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The Nationals’ 11th straight loss looked quite a bit like their previous 10. They did very little at the plate against the opposing starter. They got a solid outing from their own starter, who made one costly mistake. And they left themselves needing a last-ditch rally, which once again didn't come.
This 3-1 loss to the Rockies could’ve happened last weekend against the Marlins, or last week against the Mets, or the previous weekend against the Rangers. They’re all starting to run together at this point, the commonalities all too evident.
The only truly unique aspects about tonight’s loss? It included a 1-hour, 45-minute rain delay. And it included some legitimate bad luck for the Nats, who hit 11 balls with an exit velocity of at least 98 mph but saw only four of them land for hits because a terrible Colorado defensive unit played what had to be its best game of the year.
"We hit the ball hard. We just had nothing to show for it for a while," manager Davey Martinez said. "They were diving all over the field."
Bad luck or not, results are results. And this was the 11th consecutive bad result for the Nationals, who have fallen from a respectable 30-33 less than two weeks ago to a miserable 30-44 now. They’ll give it another shot Thursday afternoon in the series finale, hoping not to match the club’s all-time worst losing streak of 12 set in August 2008.
"I honestly can't wait for us getting a win," said rookie third baseman Brady House, who has only been here for the last three losses. "I'm excited to celebrate. I think the vibes are a lot better whenever you're playing well, but also winning as well. We try. We're going out there, and we're going to get it."
The Nationals desperately wanted to put pressure on Germán Márquez and score an early run or two off the Rockies starter. And considering their leadoff hitter reached base in each of the game’s first three innings, and in each case attempted to steal second base, they seemingly were putting that strategy into play with perfection.
The only problem: They couldn’t bring any of those leadoff baserunners home. They went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position in the first two innings alone. Jacob Young was thrown out trying to steal second after a leadoff single in the third. And even though they still loaded the bases after that, House’s 101.3-mph liner to third was snagged by a diving Orlando Arcia to kill that rally.
"It was a little crushing, to be honest," said House, who still notched two hits and is now 4-for-11 with two walks to begin his career. "I thought I got the job done, especially bases loaded and two outs. I thought I got it done. It's really upsetting it didn't happen."
The Nats legitimately hit the ball hard on a number of occasions and had nothing to show for it. In addition to House’s third inning lineout, Josh Bell hit a ball 110 mph toward deep center field in the second only to be robbed by Brenton Doyle. Bell also hit a 107-mph laser up the middle in the fourth, only to be robbed by shortstop Ryan Ritter. All told, a Rockies team that ranks last in the majors with minus-42 Defensive Runs Saved made four highlight-reel gems in the field tonight.
House and Bell teamed up again to hit back-to-back rockets with two outs in the sixth, each of them singling. But with a chance to finally break through, Daylen Lile grounded out against reliever Jake Bird to leave the Nationals a dismal 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
"We fell short again because we just couldn't drive in a run," Martinez said. "But the at-bats were crisp. House hit a ball 107 mph; the guy caught the ball behind him. That was a big play. Bell hit a couple balls hard and nothing to show for it, then hit a 14-hopper and got a base hit. Just one of them days. I want these guys to understand: Keep having at-bats like that, they'll fall in."
With zero run support from his teammates, Parker had zero margin for error. And for the better part of six innings, the left-hander made zero errors. Despite getting himself into a couple of early jams, Parker got himself out of them, stranding runners in scoring position in the first and third innings.
He then turned to his two breaking balls – curveball and slider – to leave Colorado’s hitters completely baffled for a stretch. At one point, he struck out six of seven batters faced, all of them on breaking balls.
"That's really the game plan every game: Pick two or three pitches that are working best that day, and ride those. Use them as much as we can," he said. "And that just happened to be the curveball today."
And then came Parker’s one and only mistake. After falling behind in the count 2-0, he fired off another curveball and left it just enough over the plate for Michael Toglia to blast it into the left field bullpen for a 1-0 lead. He would depart at the end of the inning, having surrendered one run while striking out eight and walking nobody, yet still on the hook for the loss if his teammates couldn’t rally.
They found themselves needing an even bigger rally when the Rockies scored another run in the top of the seventh off Brad Lord, who probably deserved better himself. Arcia led off the inning with a sinking liner to right and wound up on third base when Lile made a diving attempt and saw the ball squirt past him. Ritter then somehow managed to get a squeeze bunt down despite Lord throwing a fastball near his face, Arcia sliding home to make it 2-0.
"If he doesn't feel like he can catch it, I think you just pull up and keep him to a single," Martinez said of Lile's diving attempt. "I think he thought he had it. What I saw, his route wasn't direct. But if he doesn't think he can catch it in that situation, just try and keep the ball in front, and we'll get the next guy."
The clutch hit by the home team finally came in the bottom of the seventh when Abrams drew a two-out walk and scored on James Wood’s 116.2-mph double to the gap in right-center. But any positive momentum generated from that run was washed away soon after when Jose A. Ferrer served up a homer to Jordan Beck in the top of the eighth, leaving the Nationals again facing a two-run deficit with time running out to put an end to this miserable losing streak.
