Washington Nationals’ lineup for series opener with the San Diego Padres: Anthony Rendon back in; Carter Kieboom starting...

Following a 9-3 loss in the series finale in Colorado’s Coors Field, which left Washington’s Nationals 2-4 on the road trip to Miami, FL and Denver, CO, and 11-12 overall, second-year Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez talked to reporters about the up and down start to the 2019 campaign.

“We’ve just got to keep playing baseball,” Martinez said. “The biggest thing, and I’ve said this before, is to stay out of those big innings. Stay out of those big innings. We had two balls today that I really feel like should have been caught and we didn’t catch them and things exploded on us.

“So we’ve just got to play both sides of the baseball, defense, offense, but defense is a key.

“Like I said, our starting pitching keeps us in ballgames, but we’ve got to make the plays behind them.”

GM Mike Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s Sports Junkies the team is waiting for the likes of Brian Dozier and Ryan Zimmerman to heat up and for players like Trea Turner (broken finger) and Anthony Rendon (left elbow contusion) to get back.

“I think the rest of the lineup will kind of fall into place after that,” Rizzo said.

“[Juan] Soto hasn’t really got on a roll yet. Rendon was really, really hot and then he’s gonna be out, sidelined for a little bit. Trea Turner, one of the best offensive players in the league, is gonna miss an extended period of time.

”We need to tread water and we need to have our depth come through with the Wilmer Difos and the Howie Kendricks and the Jake Nolls of the world, that you can plug them in there and win some games and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”

This afternoon, Rizzo and Co. in the Nationals’ front office decided that the Carter Kiebooms of the world could help too, calling the 21-year-old infielder up from Triple-A to make his big league debut.

Kieboom is penciled in at short in his MLB debut, batting ninth for the Nationals.

He’s playing behind Max Scherzer in the first of three with the San Diego Padres.

Rendon is back in the lineup, hitting third with the Nats’ decision-makers sticking with Victor Robles in the two-hole.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR TONIGHT’S GAME VS THE PADRES: