The frustration of a team-wide slump that is now approaching three weeks reached what was perhaps an inevitable low point tonight, when MacKenzie Gore confronted Victor Robles in the Nationals dugout after the latter didn’t make a play on what looked like a routine fly ball to center.
The brief confrontation, which lasted only a few seconds and was relatively tame compared to more dramatic incidents widely remembered from that same dugout over the last decade and a half, was not the reason the Nationals lost the fifth straight game of this homestand, this one by the lopsided count of 9-3 to the Cardinals.
A lack of any sustained offense by the power-starved Nats lineup certainly played a key role. As did Gore’s struggles on the mound on a night the young left-hander gave up a pair of homers and five total runs across six innings. A blowup ninth inning that saw Hunter Harvey serve up a two-run homer and CJ Abrams airmail a throw to first only made things worse.
Suffice it to say, Davey Martinez would seem to have plenty on his plate right now, a number of issues that need to be fixed lest things spiral out of control for a rebuilding Nationals club that legitimately looked like it had turned a corner only 2 1/2 weeks ago but is now reeling from 13 losses in its last 15 games.
The manager's message after this loss, though, wasn't all that different from previous ones. He may have been frustrated by the loss and the factors that contributed to it, but he didn't see reason to publicly scold his team at the end of the night.
