WASHINGTON -- The Nationals hope a change of scenery can change their luck. Ahead of their upcoming six-game road trip to San Francisco and Kansas City, the Nationals wrapped up a 1-5 homestand with a lackluster 6-0 defeat Thursday to the Athletics.
In what emerged as a common theme for much of the homestand, the Nationals dug themselves an early hole in the series finale, and their offense could not rally.
Athletics rookie lefty Jacob Lopez held the Nats in check with 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
“He’s got a big crossfire and a good angle,” said Nationals first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who struck out looking to culminate a 17-pitch at-bat against Lopez in the eighth inning.
“He was throwing two pitches for strikes, sometimes three. I think I saw everything in his arsenal at the end, and I’m disappointed it ended the way it did.”
A day after A’s lefty Jeffrey Springs retired the first 15 Nationals he faced in order, Lopez and reliever Justin Sterner combined to retire the final 15 Nats in order on Thursday.
The Nationals were limited to three baserunners on the day, with Lopez and Sterner facing just two batters above the minimum.
“We need to do a better job against lefties,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said.
“We’ve got to have a plan at how they’re going to pitch us. Simple as that. Get good at bats and hit your pitch," Cairo said. "We were kind of swinging at everything. [Lopez] was getting ahead, but we’ve got to do a better job against lefties. That lefty cannot throw seven innings or eight innings there. No chance.”
Nats lefty Mitchell Parker was seeking a bounceback performance after allowing eight runs in four innings in an eventual 16-9 loss to the Brewers last Saturday.
On Thursday, though, Parker labored through a 29-pitch second inning. A two-run homer from Colby Thomas gave the A’s a 2-0 lead, while Shea Langeliers capped off an 11-pitch at-bat with an RBI sac fly later in the frame.
“I fell behind too many times,” Parker said. “I had to leave too many good pitches in there. They’re obviously a really aggressive team at the plate, so having to give them their pitch is not a recipe for success.”
Parker was charged with four runs in five innings as Nationals starters pitched to a 10.08 ERA across the six-game homestand.
Offensively, the Nationals struggled to produce sustained rallies on the homestand, with the exception of a couple of ninth-inning threats in games that were already out of reach.
While Washington went up 1-0 in the first inning of their homestand opener last Saturday against Milwaukee, the lead lasted just one inning, and the Nationals haven’t played ahead since. Their lone win on the homestand came in walk-off fashion on Wednesday.
“We didn’t put a good inning together the whole game,” Cairo said after Thursday’s shutout. “When they score a lot of runs, it’s hard because you want to make sure you take a pitch and you see a strike. But today, we could have done a better job attacking that fastball that [Lopez] was getting ahead [on], but we didn’t do it.”
The homestand ended with James Wood striking out swinging. The Nationals’ offensive catalyst for much of the year, Wood went 2-for-21 on the homestand with no extra-base hits. He is still seeking his first home run since the All-Star break.
“When he’s doing good, he’s driving the ball to left-center,” Cairo said. “And when they’re throwing breaking pitches, he will hit [it] to right-center. So I think his approach -- he started pulling a little bit -- he’s got to stay more to left-center. That’s when he’s at his best. He recognizes breaking pitches, he recognizes bad pitches and good pitches, but he’s at his best when he’s hitting to left-center with power.”