Another lackluster showing at the plate in Nats' loss to Rockies (updated)

Not that the Nationals have fielded an imposing lineup often this season, but the group Davey Martinez currently has at his disposal isn’t exactly going to leave opposing pitchers quaking in their boots.

Tonight’s batting order against the Rockies included a leadoff hitter with a career .696 OPS, a 7-8-9 triumvirate with a combined four homers this year and a No. 3 hitter who has been in the majors for all of one week and wasn’t a highly rated prospect at the time of his promotion.

So, as uninspired as the Nats’ 3-1 loss this evening was, it could not have taken very many by surprise. What, exactly, was this particular lineup expected to produce beyond CJ Abrams’ solo homer in the sixth?

The Nationals didn’t produce anything else of consequence against Rockies starter Austin Gomber or the two relievers who followed. And in the process, they wasted another solid outing by DJ Herz, who overcame an unsightly top of the first to actually put together one of his best starts in a while.

"We try to get guys in a position for them to be successful, because they've done it in the minor leagues," said Martinez, who had Alex Call leading off, Andrés Chaparro batting third and a 7-8-9 of Riley Adams, José Tena and Jacob Young. "Up here, it's a little different. I think it's more or less trying to get experience on the pitcher, the guys they're facing. Perfect example today: This guy threw three breaking balls in a row. A lot of guys didn't think he would do it, when a lot of times he did do it. ...

"We've just got to be able to make in-game adjustments. After your first at-bat, try to figure out what he's going to do, and make adjustments."

Ragged opening frames have been all too common for Nationals starters this summer, and the top of the first tonight looked like it was going to join the growing list of early pitching disasters. Herz allowed three straight one-out hits, bringing home a run, then watched Adams commit a passed ball to move two runners into scoring position in advance of a two-out walk that loaded the bases anyway.

The count full on No. 7 hitter Nolan Jones, Herz looked poised to let the inning spiral out of control. Until he buckled down and got Jones to hit a grounder right back to him for the final out. It required 28 pitches, four batters reaching base and some other assorted ugliness along the way, but Herz somehow managed to get out of the first with only one run across the plate. And that felt like a huge win for the rookie.

"It was a good thing," he said. "Control what you can control with the earlier hits. It was nice to get out of that with one, minimize the damage and then go from there."

Sure enough, Herz flipped a switch after that and looked downright dominant for most of the rest of his night. He retired 12 in a row from the second through the fifth inning, five of those via strikeout. After throwing 28 pitches in the first, he needed only 41 more over his next four frames.

The Rockies got back on track in the sixth, but even then, Herz was one pitch away from getting out of a jam unscathed and ending his night on a decidedly positive note. Alas, with two on and two out, the pitcher couldn’t handle a sharp grounder back up the middle, which also got by a diving Abrams and found its way into center field for a killer RBI single and the end of Herz’s outing.

"It kind of took a weird bounce on me," Abrams said. "I don't think I needed to dive. But an aggressive play, trying to get outs."

And when Tena’s throw across the diamond on a routine grounder came in low and couldn’t be scooped by Chaparro, the Rockies had another run, albeit an unearned one that didn’t damage Herz’s final pitching line but still left the Nationals trailing 3-0.

"Again, control what you can control," the lefty said. "A lot of things could've happened, but I thought I pitched well. I gave my team a chance to win."

Herz came up just shy of his second straight quality start, but he didn’t come anywhere close to earning his third big league win because he got no run support from his teammates while he was still in the game.

The Nationals had no answers for Gomber, the 30-year-old left-hander with the 4.88 career ERA and a fastball that barely topped 90 mph. Through four innings, they managed exactly one hit and one walk, seeing a grand total of only 56 pitches.

"We just kept chasing," Martinez said. "Our righties had a lot of non-competitive at-bats."

They finally gave themselves a chance in the fifth, with two runners on base and one out (a scorched line out to left by Adams). But Jacob Young also lined out to left, and Alex Call grounded out on the first pitch he saw to kill that potential rally and keep the shutout intact.

Abrams at last got his team on the board in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff homer, his 18th of the season to match his total from all of 2023. Not that it opened the floodgates in any way, because Gomber retired the next six batters he faced to keep Colorado’s 3-1 lead through the seventh.

"We've just got to swing at our pitch," said Abrams, who struck out in his three other at-bats. "He threw a pretty good game. We just swung at his pitch. You can't really get runs across when you do that."