Davey Martinez is returning for his seventh season as Nationals manager, but he’ll do so with a number of changes to his coaching staff.

Several members of Martinez’s big league staff have been informed in recent days their contracts are not being renewed, including bench coach Tim Bogar, third base coach Gary DiSarcina, first base coach Eric Young Jr. and assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler, a source familiar with the decisions confirmed.

Jim Hickey will be brought back for his fourth season as pitching coach, the source said. It wasn’t immediately clear if decisions have been made on hitting coach Darnell Coles, catching and strategy coach Henry Blanco and bullpen coach Ricky Bones, along with others on the staff who aren’t among the official eight coaches the team employed.

The Athletic was first to report these changes.

With everyone on the staff working on contracts that were due to expire Oct. 31, the possibility of changes has loomed for weeks. Asked during the season’s final week about the fate of his coaches, Martinez said no decisions had been made at that point, and he intended to meet with general manager Mike Rizzo once the season ended to discuss each position.

DENVER – Nelson Cruz is out of the Nationals lineup for the second straight day, though manager Davey Martinez said the 41-year-old designated hitter’s lower back is feeling better.

Cruz hasn’t played since Lane Thomas pinch-hit for him in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s series opener against the Rockies, hampered by lower back stiffness. He sat out Wednesday night’s game, only the second time he hasn’t been in the lineup this season.

Martinez said Cruz suggested he could have started today’s series finale, but the manager didn’t want to take a chance of him needing to depart early again, given the fact he only has three players on his bench at the moment.

“We’re at the point now where if we utilize him as a pinch-hitter, as far as just getting him out there, it’s great,” Martinez said. “I don’t want him to stiffen up during the game. So we thought we’d give him another day. For me, especially with our bench only being a couple guys, if we can use him later in the game, instead of putting him in and something happens … hopefully he’ll be in there tomorrow.”

Cruz has been mired in a season-long slump, entering the day with a .143 batting average and .442 OPS (both second-worst among qualified National League hitters).

On a night in which Josiah Gray matched his career high with 10 strikeouts and pumped strikes like a man on a mission, the Nationals faced the unenviable task of scoring enough runs off Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara to somehow emerge victorious.

It was a task that required precise execution, the seizing of what few scoring opportunities became available. The kind of challenge you can’t afford to botch by getting a runner thrown out at the plate. Certainly not twice in the span of 60 seconds.

Alas, this is how the Nats opted to squander their one real shot at taking down Alcantara tonight during a 5-2 loss to Miami. They sent six batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth. Five of them successfully reached base. Only one of them scored. Because two of them were thrown out at the plate, each in cringe-worthy fashion.

There were other reasons the Nationals lost their sixth straight game to fall to 6-13. Gray, for all the positives on this night, also suffered a brief but crushing meltdown in the top of the fourth. Alcides Escobar failed to make another makeable play in the field, leading to another run.

But the bang-your-head-against-the-desk baserunning sequence the Nats put together in the bottom of the fourth represented the defining moment of this ballgame on a rainy Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 12,613. It was as ragged a back-to-back series of events as this team has displayed to date in 2022.

Davey Martinez has added another new member to his staff, hiring Gary DiSarcina as third base coach, making the former infielder and longtime big league coach the third new face brought in by Martinez since the season ended. The hiring hasn't been formally announced yet, but a source familiar with the decision confirmed it. The Washington Post was first to report the news. DiSarcina comes to D.C. after four years on the Mets' staff, the last three as third base coach. The 53-year-old was one...