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How different would things have been tonight if the Washington Nationals were heading into the series opener with the Philadelphia Phillies 0-3 after getting swept last weekend?
“I don’t know, we won,” Trea Turner said after hitting a walk-off home run to beat the New York Mets in the finale of the season-opening series.
“I’m not going to think about that, I’m going to think that, ‘Hey, we won.’” Davey Martinez said, refusing to bite on the possibility that the Nats were one loss away from a sweep on Sunday.
Max Scherzer, who started on Opening Day, is going again tonight, and he will end up pitching three times in the first eight games.
While the focus is going to be on Bryce Harper’s return, and the Scherzer vs Harper head-to-head matchup, the Nationals’ ace said he’s focused on facing the entire Phillies’ roster.
“They got a solid lineup with the additions they brought to their lineup,” Scherzer said on Sunday.
“They’ve got good hitters from the right side and from the left side. It tests you in every which way. You have to have all your pitches working. And you’ve got to be locating.
“You just have to have the sequences right and you have to be on.”
Scherzer didn’t seem too concerned that the circus that will be Harper’s return to D.C. will end up being a distraction from what he needs to do.
“You’re cognizant of everybody - it’s not just him - and of all great hitters in the game,” he said.
“You’re always aware of the context of the game, situation of the game, the score of the game, outs, inning, who’s up, what you’ve done to him in the past.
“All those little things matter. You take that into account and you just try to execute your pitches within that moment.
“When you try to get outside that moment, things get sideways. For me, that’s how I approach the game and how I try to pitch.”
No one in Washington wanted to think about what it would have been like going into the first of two with Philadelphia winless in three games, but the Nationals’ manager said he was happy to get that first win in the books before going up against the Phillies.
“It feels good,” Martinez said.
“The boys battled all day, and to get that first one out of the way, now we’ve got a day off, get to relax a little bit and come back Tuesday. The Phillies are another big opponent, so we’ve got to be ready to play.”
Martinez switched this up a little bit in tonight’s lineup, with Matt Adams starting in place of Ryan Zimmerman, and Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto flipping between third and fourth in Game 4 of 162 after Soto hit fourth in the first three in D.C.
HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR TONIGHT’S GAME:
#Nats vs #Phillies 1 of 2 in D.C. (7:05 PM EDT): Adam Eaton RF; Trea Turner SS; Juan Soto LF; Anthony Rendon 3B; Matt Adams 1B; Yan Gomes C; Brian Dozier 2B; Max Scherzer RHP; Victor Robles CF
— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) April 2, 2019