Washington Nationals’ lineup for series opener with the Atlanta Braves in D.C.

Davey Martinez’s squad dropped 2 of 3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in this past weekend’s series, coming up short against the National League’s best, but the Washington Nationals’ second-year skipper said after the 11-4 win in the finale of the three-game set on Sunday that his club showed they can run with the NL’s elite.

“I go to the last series we had with them in LA, we had a four-game series with them, and we won two of the four games, and I said once we get healthy, once we get everything going I think we match up really well with them, I really do,” Martinez said.

“Granted their record is better than ours, but if you look, we match up really well against them.”

The Dodgers took four of seven from the Nationals, outscoring them 30-27 in the season series, but there is no time to dwell on some of the missed opportunities, because the NL East’s best team, the Atlanta Braves, are in town now for a three-game series that starts at 7:05 PM in the nation’s capital tonight.

Martinez was asked how he was feeling heading into the latest matchup with the division-leading Braves.

“Right now I feel good,” the manager said after the 11-4 win over Walker Buehler and the Dodgers on Sunday. “We swung the bats really well against a really tough pitcher. Let’s come back tomorrow and we have [Patrick Corbin] pitching tomorrow for the first game, and try to score a bunch of runs again and win that first game.”

Martinez’s club is a little banged up going into the series, however, with Ryan Zimmerman on the Injured List, Max Scherzer unlikely to start in the series, and Matt Adams a question mark after he was hit by a pitch on the foot in the finale with the Dodgers.

“[Adams] had X-rays, but it’s tough to see anything right now because the foot is swollen, so he’s going to get another round of X-rays tomorrow and we’ll see what happens. He’s pretty sore right now,” Martinez said on Sunday afternoon.

Asked if there was likely an IL stint in Adams’ future, Martinez said he just didn’t know right now.

“I hope it’s just something that he has a contusion and in a few days he’ll feel better, but we’ll see.”

As for Scherzer? He returned to the mound after dealing with scapulothoracic bursitis, but felt discomfort the following morning and was eventually diagnosed with a “‘mild strain’ of his rhomboid muscle above his right shoulder blade.”

“He didn’t throw his bullpen today,” Martinez said, “so we’ll reevaluate and see how he feels tomorrow. I have to say I’m very doubtful that he’ll make his start on Tuesday.”

Is Wednesday unlikely too?

“Like I said, we’ll feel out what happens with him tomorrow,” Martinez responded.

“He said he felt better today, he said he was able to actually do some stuff, but we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

As of now, Corbin is set to start the series opener with Aníbal Sánchez lined up for the third game. So will it be Erick Fedde in the second of three on Tuesday?

“Fedde will be eligible to come back,” Martinez said. “I’m not going to assume anything, I’m going to talk to [GM Mike Rizzo] and see where we’re at and we’ll go from there.”

While there are some unanswered questions heading into the series with the Braves, we do know what the lineup will be for tonight’s game...

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE 1ST OF 3 WITH THE BRAVES: