Bats go silent as Nats wrap encouraging April with loss (updated)

ARLINGTON, Texas – Whether they realized it or not, a win tonight by the Nationals would’ve been rather significant. Not because the outcome of their series opener against the Rangers would make or break this season, but because of what it would’ve meant on a psychological level.

A win would’ve made them 15-14 to wrap up the month. It would’ve marked the first time they owned a winning record at any point in a season since July 1, 2021 (the night Alex Avila strained both his calves playing second base in an emergency). And it would’ve marked the first time they ended April with more wins than losses since 2017, when Dusty Baker was still managing and Davey Martinez was still Joe Maddon’s right-hand man with the Cubs.

So tonight’s 7-1 loss to the Rangers, while hardly devastating in the big picture, was nonetheless disappointing for a club that arrived in town flying high after a four-game sweep of the Marlins.

"You look back, and there's some games we could've won and been above .500," Martinez said. "But overall, we're playing good baseball. We're playing hard. ... It's nice to win games in April. Now we're going into May. I break the season down, and I always tell myself: If we win 15 games a month, that's pretty good. So, let's win 16 next month."

The Nationals did get another strong start from MacKenzie Gore, who struck out seven in five innings and was charged with only two runs. But they could not supply their emerging ace with more than minimal run support, scoring in the top of the first against Jon Gray but not again after that.

It was a feeble showing of offense from a lineup that had a good weekend in Miami but still struggles to score runs in bunches against good pitching staffs.

"It wasn't very good," Martinez said. "But look, we've been playing well. We hit the ball really well before we came in here. Let's come back tomorrow and try to go 1-0 tomorrow. The bats weren't good today, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. It's one game."

The shame was that this was shaping up to be a brilliant night for Gore, who retired the first five batters he faced, four in a row via strikeout. Relying more on his breaking balls than his fastball, he had the Rangers flummoxed while remaining quite efficient, totaling only 43 pitches through three innings.

"He's doing everything he can to keep us in the game," Martinez said. "That's all he can do. We've just got to score some runs for him."

Then Texas’ batters began to work the count, and Gore paid the price for it. He surrendered three straight singles to begin the fourth, the last of them bringing home a run. And though he prevented any more damage by striking out two more batters, he needed 31 pitches to complete the inning, leaving his overall total at 74 and suggesting his night wouldn’t last much longer.

Gore would surrender another run in the fifth, this time with Marcus Semien getting credit for a leadoff triple after Eddie Rosario couldn’t track down his drive to deep right-center, the ball then caroming away from the right fielder. A slow roller back to the mound got Semien home with the go-ahead run. And with his pitch count up to 91 by inning’s end, Gore was pulled with his team trailing 2-1 after five.

"It was a frustrating outing, but it still was fine," said the lefty, who fell to 2-3 despite a 3.19 ERA. "We're playing good. We just have to come in here tomorrow and win a game."

Jordan Weems, Jacob Barnes and Tanner Rainey combined to surrender five runs in three innings of relief, turning a once-tight ballgame into a rout.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal had the Nationals provided a bit more run support. But as was the case last week against the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gore was left in line for the loss not because of his own performance but because his teammates couldn’t give him a lead.

Things got off to a positive start for the visitors, who took a quick 1-0 lead thanks to CJ Abrams’ legs and Luis Garcia Jr.’s bat. Abrams turned a roller up the first base line into a leadoff infield single, then immediately stole second on the next pitch to put himself into scoring position. And Garcia delivered three batters later with a nice piece of two-out, two-strike hitting, rapping a single to left to drive in Abrams.

But the bats went ice cold after that. Gray retired 12 straight following the Garcia RBI single. And by the time the Rangers starter departed at the end of the eighth, the Nationals had amassed all of three hits (two of them dribblers that never left the infield) and zero walks while making him throw a mere 98 pitches.

"His ball was moving very well. His slider was breaking very well. And unfortunately, we were chasing a lot of pitches out of the zone," said Rosario, now in an 0-for-25 slump and batting a meager .088, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "But he had his moment today, so you've got to give him credit."

So it was the Nats that ended an otherwise encouraging opening month with a disappointing loss. It would’ve been nice – and notable – to finish April at 15-14. Even so, a 14-15 record represents actual progress. And still leaves this team chasing an elusive goal – more wins than losses – in the days and weeks to come.

"I like the way we're doing it," Gore said. "There have been a lot of good things. And it was a good April. Now, understand why we didn't finish over .500 and try to be a little better. But we've got a good group doing a lot of good things. Take it one day at a time, and we should be OK."