Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats win 2 of 3 with 10-7 victory in finale with Red Sox, match win total from 2022...

With their 10-7 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon, Washington’s Nationals took their sixth straight series at home. “[The Nats] have won 14 of their last 17 home games dating to July 8 against Texas [and they] have won five of six, 10 of 13, 12 of 18, 18 of 26 and are 27-20 (.574) since June 24,” the club highlighted in their post game notes. It was a fairly significant win for Davey’s Martinez’s crew, though the manager wasn’t aware why it was a big one in some people’s minds.

“Know how many wins you have?” Martinez was asked after the finale with the Sox in D.C.

“No,” he said. “We won today.”

It was the 55th win of the year for the 2023 Nationals, matching their win total in 162 games last season (55-107). And there are 40 games left on the schedule.

“I love what I’m seeing,” the sixth-year skipper said of the effort he’s seen from his club on a daily basis this season. “I love the way these guys are playing. I love the way our young guys have stepped up.

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“Our starting pitching is giving us a chance to win some games. And our bullpen has been really good, you know. I’m proud of these guys.

“They keep going out there, they keep playing hard, and good things are happening.”

Having the team play as well as it has over the past few weeks is important for the growth of the club as a group and the organization as a whole.

“It’s fun,” Martinez said. “Because I preach all the time about doing the [little] things — keeping things simple, doing the little things, which consists of the baserunning. Throwing strikes. Getting outs. Playing good defense. And it’s come to fruition. So when you can do those things, you have a chance to win consistently. And we’ve been doing that for the last month. It’s been a lot of fun. These guys are stepping up.

On Thursday afternoon, the Nationals got a solid start from Patrick Corbin, who went six innings on 96 pitches (59 strikes), giving up just four hits, no walks, and one earned run.

Corbin struck out six, generated 15 swinging strikes (9 on his slider, 4 on his fastball, and 2 on his sinker), and picked up 10 called strikes (5 on his sinker, 3 on his four-seam, and 2 on his slider).

“I can’t say enough about what Patrick did today,” Martinez said.

“Our bullpen was really short,” he explained.

“So [Corbin] comes out today, and [he] gives us six innings, and we hit the baseball. Joey [Meneses], (2 for 5, 2 doubles, 5 RBIs), all of them, [Stone] Garrett, (2 for 4, 3 RBIs) they all swung the bats really well.”

A five-run fifth broke up a 1-1 tie, and the home team scored three in the sixth as well, 9-1, before the Red Sox rallied for six in the seventh, but the Nationals held on, adding a 10th run late in the game to take their second game in the three-game series.

“To beat those guys two out of three games, that’s pretty awesome,” Martinez said. Corbin told reporters, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, he hoped the way things have gone over the last month-plus would boost the team’s confidence.

“Hopefully some of these guys realize we can compete with anybody,” the 34-year-old, 11-year veteran said. “We’ve been in a lot of games. We could’ve won a lot more, I think.

“Hopefully these are things everyone in this clubhouse is learning from and trying to get better.”