Washington Nationals’ lineup for the series finale with the Philadelphia Phillies

Davey Martinez welcomed the addition of Luke Voit’s bat when the Washington Nationals’ skipper talked about the major league component of the package the club received from San Diego’s Padres along with five prospects included in their deadline deal for Juan Soto and Josh Bell.

“He’s been in the league for quite some time,” Martinez said of the 31-year-old, six-year vet, “so just go out there, and we could definitely use your bat in our lineup. He can hit. So, I’m looking forward to getting to know him, getting him in the lineup as soon as he comes here.”

“But I talked to him, he’s excited to be coming here, it’s a little different for him, but he says he’s going to do everything he can to help us win games, which is awesome.”

Voit, when he joined the Nationals in the City of Brotherly Love, said he was in a good place at the plate.

“Over the last like 3-4 weeks I’ve made some adjustments,” Voit said, “and I’ve been hitting the ball a lot harder, my swing and miss rate has been down, and been having really good at-bats, so I’m excited to continue that into these next two months.”

After a 2 for 4 game last night, in which he hit his first home run for the Nationals and 14th overall in 2022, Voit was 4 for 10 in his first three games with his new club.

“He’s having really good at-bats. Like I said, when we got him, I knew that he can hit. He’s fit nicely in our lineup and he’s proving that now,” Martinez told reporters, as quoted by MASN writer Bobby Blanco after the game.

The offensive output in the third consecutive loss to the Phillies and fourth consecutive loss overall was one of the few bright spots for the 36-73 Nationals in the 11-5 loss.

“On the positive side, our offense is swinging the bats, we’re scoring some runs,” Martinez said after the game.

“Typically, when you score five runs or so, you have a chance and an opportunity to win the game, so hopefully the bats will keep going, and we’ll get some good pitching.”

After another disastrous outing by Patrick Corbin last night, the Nationals turn to 26-year-old right-hander Cory Abbott in the series finale today.

“Hopefully he can give us, you know, 6-7 strong inning and we’ll go from there, but we’ll come back tomorrow,” Martinez said.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE FINALE WITH THE PHILLIES: