LOS ANGELES -- The Nationals’ outfield looked a little different than usual in their 9-3 loss on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Joey Meneses, who has been the Nats’ primary designated hitter, made his first outfield appearance of the season with a start in right. Lane Thomas shifted from right to center. Ildemaro Vargas, Monday night’s starting shortstop and mainly an infielder this year, moved to left. Corey Dickerson took a night off from left to DH, while Alex Call, who’s been handling center field duties with Victor Robles out due to back spasms, was out of the lineup.

Since taking over for Robles on May 7, Call has slashed .197/.282/.276.

“I wanted to give [Call] a day to kind of just … work on his hitting a little bit,” manager Dave Martinez said prior to the game. “The other thing, with Corey Dickerson coming back after [missing a month and a half due to a left calf strain], is not running him out there every day right now.”

Given the circumstances, it was also a good opportunity to get Meneses playing the field, something Martinez feels keeps Meneses more engaged and could potentially help him at the plate. On Tuesday, Meneses went 1-for-4 with an RBI single.

Although Meneses played some outfield with Tomateros de Culiacán this past winter, he hadn’t appeared in the outfield in a Major League game since Sept. 13. While he mostly fielded the position capably on Tuesday, a bad read he got on Freddie Freeman’s third-inning looper proved costly. With the game tied at 1, Meneses got a late break and was unable to glove the fly ball that had a 99 percent catch probability, per Statcast.

Instead of one out and a runner on first, there were none out and runners on first and second. The Dodgers proceeded to score three runs in the inning.

“Freddie hit it and the ball hooked on him pretty good,” said Martinez. “I mean, when he first hit it, [Meneses] thought the ball was gonna go over his head, and it just hooked and died in front of him. But other than that, he made some pretty good plays. I thought he threw the ball really well to second base, too, after that. But it's his first time out there, and I thought he carried himself really well.”

Both Thomas and Vargas had a handful of opportunities at their respective positions, and both handled those well. Thomas made a few nice throws, including one to nab Freeman trying to stretch a single into a double in the seventh. He nearly nabbed Max Muncy going to third base on J.D. Martinez’s sac fly in the third inning, but the throw hit Muncy and Jeimer Candelario was unable to complete the play.

“I noticed [Freeman’s] first couple of at-bats. Man, he runs hard, which, you know, props to him,” said Thomas. “I think he probably legs out a lot of doubles that way. It definitely surprised me. … But I feel like their whole team does. Even Muncy tagging on that, I thought, they just play aggressive and hard, and that's why they're a good team.”

Prior to Tuesday, Thomas had exclusively played right field for the Nationals in 2023. But he enjoyed the opportunity to get back into center -- a position he feels, in some ways, is easier than right.

“I think it would be more difficult to go play left,” said Thomas. “I feel like I've played center a lot pretty much the whole way through the Minor Leagues and a lot in St. Louis and a lot here in the last couple years. So it's not bad. I think left would be just that different read. But center, the ball is pretty true, just more ground to cover.”

Meanwhile, at the plate, Thomas continued his recent torrid hitting, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. He extended his hitting streak to 15 games and his on-base streak to 26 games, both of which are career highs.

“We saw a lot of it last year,” said Martinez. “So this year, I think he feels like he can do it. I mean, it's all about confidence with him, right? And he's going up there and he's getting pitches to hit and he's putting them in play and hitting them hard. So he's done really well. And now like I said before, his overall game has been really, really good.”