Nationals recognize surprising Braves are for real

ATLANTA - The outcome of Thursday night's game wasn't going to make or break the Nationals' season. They were either going to increase their lead over the Braves to 1 1/2 games or cede first place in the division back to Atlanta and fall 1/2-game behind.

Either way, it was only game No. 55 out of 162. And by the end of the weekend, they'll have played only 58 out of 162. There's a tremendous amount of baseball left to be played.

So the Nationals weren't going to put too much emphasis on the opener of their series at SunTrust Park. But neither were they going to gloss over their 4-2 loss as though it was of no consequence at all.

"They're the team we're competing with right now at the top of the division," shortstop Trea Turner said. "Obviously, you want to win those games. You don't want to give them three, four games in a series then have to crawl up from behind."

The rest of the weekend will determine just how the top of the division shapes up as the calendar shifts to June. At this point, the Nationals could find themselves anywhere from 2 1/2 games up to 3 1/2 games back come Sunday evening, and that's a fairly wide spread.

They may not have played an especially inspired game Thursday night, compiling only five hits, going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and making a couple of costly mistakes in the field. But the Nationals aren't taking the Braves lightly. They recognize what's going on here in Atlanta right now, and respect the talent (young and old) that has produced a 33-23 record, best in the National League East.

"They can swing it," said Tanner Roark, who gave up four runs over 6 2/3 innings. "Hats off to them. They put together good at-bats and didn't chase much."

The Braves have gone on their early season run in large part due to their ability to win games late. They've outscored opponents 101-74 from the seventh inning on. (For comparison's sake, the Nationals have been outscored 69-72.)

"They're very athletic, and they don't give up," Nats manager Davey Martinez said prior to Thursday's game. "One thing I know is, from the seventh inning on, they tack on runs."

The Braves did just that during their latest win. Leading 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, they strung together a couple of two-out hits off Roark to extend the lead to two runs and make the challenge all the more difficult for the Nationals to mount a rally.

That rally never materialized, and so the Nats will need a win Friday night to swap places in the standings again and reassume control of first place.

"I think we just have to keep doing what we're doing," Turner said. "We played good baseball. We haven't been blowing anybody out, but we've been playing good enough baseball to win close games, and I think that plays late in the year. That plays in the postseason. So if we can continue to do what we did in the last six, seven games - be consistent and be in each and every game - then I think we'll be alright."