera said this spring. “I remember telling the pitching coach at the time, ‘He’s doing something different every time he starts.’ And then he’s like, ‘Yeah, well, he’s trying to find it.’“And, oh man, did he find it.”That, then, was this version of Cavalli.On Thursday, Cavalli’s curiosity took him through five perfect innings, then 6 2/3 no-hit innings, then eight one-hit innings in a 7-0 win over the Chicago Cubs for the best start of his young career. While one could argue it was the 99 mph fastball that got him here, or the nasty breaking pitches the Cubs could not touch, those around Cavalli inadvertently made the case that an inquiring mind helped him put it all together.“Really happy for Cade. He’s a worker,” said catcher Keibert Ruiz, who called Thursday’s start the best he’s ever caught in the majors. “I caught his first game in the big leagues. From that point to now, it’s a big difference.”Every day, Ruiz said, he sees Cavalli tinkering away. He sees him in the cold tub, or the sauna, or poring over his binder.“It’s hard to remember,” Ruiz said, when asked to recall the specifics of Cavalli’s routine in his first start. “But it’s a big difference.”