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The worst summer in Nationals history came to a close this afternoon in much the same fashion as far too many ballgames over the last three months played out. A 7-4 loss to the Rays had all the hallmarks of previous losses, from a big hole created by a struggling starting pitcher to a futile attempt by the lineup to make up the big deficit.
In getting swept by Tampa Bay, the Nats saw their losing streak swell to eight games. At no point during the streak have they held a lead at the conclusion of any inning.
The misery extends far past these last eight games, though. The Nationals wrapped up the month of August with a 9-19 record. This after they went 9-15 in July. This after they went 7-19 in June. It’s the first time in club history they’ve failed to win at least 10 games in at least one of the three summer months.
That makes them 25-53 since June 1, a .321 winning percentage that easily ranks as worst in the majors during that extended span and would equate over an entire season to a 52-win pace.
"We were playing good," interim manager Miguel Cairo said, citing a recent 5-3 stretch against the Mets and Phillies. "It's not like they've given up or anything like that. They're battling. They're fighting. Today I told them: (25) more games. You've got to keep fighting. You've got to finish strong."
At 53-83 overall, the Nationals are 30 games under .500 for the first time this year. With the calendar flipping to September on Monday, they need to go 10-15 to avoid the fourth 100-loss season in club history.
"I know for most of us it's not really the season we would've liked," said left fielder James Wood, who has seen his OPS fall from .956 to .831 over these last three months. "But we've still got (25) games left. We've just got to put the ice on the cake."
This current losing streak has been defined by early deficits, very often the product of early home runs surrendered by Nationals starters. And Brad Lord joined that list this afternoon, though he did at least wait until the top of the second to suffer his damage. Despite cruising through a 1-2-3 top of the first, the rookie right-hander immediately got into trouble in the second with a leadoff double followed by back-to-back singles.
Lord really hurt himself when he issued back-to-back walks of the Rays’ No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, the latter of which forced in a run and elicited boos from the Nationals Park crowd. Even so, the deficit was only 2-0 when Brandon Lowe stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. One more quality pitch, and Lord would at least get out of it with limited damage.
And then he left a 1-2 slider over the plate, and Lowe tattooed it into the right field bullpen, a grand slam that turned a two-run deficit into a six-run deficit and ruined any chance of a quality start for Lord.
"Just kind of let it get away from me," he said. "Obviously, walking those batters just contributes to everything. It kind of snowballs. And then with two strikes, hanging a slider in the middle of the plate, he made me pay for it. It's just trying to avoid letting it snowball on me."
Lord retook the mound for the top of the third, with lefty PJ Poulin already warming in the bullpen. And when Josh Lowe led off that inning with a triple, Cairo made the walk from the dugout to the mound, prompting most in the park to assume a pitching change was forthcoming. Cairo, though, merely had a message to deliver to Lord and the Nats infielders who gathered around him before returning to the dugout. And though he did allow Lowe to score, Lord did retire the final three batters of the inning to ultimately end his afternoon on a semi-positive note.
"Use your fastball," Cairo said of his message during the mound visit. "You've got a really good fastball, a live fastball that a lot of people cannot hit. It gets to you quick. Use your fastball. Attack the hitters."
The overall trend, however, is decidedly down for the 25-year-old righty. Two weeks ago, he boasted a 3.26 ERA as whispers began to circulate about his candidacy for National League Rookie of the Year honors. Three starts later, that ERA has skyrocketed to 4.34, which likely quashes those award discussions for now.
"This time of the season, it's rare for a lot of guys to feel 100 percent every outing," he said. "It's just finding ways to battle through that. You've just got to be mentally stronger this time of the year."
Trailing 7-0 in the third inning, the Nationals found themselves in an all-too-familiar position. They’ve typically waited until the late innings to mount an offensive charge, but they managed to start the process much earlier this time.
Back-to-back hits from Brady House and Jacob Young in the third brought home their first run of the day. Then they put together a more comprehensive rally in the fourth to really make a game of this. Aided by an error charged to Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero on Dylan Crews’ hard chopper to his right, the Nats already had one run in by the time House came up to bat again with two on and two out. The rookie, making his first start of the weekend, then ripped a two-run single to left, and all of a sudden a 7-0 deficit had been trimmed to 7-4.
"Today, you could see we got better at-bats," Cairo said. "The bullpen did a really good job trying to keep us in the game. That was better to see, the at-bats we got. And we were able to score four runs. They're fighters."
The rally stalled there, though, with the Rays bullpen replacing starter Ian Seymour and churning out four scoreless innings to keep the margin right where it was. Thus did the losing streak reach eight games, and thus did a miserable month of August come to an end for a ballclub that needs to find some source of motivation to make for a more memorable September.
"I think, especially now, you can kind of see the finish line," Wood said. "I think the biggest challenge is sprinting through that and not really letting off the gas. It's been a tough week, so it's not easy. But you've just got to find it and push through and finish strong."
