Washington Nationals’ lineup vs Atlanta Braves in series opener in D.C.

Washington’s Nationals dropped back-to-back games to the Braves in Atlanta after winning the series opener in SunTrust Park, and they were swept by the New York Mets for the first time since September of 2015 in the first three games in Nationals Park this season. There’s no reason to panic, however, at least according to Davey Martinez, who told reporters after the 6-5 loss in the nation’s capital on Sunday that he thinks the effort he sees will eventually produce positive results.

“For me it’s — these guys are playing really — they’re playing good baseball. They are,” he said.

“I’m proud of these guys,” Martinez added. “If we keep playing like that all year, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Martinez’s calm demeanor, which broke briefly when he was tossed from Saturday’s game as he stuck up for Anthony Rendon, was on display again when he was asked about trying to be sure not to overreact to the team’s early-season struggles.

“Like I said, there’s nothing that I would change,” Martinez explained. “These guys are doing well, they really are, and they’re all contributing in some way or form, we’re just not getting that one big clutch hit, but we’re hitting the ball hard, we hit the ball hard all day today. So, I just finished telling all of them, keep it going, keep your heads up, because when this thing turns around it’s going to be awesome.”

Was the third straight loss to the Mets, and fifth straight loss overall the perfect time to send that message to his team?

“I kinda had that message every day really,” Martinez said, “... but tonight, I thought they played unbelievable, I did, we went down and they came back and we went down again and we came back again, the bullpen was phenomenal, so for me that’s the way you play the game, and like I said, I’m very proud of them, and we’ll come back tomorrow and do it again.”

HERE’S THE NATS’ LINEUP FOR THE SERIES OPENER WITH THE BRAVES: