NEW YORK – The Nationals have been tough to watch lately. Entering Thursday’s action, they scored 15 runs in their last nine games and had a slash line of .194/.236/.294 during that span.
“It was chase, chase, chase. [Hitting in] bad counts,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.
To make matters worse, the Nationals went 22 frames without scoring a run until the ninth inning of Thursday’s game against the Mets at Citi Field. Washington scored three runs against New York’s bullpen, but fell short, losing 4-3.
Instead of harping on the fact that the Nationals have lost five straight games, Martinez saw light at the end of the tunnel because of the way his offense handled relievers Ryne Stanek and Edwin Díaz in the ninth.
With Washington down, 4-0, Stanek started the inning, faced three hitters and didn’t retire any of them. The biggest hit came from Luis García Jr., who singled to right field and sent CJ Abrams home for Washington’s first run of the game.
Stanek was then taken out of the game in favor of Díaz, who then walked Nathaniel Lowe to load the bases. Josh Bell followed and singled to left field, scoring James Wood. After inducing a popup from Alex Call, Díaz then uncorked a low pitch that wound up as a passed ball, allowing García to score the third run of the game and moving the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position. But Díaz settled down and retired the next two hitters to end the game.
“We are a team that always competes and never gives up,” García said.
After the game, Martinez didn’t sound like a man who was down on his luck. He was pleased by what he saw in the ninth. He is hoping the offense percolates against the Marlins starting Friday at Nationals Park. Keep in mind that Washington also hosts the Rockies after that three-game series against Miami.
“Really good at-bats,” Martinez said about the ninth inning. “As I always say, you get ready for the fastball, you get the ball up. No matter what they throw, if we stay in the strike zone, we hit the ball hard. … The at-bats came alive. We gave them a good run. I’m proud of the guys for hanging in there and trying to get that victory in the end.
“Although we knew Stanek threw hard, we were ready for the fastball. We hit a couple of splitters and smoked them. We stayed on the ball. With Josh Bell, he stayed on the fastball against Díaz. I loved the at-bats. We have to take that, come back tomorrow and start those at-bats from the first inning on.”
Martinez thought the Nationals were in for a long afternoon because Mets right-hander Kodai Senga was dominating until he suffered a right hamstring strain in the sixth inning. At one point, he retired 13 straight until he walked José Tena in the fifth.
“Senga kept everybody off balance,” Martinez said. “The fastballs and cutters that he threw were never over the heart of the plate. We had to battle all day.”
Senga’s counterpart, Michael Soroka, had one bad inning and it was in the first, when he allowed three runs. The biggest blow came when he allowed a three-run dinger to Jeff McNeil. Soroka needed 30 pitches to get out of the inning. But he settled down and gave Washington four more frames and allowed one additional run before leaving the game.
“I wish it could have been more than five innings, but I kept them in [the game]. You saw what we did in the end. I made a couple of mistakes and they made me pay,” Soroka said.