Washington Nationals’ lineup for tonight’s series opener with the Philadelphia Phillies

Two of the Washington Nationals’ four hits on Thursday afternoon in Atlanta came in the top of the ninth inning, when they finally pushed a run across the plate in the 5-1 loss. Before that they connected for just two hits, one off Braves’ starter Tucker Donaldson and one off of the Braves’ bullpen. Jordy Mercer had two of the Nationals’ four hits, and scored their only run.

“The first three innings we were chasing a lot, you know. Not getting the ball in the zone and just putting bad pitches in play,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters after the game.

“The ump was doing a good job,” the Nats’ skipper added.

“He didn’t call anything down, we’re trying to get the ball up, but they just started chasing, then we started settling down a little bit, working better at bats, but just nothing was there.”

“Jordy had a good day, it’s good for him, but our offense was just dismal today.”

The loss left the Nationals 23-30 after 53 games, and with a big series against Philadelphia’s Phillies this weekend, coming off the split with the Braves, Martinez said it is time to start to turn this thing around before it’s too late.

“We got to go. It’s go-time,” Martinez explained on Thursday afternoon. “We got the Phillies next, so get ready for tomorrow and try to win that first game tomorrow.”

“It’s — we’re in June. The weather is good. It’s hot. Our guys are all healthy and fresh for the most part. Like I said, we got to get some consistency in our lineup and just start hitting the ball like we’re capable of hitting. I know we can hit. There’s no doubt about it.

“You’ve seen it, you’ve seen glimpses of it, now we just got to bring it every day.”

“I definitely agree, go-time,” Josh Harrison said after a tough 2 for 16 series in Truist Park.

“Granted from the first game of the season it’s go-time. But two months have passed, we’re in June, four-game series here with Atlanta we just split. We got three with Philly, it’s definitely go-time. This is where you want to start jelling. Granted every team is going to deal with adversity as far as injuries or this or that, but you get to this point in the season, we’re two months in, it’s no longer saying let’s get our feet under us and we’ve got time, I mean we’ve got four months left, but at the same time, as quick as these two months went by the next four will go by.”

But Martinez, of course, isn’t worried about the next four months. He’s just focused on the task at hand, and that’s going 1-0 in the series opener with the Phillies tonight.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE 1ST OF 3 IN PHILLY:

NOTES: Davey Martinez said that catcher Yan Gomes is dealing with a right hamstring issue, tightness in the hammy, so Alex Avila is going again today, though the skipper said Gomes is day-to-day, and they just want to avoid having it become a bigger issue.

Also Kyle Schwarber tested the knee and felt he could go, though Martinez said he would try to talk to him again considering that a hard rain just fell on CBP to make sure that he’s still a go with field conditions.