Uninspired Nationals slog through "kind of a downer day"

The game lasted 3 hours, 48 minutes. It felt like it took even longer for the Nationals to slog their way through an uninspired 6-3 loss to the Diamondbacks that bore virtually no resemblance to the high-energy, high-drama games they had played nearly every night in April.

"It was kind of a downer day," manager Dusty Baker conceded. "I don't know why, but it seems like we don't bounce back with a lot of life after an off-day. 'Cause an off-day kind of just sits on you after that long grind. But we've got to turn it back on tomorrow."

Returning to the park 48 hours following their record-setting, 23-5 thrashing of the Mets, the Nationals indeed looked lifeless in dropping their series opener against the Diamondbacks. They squandered scoring opportunities. They gave up three home runs. And they threw pitches. A lot of them.

"Everybody's pitch count was up," Baker said. "It was a pitch-count-up day, I guess."

That went both ways. The Nationals threw 185 pitches in the loss. The Diamondbacks actually threw 191 in the win.

Both starters were pushed beyond the typical workload, with Arizona manager Torey Luvullo letting young Taijuan Walker go 117 pitches before pulling him with two outs in the fifth, and Baker letting Tanner Roark go a staggering 125 pitches (a new career high) over six innings.

There were reasons for all that beyond all the long counts and foul balls that prolonged at-bats early in the game. The Nationals were dealing with a short bullpen, with Jacob Turner being held back to start Saturday in Philadelphia if possible, A.J. Cole inactive while he serves a three-day suspension that carried over from the end of last season, and an unspecified reliever or two unavailable due to excessive recent use.

"We were short on our right side of the bullpen," Baker said. "We didn't like taking Tanner up that high in pitches. I'm sure they didn't like taking their guy up that high in pitches also. But that was his last batter. Like I said, we were short in our bullpen. We had some guys that were hurting some."

The Diamondbacks managed to make Roark pay some for his heavy workload, scoring three runs in the top of the fourth via homers by Jake Lamb and Chris Herrmann. The Nationals, though, couldn't take advantage of Walker's high pitch count, getting RBI singles from Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy in the first three innings but squandering every other opportunity and finishing the night 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Among the culprits was Jose Lobaton, who got a surprise start behind the plate with Matt Wieters battling an illness. The Nats' No. 8 hitter for this game, Lobaton twice came up with two on and nobody out and twice failed to deliver, including a poor bunt attempt in the eighth.

"Every time at home plate, I want to do something good for the team," said Lobaton, who is 2-for-25 so far this season. "I want to try to help them, not only catching, but I want to do hitting, too. I've been working on it, trying to get my hits, and hopefully they'll be back soon. That's what I'm expecting."

Baker will be expecting more in the second game of the series and beyond, chalking up tonight's struggles as a rarity in a season that so far has consistently featured offensive might just about every time the Nationals take the field.

"We did have some opportunities," Baker said. "We left a lot of men on base. And like I said, we were picking them up in the last series. We'll just have to try to pick them up tomorrow."