Washington Nationals’ lineup for the 2nd of 4 in San Diego

Davey Martinez said before last night’s game he and his club were focused on not letting Juan Soto beat them, but he noted that the No. 2 spot in San Diego’s lineup wasn’t the only dangerous one.

“We got to go out there, and like I said, we got to make our pitches, be careful with Soto, but the guy behind him is actually a pretty good hitter as well,” Martinez said, pointing to Padres’ third baseman Manny Machado as another player not to let beat you.

“So, we got to make our pitches. I thought we did a pretty good job of handling [Soto] the other day, and hopefully we do it again today.”

Martinez’s club held the Padres’ 2-3 hitters to one hit between them (1 for 7 with a walk, K, and a solo home run by Machado), and the entire team to just three hits and one run in a 3-1 win.

Aníbal Sánchez held the Padres to the one run on one hit and two walks in his five innings of work on the mound, then five relievers combined for four scoreless innings in which they gave up just two hits.

“We had some moments where, man, they clutched up and got some big hitters out,” Martinez told reporters, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, of the work his pitchers did.

The visiting Nationals scored three runs in a tightly-contested win which the Nats’ skipper said was a character-building win for the struggling club.

“This is what builds character,” he told reporters in his post game presser.

“These guys were all jacked up. They were pumped up. Nobody was sitting there from the seventh through the ninth inning. All those guys were up on the fence, standing, cheering. It’s awesome. This is what you play for: To play these kinds of games.”

Martinez and Co. go for their second straight win (and first consecutive wins since late July) in the second of three with the Padres in Petco.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS LINEUP FOR THE 2ND OF 4 WITH THE PADRES: