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This homestand has not been kind to the Nationals' offense. Over the first five games, they only scored 23 runs, 11 of which came in the ninth inning.
One of those ninth-inning runs, however, was last night’s walk-off winner to snap a six-game losing streak. The Nats were hopeful those good vibes would carry over into Thursday’s matinee finale as they went for a much-needed series win over the Athletics.
But the early hole the Nats found themselves in this afternoon was too much for this lifeless lineup to overcome in a 6-0 loss in front of an announced crowd of 14,519 on South Capitol Street.
Interim manager Miguel Cairo tried to go against conventional wisdom against A’s left-hander Jacob Lopez. Instead of stacking his order with right-handed hitters, like most teams have against Lopez this year (only 52 plate appearances by left-handed hitters against him entering today), Cairo put six lefties in his starting lineup, leaving two switch-hitters (Josh Bell and Drew Millas) and one right-hander (Brady House) on the bench.
“House has not been hitting good against lefties," Cairo said to explain his lineup after the game. "I wanted (Paul) DeJong, he's been swinging the bat good. JB right-handed, he's not swinging the back good either. He's a better left-handed hitter. So I was just trying to go with giving a chance to (Luis García Jr.) to play second base to see if he can do a better job. But I guess I gotta do a better job doing the lineup against lefties.”
