Washington Nationals’ lineup for the series opener with the San Diego Padres

A 2-4 homestand after a 1-5 road trip left the Washington Nationals 4-12 overall after 16 games into the month of August, and now Davey Martinez’s club is back on the West Coast for a six-game road trip to San Diego (4) and Seattle (2). So it does not get any easier.

“We just got to continue to battle,” the Nats’ skipper told reporters after a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday in D.C. “Continue to work. I think we’re playing good baseball. Our defense is playing a lot better.

“Today was just, there was no run-production. I thought we had a chance to win the game. We just — we couldn’t score runs.”

The Nationals did score two runs on six hits, jumping out to a 1-0 lead and tying things up briefly at 2-2 in the sixth, but it wasn’t tied for long, with the Cubs scoring a run in the top of the seventh and hanging on for a win and 2 of 3 in the series.

Joey Meneses doubled to extend a hit streak to 11-straight games, and scored the Nats’ second run, if you’re looking for positives on the offensive end, and he’s now 16 for 41 (.390/.432/.707) with the double and four home runs over the 11-game stretch.

“He’s swinging the bat well, he really is,” Martinez said of the run the 30-year-old rookie has been on during the hit streak and since he made his MLB debut earlier this month. “And he said he missed a ball he should have hammered, just got a little too aggressive, got out front a little bit, but he’s swinging the bat well, and he’s playing well. Like I said before, I’m really surprised how well he moves out in the outfield. We knew that he could play first base, but he moves fairly well in the outfield, and he’s got a good strong arm. He’s helping us a lot and he’s helping us in many ways.”

Up next for Meneses and the Nationals is a four-game series in San Diego with the Padres who took 2 of 3 in D.C. last week.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS LINEUP FOR THE 1ST OF 4 WITH THE PADRES: