ATLANTA — Well, one way to look at it is that the Rays now have the opportunity to clinch a playoff berth at Tropicana Field and celebrate with their fans, potentially as soon as Friday night.

That’s the positive spin from a disappointing Thursday afternoon in which they wasted a dominant, though somewhat abbreviated, start from Nick Martinez in a 3-1 loss to the Braves.

The defeat eliminated a somewhat awkward scenario where, had the Rays won they could have clinched after they got home Thursday night (with either a loss by the Blue Jays or White Sox) but not be together to celebrate in the moment.

Now they go into Friday’s opener of a nine-game homestand well positioned to soon pop bottles to mark their return to the postseason after falling short the last two years following a run of five consecutive appearances from 2019-2023.

At the least, the Rays could clinch with their next two wins. But, pending Thursday night’s results, they could be set up to do so with a win or with some help on Friday.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good spot” Martinez said, “and looking forward to taking care of business when we get home.”

The loss dropped the Rays’ American League-leading record to 87-59 and could shrink their East Division lead to three games over the Yankees, who played later against the MLB-worst Rockies.

Thursday’s game, which had a 12:15 first pitch on a steamy afternoon, featured a dazzling scoreless duel between veteran starters Martinez, 36, and Atlanta lefty Martin Perez, 35.

Martinez, who allowed only two hits and retired 14 straight in between (including one on a liner off his backside), was lifted one out into the seventh inning after throwing only 68 pitches. The Braves ended up rallying in the eighth off reliever Kevin Kelly, who had a rough outing.

Rays manager Kevin Cash said it was a “tough decision, for sure” to take out Martinez. But he wanted to bring in lefty Cam Booser to face Braves lefties Matt Olson and Michael Harris II rather than let them see Martinez a third time.

“Nick, I don’t know if he could do much more, but just felt in that moment, 0-0 ballgame, let’s get different-handedness and the lefties on Olson and Harris,” Cash said. “I cannot say enough about how Nick Martinez threw the ball, how efficient he was. Gave us every opportunity.”

Martinez, who has now thrown a major-league career-high 166 1/3 innings, said he felt he had everything working but wasn’t surprised Cash made the call in that situation. Plus, Booser did his job, getting both lefties out.

The problem was that Kelly failed them, allowing the three runs on four consecutive one-out hits.

“They had some big at-bats, for sure,” Cash said. “KK, he’s been so good, so solid for us all season long.”

Pinch-hitter Ozzie Albies got the Braves started, lacing a one-out triple to right-center, and Austin Riley knocked the next pitch through the infield for a run-scoring single.

The Braves quickly added on, expanding the lead to 3-0.

Mike Yastrzemski followed with a ground-rule double, and then infielder Ha-Seong Kim, who spent much of last season on the Rays’ injured list with limited playing time before being waived and claimed by Atlanta, delivered the biggest hit, a single up the middle that scored two.

Kelly gave the Braves credit.

“I think that they had a really good approach,” he said. “I feel like I mostly executed when I wanted. There were a few big misses that I wasn’t happy with, but other than that I think they just did a good job putting the bat on the ball.”

Down three runs with two outs left in the ninth, the Rays made it somewhat interesting. Victor Mesa Jr. hit his 12th homer in 65 games and Chandler Simpson drew a walk from closer Raisel Iglesias, but Liam Hicks was called out on strikes and Jonathan Aranda grounded out.

“(Mesa’s) doing a lot of good things for us,” Cash said. “I like the way our at-bats unfolded. Iglesias is really good, but we put plenty of pressure on him. We got the tying run to the plate multiple times.”

They didn’t have much opportunity the first seven innings against Perez, who held them to four hits.

The Rays’ best shot came in the first, when they had the bases loaded with one out after singles by Yandy Diaz, Ryan Vilade and Jonny DeLuca. But it ended in an unexpected way, with the speedy Simpson grounding into a double play.

Simpson grounded a ball that first baseman Matt Olson gloved and threw home for the forceout, then catcher Drake Baldwin fired it back to first to nab Simpson.

“I put good wood on it, just right to him,” Simpson said. “Matt Olson just made a smart play.”

The Braves foiled Simpson again in the sixth. The Rays had two on and two outs when Simpson, an Atlanta-area native playing at home for the first time, pushed a bunt to the third-base side of the mound. Perez picked it up and made an off-balance throw that was ruled to have just beaten Simpson to first and withstood a replay challenge.

“That was incredible,” said Cash, who was teammates with Perez on Texas’ Triple-A team in 2011. “He’s not supposed to do that at his age. And I say that because I have so much respect for him and know him well and played with him. But that was a heck of a play.”

Simpson was surprised also: “I thought I was safe. Thought review said I was safe, too. But that’s how it goes, I guess.”

After going 4-3 on the trip to Texas and Atlanta, the Rays were happy to head back to the Trop for their final regular-season homestand, facing the contending Astros and Red Sox, with the A’s between, and whatever lies ahead.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Martinez said. “Against some really good ballclubs. Should be fun. Should be some good energy.”

And, at some point, plenty of champagne spraying.

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