Who needs a fighting chance.

The Nationals’ desperate rally against the Mariners on Monday night ended when home plate umpire Mark Carlson punched out Jeimer Candelario on a very suspect third strike call.

The Nationals had started the ninth inning down 8-3 but had plated one run and loaded the bases to make Candelario the tying run.

The pitch from Mariners closer Paul Sewald appeared well outside the strike zone — so much so that even the Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith remarked, “Strike 3 called, if you say so and the Mariners win it.”

“It was past the ump’s bedtime,” remarked Jomboy Media.

The win opened the Mariners’ final homestand before hosting the All-Star Game next month and needed its offense to come through as ace Luis Castillo (5-6) wasn’t at his best early on.

But after two straight losses, where all of Seattle’s runs came via the homer, the Mariners won the opener with the Nationals, thanks to a pair of sacrifice flies and three two-out hits that scored runs.

“There’s no better thing, better uplifting feeling in the dugout than when you’re coming up with those two RBIs,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “We’ve had some games like that where we talk about just keeping the line moving.”

Seattle’s offensive punch did start with Crawford, who joined Washington’s Lane Thomas, as both hit leadoff home runs for their respective teams.

Suárez homered leading off the fourth inning against Washington starter Trevor Williams, and Julio Rodríguez’s two-out RBI single pulled Seattle even at 3-3.

Rodríguez finished with three hits and a walk.

Seattle’s three-run fifth inning against Washington’s Cory Abbott (0-1) proved to be the difference.

Teoscar Hernández reached on an infield single and advanced on a befuddling error by first baseman Dominic Smith, who flipped a deflected groundball to first base with no one covering.

“We had one bad inning where we gave them extra outs and things got out of hand,” Washington manager Davey Martinez said.

Hernández scored on Suarez’s sacrifice fly, but it was Jarred Kelenic’s walk and stolen base that tipped the inning.

Kelenic was originally called out attempting to steal second but a challenge by Servais proved correct and the call was overturned.

Kelenic scored on Mike Ford’s single, and Ford scored when Kolten Wong doubled to give Seattle a 6-3 lead.

The big inning for Seattle was amplified by the repeated playing of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which is currently Kelenic’s walk-up song.

“When the crowd gets into it, man, I just feel like, as a team, we just feed off of that,” Kelenic said.

A little help from the umps doesn’t hurt, either.

— With AP