Nats unable to hold early 4-0 lead, fall 5-4 in 10 innings at Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE - The Nationals raced out to a 4-0 lead early, but the Brewers chipped away, and eventually walked off with a 5-4, 10-inning shocker at Miller Park, to win the series.

Tyler Saladino's bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left-center field off of left-hander Matt Grace (0-1) in the tenth scored Lorenzo Cain from third base.

Juan Soto's throw was strong but curled back up the line for catcher Spencer Kieboom. Cain scored standing up before Kieboom could apply the tag. It was the Brewers' seventh walk-off winner of the season.

Grace lamented the location of the pitch to Saladino that turned into the game-winning fly ball.

"Probably wanted to be a little bit more down, but I was just trying to go, in that situation, with what was best chance of me getting something on the ground," Grace said. "And I thought it was that pitch. Probably wasn't executed as it should've been. Maybe a little up, and that led to the ball being in the air."

The Nationals got creative on defense in the tenth inning, using five infielders and just two outfielders. Michael A. Taylor eventually moved to first base.

"We talked about it on the mound, and we wanted to put the guys in the infield in the right spots," said manager Davey Martinez. "Taylor can catch a baseball, so first base is good for him."

Taylor was moved from outfield to third base to first base as the Nats tried to find a way to get out of a bases-loaded, no-out dilemma.

"I think they were trying to hide me a little bit," Taylor said. "They were thinking Saladino was going to pull the ball, so I'm playing on the other side and vice versa."

The comeback wasted a three-run shot by Adam Eaton and two doubles from Ryan Zimmerman. The first baseman finished 3-for-5 with an RBI. His run-scoring double in the first gave the Nats a 1-0 lead. Eaton's blast made it 4-0 in the second.

Manager Davey Martinez was disappointed the Nats couldn't add to their early 4-0 advantage.

"We just couldn't get a hit," Martinez said. "Zim hit the ball well, Adam's been doing well, but we just couldn't get that one hit that we needed. They battled. They played, had the right guys in there and couldn't pull it off."

Extra offense would have been a huge help to Jeremy Hellickson, who battled out of jams early to give the Nats a shot.

Milwaukee got to Hellickson in the fifth with three runs, highlighted by Christian Yelich's two-run shot. The Brewers tied the game in the seventh on an RBI single from Cain, who finished with a career-high-tying four hits.

Hellickson lasted five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with one walk, one hit by pitch and three strikeouts. He fired 79 pitches, 55 for strikes.

The Nationals fall to 49-51, the first time they have been two games below .500 since May 1 (14-16).

Does this loss sting more because the Nats had the 4-0 lead through four innings?

"I don't know if it stings more or less or indifferent," Eaton said. "We've talked about it. We know how stale our innings three to seven (have been). You see us either we get a lead early or we get down early, one of the two, and we really don't want to keep pushing. It's not like we're not trying.

"But it's just we've been just kind of stale in the middle innings and late. We got to keep pushing. It's not for a lack of trying. I'm not sure what it is or why we're not adding on or we're not pushing back when we got down or get up early. It's kind of the way it's been. Kind of looking for answers and, hopefully, it starts tomorrow."

Bryce Harper pinch-hit in the seventh but struck out looking. Martinez said Harper was still feeling the effects of a stomach bug that had him scratched from the original lineup.

Anthony Rendon singled in the seventh to match his career-high 12-game hitting streak.

The Brewers have now won three straight series over the Nationals at Miller Park. The Nats are 2-5 in extra-inning games, and this was their third walk-off defeat of the season.