Blame it on the rain? Counting games before the All-Star break, the Washington Nationals dealt with seven rain delays in eleven 11 games. Still, it was a disappointing start to the de facto second half of the season for the Nats. Washington has played well in series against other struggling teams on the road. The three-game set in St. Louis was not one of them.
The Washington Nationals’ struggles at home and against teams with winning records continued. The Cincinnati Reds swept all four games in DC and showed why they are one of the hottest teams in baseball. The Big Red Machine outhomered (7-2) and outran (12-2 steals) the Nats in the series. These statistics also support a troubling season long trend for the Nationals.
The Washington Nationals finished up a very productive and encouraging road trip by going 6-3 and winning all three series. The Nats continued to bounce back strong after bad or heartbreaking losses in immediately preceding games. They also avenged a series loss to the Phillies in early June and subsequently evened the season series against their archrivals at three games apiece.
The Washington Nationals rebounded in San Diego after getting shellacked in the series opener. The Nats young pitching duo of Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore rose to the challenge and gave their team a rewarding road series victory over Juan Soto’s San Diego Padres. The Nats also evened the season series vs San Diego at three games. If not for a crushing ninth inning loss last month, the Nats would have won both series against the Padres.
The Washington Nationals recouped the final game of a three-game series at the Atlanta Braves. The Nats lost the first game in a tight frustrating fashion. But Washington won the last game against the beasts of the NL East by a solid margin thanks to a couple of two-run blasts by Jeimer Candelario and Dominic Smith. I should also mention a game saving catch by Alex Call. More on that below.
An average crowd of just over 30,000 turned out for a battle for fourth place over the weekend in our nation’s capital. The Washington Nationals won the first game of a three-game set to briefly tie the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East division at 25-32. But the Phillies used eight home runs to win two of the three games. The Nats hit only two homers and are now back in sole possession of fifth place.
The Miami Marlins took all three games from the Washington Nationals in Florida this week. Washington got swept for the first time since the second series of the season versus the Tampa Bay Rays. The Nats lost three straight for the first time since April 27 to April 29.
Miami enjoyed a little bit of luck here and there throughout the series. In taking the first two games by just a run, the Marlins are now 14-1 in one run games on the year. With a -52 run differential, that record in tight games is not sustainable.
But a three-game losing streak stings no matter how you slice it. The losses seemed like a “garden variety” sweep at the hands of a division rival. However, not being able to sustain momentum from series to series remains a troubling trend for these Nats. Too many strikeouts and not enough hits in the clutch doomed the Nats in South Florida.
The Nats record fell to 18-26. They haven’t been eight games under .500 since May 1. They got very close to crawling within four games of .500 in game 1 of the series.
The Washington Nationals took two of three games at the San Francisco Giants this week and improved to 16-21. The Nats finished a productive road trip 3-3. Washington has won four of their last six series and sport a winning road record of 10-9.
Returning to their home ballpark, the Washington Nationals were unable to maintain the momentum that helped them to a winning four-and-two record during last week’s road trip. The NL leading Pittsburg Pirates swept the Nats by a combined score of 22-4 in the doubleheader. But less than 24 hours after getting pummeled the night before, the Nationals came out flying in the series finale on Sunday. The Nationals turned the table and outhit Pittsburgh 15-6. All the Nats runs came in the first three innings and every Nat in the lineup recorded a hit. Josiah Gray won it for Washington with another quality outing.
In the last week, the Washington Nationals won two straight road series versus good teams (Twins, Mets). In taking the first two games of each series the Nats finished a very productive road trip at 4-2. The Nats road record now stands at 7-6. If those numbers sound good, the team’s quality of play was even better. The National League leading Pittsburgh Pirates (18-8) roll into town for a three-game set over the weekend.
