Zimmerman, Scherzer and Martinez on reversal (Nats win 3-1)

DETROIT - Eighty games into the 2019 campaign, the Nationals have turned their season around. The Nats are now 40-40. This did not seem possible in late May.

After 50 games, the Nats had 19 wins. The last 30 games, they have won 21. Flash back to May 23: After losing four in a row to the Mets, the Nats were 19-31. From April 19 to May 23, the Nats went 10-23.

But in playing .700 baseball for 35 days, the game is fun again. The Nats have been competitive because their starting pitching, offense and bullpen all have been successful for long stretches at the same time. That wasn't happening for most of the first 50 games of the season.

What does Nationals skipper Davey Martinez believe is the reason for the turnaround?

"We worked really hard to get to where we're at right now, through injuries, through all kind of misdemeanors, as I call them, but we're playing well and I want to continue to play well," said Martinez. "It's a testament to the guys in the clubhouse and not giving up, we put ourselves in a spot to finish above .500 before the break and keep playing well and we'll see what happens after that."

Speaking of the Mets, since they swept the Nationals from May 20-23, they have gone 13-20 (.394), having lost five in a row and seven of their last nine. Not to mention the highly publicized verbal confrontation between a reporter and Mets manager Mickey Callaway and starting pitcher Jason Vargas.

And turn the camera toward the Nats clubhouse, where Martinez kept everyone calm, each day trying to figure out a way to play the baseball they expected they could play from the start of the season.

"I think it's a combination of myself, our coaching staff and the veteran players to keep this afloat," Martinez said. "It could have easily went the other way and we didn't let it happen. I'm proud of the guys that were in there, that were fighting every day.

"If you look back, and I look back a lot about how things played out, these guys fought every game, whether we won or loss, we were in every game. We lost some games late, but they fought and came back the next day and played hard again. Now things are starting to click and we're starting to win those games that we lost in the beginning, so let's focus on the positives and keep going."

But this brings up a valuable point. Martinez's leadership and decision-making had been called into question during the 19-31 run. Sure, second-guessing decisions made by the skipper is a part of the game when things do not go well. Martinez can certainly shoulder the blame for some of those mistakes. Yet Martinez made sure to communicate with his clubhouse so they stayed on their target. Several times Martinez would repeat his go-to mantra: "Let's go 1-0 today." The club has "Stay In The Fight" t-shirts made up that they wore before every game. The players received the message. So far they have followed the skipper's lead.

"It's hard to win at this level no matter what," said first baseman Ryan Zimmerman. "People just assume because you got a really good team or a team that has a high payroll that you are going to go out and just win games. At this level, every single game, you have to earn."

Zimmerman said the players deserve the credit for the turnaround. But a lot of the credit also goes to Martinez and his staff for not panicking.

"To be 12 games under like we were, I think it shows you the group we have in here. It's a huge credit to Davey and the rest of the coaches we have in here as well," Zimmerman said. "It could've easily gotten negative, could've easily gotten away from the message that we, from spring training, said we were going to keep last year. Davey did a lot of that last year as well. He's the same guy every day."

Not to pile on the Mets situation, but players act as their manager acts. Think about managers that lose focus when problems and issues and back-biting piles up during long losing streaks. It can fracture a season before the halfway point.

"A lot of managers, and I've had a lot of managers, say in spring training, 'We are going to have fun and play hard, we're going to do things the right way,' " Zimmerman said. "And as soon as stuff hits the fan, people go completely into self-preservation and start worrying about themselves more than the team, the players. I've always said it, I give Davey so much credit, last year and again this year, for never changing who he is and staying the same person. It's cool to see the team win now. We've gotten back to .500 but we got to keep it going. There's no moral victories in here."

Martinez would talk about the Nats' troubles during postgame news conferences and say that he was going to go straight home to rewatch the game, whether it was 11 p.m. or 1 a.m.

"After every game, I'd sit and watch the games again, beat myself in the head," Martinez said. "But I kept telling myself, 'Hey, these guys are professionals, they're here for a reason. They'll turn it around, just stay positive, go to the clubhouse tomorrow, stay positive and we can do this today, and think about just one game and that's what we've done.' "

Try and go 1-0 today. That is what the Nationals have focused on, whether it was against a good team or a struggling team. After winning the first two games of the series in Miami, Martinez could have easily rested his starters and just prepared for Detroit. Instead, he started his regular lineup and they finished the sweep with an 8-5 win.

Sunday starter Max Scherzer said the Nats now need to continue the consistency they have found in starting pitching, their offense, the defense and their bullpen to extend this run to the All-Star break.

"Just continue to play good baseball (in) all facets of the game," Scherzer said. "We can get beaten any which way - pitching, hitting, defense, you name it. We've all had a hand in it. When we play good as a team, when we get good starting pitching, when we get good defense, good hitting, when the bullpen does their job, we can get on some good runs here and we got a lot of talent and we can win the ballgame in a lot of different ways. For us, it's just keeping it status quo, going out there and playing good clean crisp baseball."

"Having 100-something games left really helped as well," Zimmerman said. "Nobody quits a third of the way through anything.

"You dig deep into the statistics. We have a really good team. It was just a matter of winning games. We weren't winning games, we were finding a way every night to lose a game. Now I've seen it slowly turn around. We are doing little things right. We are catching some breaks and you get some wins and it kind of snowballs from there.

"To get back to .500 was cool, but now we feel like we have a chance to get that rolling ... anything can happen in the second half if you're kinda within striking distance."

Update: Juan Soto launched a solo homer into the second deck of Comerica Park to lead off the second inning. Soto smacked his 14th off of Tigers left-hander Daniel Norris. The blast traveled an estimated 418 feet.

Former Tigers starter Aníbal Sánchez scattered three hits through three frames, but has yet to allow a run.

The Nats lead 1-0 after three innings.

Update II: The Nats added to their lead in the fifth. Victor Robles singled to right field and stole second base. A Trea Turner groundout moved Robles to third. Adam Eaton brought him home with a clean single for a 2-0 lead.

Update III: Nicholas Castellanos lauched a solo homer off Sánchez in the fifth.

After five innings, the Nats led the Tigers 2-1.

Sánchez finished six innings, allowing one run on six hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. He threw a season-high 110 pitches, 73 for strikes.

After seven innings, the Nats led the Tigers 2-1.

Update IV: In the eighth with two outs, Soto walked against Daniel Stumpf. Facing Jose Cisnero, Howie Kendrick doubled deep to the right-center field gap to score Soto from first base. It was Kendrick's second double of the game and first RBI.

Mid-eighth, the Nats led the Tigers 3-1.

Update VII: Fernando Rodney pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save with the Nats. He struck out two. It was also his first save since Aug. 7, 2018, while with the Twins over the Indians.

Final score: Nats 3, Tigers 1.