Josh Bell heats up at the plate for Nationals

After a slow start to the season, Josh Bell is heating up at the plate as the temperature soars in Washington.

Bell’s unimpressive start to the season came after missing the first six games on the COVID-IL, as he was one of the handful of Nationals players that had to quarantine to start the season.

“I still have a lot of ground to make up after that first month,” Bell said after Monday night’s win over the San Diego Padres. “I still think if I can get hot for three or four weeks, then I can look up at the scoreboard and feel like I’ve accomplished something.”

After a sluggish start to the season, hitting .113 with only two home runs in April, the first baseman has turned it around at the plate, batting .313 with five home runs and 17 RBIs over his past 27 games.

“Just being on time every AB for the fastball,” Bell said of his approach at the plate. “I know that things have changed with the stick a little bit, so I think pitches aren’t as nasty as they once were a few months ago. I feel like there’s a difference there and for me personally, I feel like I’m in a decent place to drive the baseball, to put the ball in play.”

Bell homered in the seventh inning Monday night to put the Nationals up by a run, a lead they were able to hold on to for a 7-5 win. He went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and the homer.

“He’s on time, he’s getting back early and he’s hitting the ball well right now,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.

Bell didn’t record a multi-hit game in April, but has logged five multi-hit games in the past 27 games. His strikeout numbers have dropped as well, only striking out 17 times during the current span.

The five-year veteran helped the Nationals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 15-6 on June 30, hitting singles in back-to-back plate appearances to drive in three runs.

“I never really look at the numbers in April, it’s what they do at the end of the year, you look at those numbers,” Martinez said. “He had a slow April because the pandemic hit him, [it] took him a while to get going. Now, he’s out there having fun playing baseball.”