Nats drop series with sloppy loss to Cubs (updated)

There was, undoubtedly, a healthy amount of bad luck associated with the Nationals’ 7-1 loss to the Cubs tonight. They hit the ball with authority a bunch of times and had little to show for it.

But they also hurt their own cause with a number of unforced errors. They ran themselves into multiple outs on the bases. They failed to make several makeable plays in the field. And Jake Irvin couldn’t make a pitch in some key situations where the right-hander needed to be better.

The end result: a lopsided loss in the rubber game of this series, foiling a golden opportunity to take the series from a very good Chicago club after having already won four of their last five series.

"Hey, they're in first place for a reason," manager Davey Martinez said. "You see what they can do. They put the ball in play. They've been hitting the ball hard all year. They make good defensive plays. And their pitching keeps them in the game. We can do that as well. I've seen signs of it. We've got to do it consistently."

Particularly notable this week is the drastic drop-off in offensive production from what had been the majors’ hottest-hitting team not long ago. The Nationals totaled nine-plus runs in four consecutive games out West, capped off with their historic, 10-run top of the first Saturday night in Arizona.

But the tap has run dry ever since. Over their last 42 innings, the Nats have scored seven total runs, and as such have lost three of their last four games.

"We competed today," second baseman Luis García Jr. said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. "We had good contact. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the win. But I thought we had really good at-bats."

This loss was about more than a lack of offense. The Nationals trailed 2-0 before even coming up to bat, 3-0 by the second inning.

Irvin’s night seemingly got off to an encouraging start when he struck out leadoff hitter Ian Happ with a 95.6 mph fastball, the second-hardest pitch he’s thrown this season. He also struck out Seiya Suzuki with a 95.2 mph fastball, further evidence the right-hander was headed toward a good outing. Except for what happened the rest of the first inning.

Kyle Tucker ripped a one-out double to right-center. Pete Crow-Armstrong mashed a hanging curveball to center for a two-run homer. And when third baseman Amed Rosario couldn’t handle a grounder to his left and was charged with an error, the inning continued to drove up Irvin’s pitch count.

"I think at the end of the day, it's just the homer," Irvin said. "Other than that pitch, I thought we executed pretty well. I fell behind in a couple counts early. But for the most part, it really does boil down to that one home run."

The Nats’ defensive woes continued in the second, with García unable to make a play on a high chopper over the mound and Nathaniel Lowe striking Matt Shaw in the helmet with an attempted double-play throw to second. That set the stage for Happ’s RBI double to right, the run officially charged to Irvin but not entirely his fault given the mistakes made behind him.

"We've got to get ready to catch the ball. We've got to make plays," Martinez said. "I always talk about the three things that have got to be constants for us to compete. Defense is one of them."

Not that Irvin pitched particularly well, either. He never enjoyed one clean inning out of the five he threw, which drove up his pitch count to 94 and prevented him from having a shot at returning for the sixth.

That’s now back-to-back labored starts from Irvin against the Diamondbacks and Cubs on the heels of a gem (eight scoreless innings) against the Giants, his ERA rising to 4.02 in the process.

"For me, it's just trying to stay in attack mode and make guys earn it," he said. "I made guys earn it today. They put good swings on bad pitches. At the end of the day, guys are good hitters up here. So you've got to make better pitches."

Jackson Rutledge replaced Irvin for the top of the sixth, and that didn’t help matters. The right-hander served up a towering, two-run homer to Happ that appeared to ricochet off the facing of the third deck down the right field line and extended the Cubs’ lead to 5-0.

The way the Nationals performed at the plate tonight, that lead was unsurmountable.

Martinez hoped to gain the platoon advantage when he put right-handed hitters Rosario and Alex Call in the lineup against Chicago opener Drew Pomeranz. But the veteran lefty went only one inning and handed it over to "bulk guy" Colin Rea after a mere 14 pitches.

Rea would proceed to toss 5 1/3 scoreless innings, though there was no shortage of loud contact against him that ultimately proved fruitless for the Nationals. James Wood’s exit velocities in his first three at-bats were a robust 111.5 mph, 103 mph and 104.2 mph, and yet the talented outfielder was 0-for-3 because each of those rockets was hit directly at a member of the Cubs. Rosario and Call each hit a ball to the warning track, only to have each tracked down by an outfielder.

"I think James had the trifecta today, lining out to every part of the field," Irvin said.

But the Nats also shot themselves in the foot multiple times, running into a pair of unnecessary outs that stymied potential early rallies. CJ Abrams led off the bottom of the first with a single down the right field line and bolted for second, beating Tucker’s throw but oversliding the bag and getting tagged out. Robert Hassell III singled down the left field line in the bottom of the third and also tried to stretch it into a double, only to be thrown out moments before Abrams doubled and Rosario singled.

"Out of the box, I was going two," Abrams said of his out on the bases. "I kind of slid off the bag and was out. But I think it was a good hustle play."

Then came the bottom of the seventh, perhaps the definitive sequence of the night. The Nationals managed to knock Rea out of the game with Josh Bell’s double off the top of the wall and Call getting hit by a pitch. Caleb Thielbar entered from the bullpen, and García got a chance to face the lefty, getting three fastballs over the plate. He whiffed at the first, fouled off the second and then popped out on the third, slamming his bat in frustration.

"Everybody knows I never miss a fastball," García said. "I missed the fastball two times, I think. That's the reason for slamming the bat."

Hassell followed with a single to load the bases and bring Abrams to the plate. But after missing a couple of fastballs up in the zone, Abrams’ knees buckled on a well-timed and well-placed curveball from Thielbar, quashing the Nats’ potential rally on a night when it felt like everything was quashed.

"I was trying to stay on top of the fastball," Abrams said. "It was tough. He has a ride fastball. But I missed two pitches I should've hit, and then he kind of buckled me with a curveball."