Baker may not stick with Werth as No. 2 hitter (Nats lose 6-3)

MILWAUKEE - The lineup Dusty Baker scribbled out for tonight's series opener against the Brewers was as close as he's going to get to his best-case lineup for the postseason. The only regular missing: Bryce Harper, who may or may not be back to 100 percent in time for October.

Notable, then, was Baker's choice for No. 2 hitter: Jayson Werth. With Trea Turner back atop the lineup as well, the Nationals have their 1-2 combo together again.

Baker may not, however, stick with that pairing down the road, considering one key player the Nats acquired while both were on the disabled list: Howie Kendrick. Had the veteran utilityman been part of the club earlier this season, Baker's ideal lineup structure may have changed.

"We didn't have Kendrick at that time, either, who I feel is a perfect two-hole hitter," the manager said. "So it's just the best lineup I could come up with today."

Kendrick, who will be in the lineup batting second Friday, does perhaps profile a bit better for the job right now than Werth. Kendrick sports a .340/.389/.511 slash line for the season, while Werth sits at .267/.368/.466.

Not that the Turner-Werth combo can't be successful as well. The two paired up to account for the Nationals' first two runs of tonight's game in the top of the third.

With one out and a man on second, Turner sent a base hit to left-center. Michael A. Taylor scored easily, and Turner hustled his way into a double. That proved significant, because he then stole third base, putting himself in position to score on Werth's grounder to short.

Those are the Nationals' lone runs off Zach Davies so far, and they're going to need more after the Brewers delivered a clutch hit off Gio Gonzalez.

Gonzalez hasn't been as sharp tonight as he has over the last month. He gave up a first-inning run when Hernán Pérez doubled and stole third, then scored on Ryan Braun's sacrifice fly into shallow right field. (Though Pérez might have been out had Matt Wieters been able to hang onto Daniel Murphy's short-hop throw.)

The Brewers' big hit came in the bottom of the third, with the bases loaded and two out. Jesús Aguilar sent a single to left, bringing home two runs and putting Milwaukee back on top, 3-2.

It was a rare clutch hit this season off Gonzalez, who prior to that point had held opponents to a major league-best .135 batting average (15-for-111) with runners in scoring position.

Update: Gonzalez hasn't had many clunkers this season, but he may be having one tonight. Through five innings, he has allowed five runs, the two most recent coming on Jonathan Villar's opposite-field homer in the bottom of the fifth. That blast came moments after Gonzalez walked the opposing pitcher to open the inning, never a good sign. This is only the second time in 27 starts this season Gio has allowed more than four runs. Nats trail 5-2 after five.

Update II: It hasn't been a good night at the plate for the Nats as a whole, but it's been a great night for Turner. He tripled to lead off the eighth and wound up scoring for the second time on a Werth groundout. Overall, Turner is now 3-for-4 with a single, double, triple, stolen base and two runs scored. Nats trail 5-3 in the middle of the eighth.

Update III: That's a wrap. Nats lose 6-3 after the Brewers added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth off Matt Grace. The good news is that the magic number still dropped to 15 because the Marlins lost to the Phillies. So there's that.