They waited around all afternoon in the summerlike heat and humidity, waiting for the home team to give itself a legitimate chance to score and get itself back into a very winnable game.
And when the situation finally presented itself in the bottom of the seventh, and then again in the bottom of the ninth, the crowd of 21,837 tried to muster up the energy to encourage the Nationals to come through at last in a big spot.
In each case, the air was sucked back out of the ballpark. And by day's end, the Nats had suffered another demoralizing loss, this one by the count of 3-2 in the rubber game of their series against the Twins.
Tuesday night’s 10-0 blowout was no fun at all. But this wasn’t any more enjoyable, not with the Nationals lineup yet again unable to mount any semblance of sustained offense. As has been the case too often the last two weeks, the opportunity to win a low-scoring game was right before their eyes, thanks to another effective pitching performance from Jake Irvin and the bullpen.
But as has too often been the case as well, the Nats simply couldn’t take advantage of it. They’ve now lost nine of their last 11, and in seven of those games they’ve scored two or fewer runs.