CINCINNATI — The Washington Nationals have had some cold spells at the plate through 53 games, but none have been quite as bad as the Nationals’ current stretch, one that continued with an 8-1 loss Thursday to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.
Nationals finally score. Just once. The problem? The Reds put up eight.
The Reds (18-32) picked up 10 hits including three long homers — a first-inning, three-run blast by Joey Votto and seventh-inning shots from Matt Reynolds and Kyle Farmer. The victory matched Cincinnati with the Nationals (18-35) for the fewest wins in the majors.
“The last few days, I’m watching and we’re taking too many strikes and putting ourselves in a hole,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “This game is hard enough. And when you’re always up there hitting with two strikes, it’s even harder.”
It wasn’t surprising that the Nationals’ offense struggled against the potent pitching of the New York Mets, a team that entered Thursday with a 17-game lead over Washington in the NL East. But the offensive woes continuing against right-hander Graham Ashcraft, a rookie making just his third career start, was a nadir in a season already pockmarked with low points.
Ashcraft allowed only one hit through the first four innings — Yadiel Hernandez’s single in the second. The Nationals didn’t have another base runner until the fifth inning when Ashcraft walked Hernandez. After Maikel Franco singled, the Nationals finally had some traffic on the bases. But Luis García grounded to shortstop and Victor Robles struck out looking on a slider, ending the threat.
Bell finally got the Nationals on the board with a 356-foot shot that just crept over the fence in left, ending Washington’s run of zeros. Ashcraft finished seven innings allowing just the one run with five strikeouts.
“When you’re not scoring runs, you try to do more,” Bell said about the team pressing at the plate. “But it’s a long season. And hopefully, if we can get things going back in the right direction, we’ll put more runs than the other guys.”
Martinez said that the Nationals watched too many strikes in the zone and chased too many pitches outside of it, a recurring theme this season. Last series, the Nationals stranded too many runners while enduring back-to-back shutouts against the Mets; they left 19 runners on base in their final two games in New York. But on Thursday, the Nationals didn’t give themselves even those opportunities — they only had five base runners, with just one making it into scoring position.
“A swing bat is a dangerous bat,” Martinez said. “The only way we’re going to get out of this is by getting good pictures and swinging at good pitches and attacking the strike zone early.”
How was Joan Adon’s control Thursday? Not great. Adon, who entered the start leading the majors with 29 walks, added four more to his total in 5⅓ innings. He threw 98 pitches, 54 for strikes.
Adon found trouble in the first after allowing a single to Brandon Drury on a high chopper to third base. Then he walked Tommy Pham, and when a 2-2 fastball to Votto caught too much of the plate, Votto deposited it into the right field seats for a three-run homer.
Adon’s control issues continued in the third when he walked a pair of batters with one out to load the bases. But thanks to a double play started by García at shortstop, Adon escaped unscathed. He issued another walk in the fifth but pitched into the sixth inning before getting pulled.
What happened on García’s throwing error in the fourth? García threw to the right of Bell, pulling the first baseman off the bag on a routine groundball by Reynolds. The Nationals were holding off bringing up García to the majors for good in part because of his need to work on defense — he had 10 errors in Class AAA Rochester in 43 games.
Martinez has reiterated Thursday that the team’s plan is for García to be the team’s everyday shortstop with Alcides Escobar sidelined with a strained right hamstring. Fortunately for García, Keibert Ruiz threw out Reynolds trying to steal a base on the next pitch.
What’s the plan for Evan Lee? Martinez said he told Lee to be ready to start in five days — although he wouldn’t commit on Thursday afternoon to giving him another start following his debut Wednesday. With one lefty reliever (Josh Rogers) on the Nationals’ roster, Martinez said that it’s possible that Lee could throw 30 to 35 pitches in a game this weekend in place of a bullpen session before making another start against the Marlins.
Source: WP
