With improved health and depth, Nats lineup finally clicking

ATLANTA - If there was one aspect of the Nationals roster that seemed most likely to improve as the season progressed, it was a lineup that was short on results for the better part of two months but wasn't short on talent.

Injuries to the likes of Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, Juan Soto, Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Adams left the lineup a shell of its best form, but even as some of those players began to return to the active roster there were nights when it just didn't seem to click.

That wasn't going to last forever, though, not if this group returned to full health and had an opportunity to start finding some level of consistency. And what happened? The Nationals' bats turned red-hot over the last week.

In winning five of their last six games, the Nats have finally begun producing en masse at the plate. They've scored an average of 7.8 runs during this stretch, batting a combined .316 with a .403 on-base percentage and .936 OPS.

The sense within the clubhouse all along was that this group just needed time to get healthy and get into a groove.

"We had guys injured, we had guys come back," manager Davey Martinez said. "We had guys that played that needed to just play games. And now things are starting to click a little bit and they're starting to play. Our lineup's got some length now. And we're starting to extend some innings, which is nice."

It all came together in impressive fashion during Wednesday night's 14-4 shellacking of the Braves. The Nationals batted around in both the first and second innings, scoring four runs in each frame. They scored five more runs in the fifth to blow the game wide open.

Funny what happens when you have both scalding-hot players in the heart of the lineup and quality hitters all the way through the bottom.

On paper, Wednesday night's lineup looked like perhaps the best this team has fielded all season, even before it started taking hacks against the Atlanta pitching staff. If Martinez can pencil in Adams, Kurt Suzuki and Victor Robles as his 6-7-8 hitters, he has to like the depth of his lineup.

Among the most impressive aspects of Wednesday's performance: The Nats scored their first eight runs despite recording only one extra-base hit.

"We got on, next guy did his job, and we just kept the line moving," Adams said. "That's what this lineup is capable of doing. We kept grinding, kept putting together good at-bats all game long, and it was a fun game."

At one point, there were three consecutive two-out, RBI singles to center field. It might've been the greatest thing Martinez has witnessed from his team all year.

"We stayed up the middle," the manager said. "We talk a lot about using the whole field, and the boys had great at-bats today, all day. We got the ball up, which we wanted to do. And they stayed up the middle of the field."

They also used some big blasts later on to blow the game open. That included a home run from Soto, who after a sluggish start to his sophomore campaign has turned things up to extraordinary levels during a hitting streak that has now reached 13 games.

He isn't just extending the streak with a bunch of 1-for-4 showings. He's batting .449 (22-for-49) during the streak, with 10 extra-base hits and eight walks. In the process, he has raised his batting average from .228 to .291, his OPS from .760 to .917.

To the outside observer, Soto appears to have rediscovered the form that made him National League Rookie of the Year runner-up last season.

"Yeah, really close, really close," he said. "I need a little bit more, but I'm really close to that. I feel amazing."

With Soto, Rendon (1.083 OPS) and Howie Kendrick (.963 OPS) all smoking hot, the Nationals have three big-time threats in the heart of their lineup.

Put that all together, and this has become one of the NL's most productive lineups, ranking third in batting average, second in on-base percentage, third in OPS and second in runs per game since May 24.

They'll need to prove they can sustain this over a longer period of time. But given the talent they have and the improved health that has come over the last few weeks, it's not a stretch to believe this lineup can keep it up.