For the second straight night, the Nationals had a golden opportunity against Dodgers pitching, loading the bases early in an inning.
For the second straight night, the Nats squandered the chance, left the bases loaded and heard a chorus of boos from the crowd at Nats Park.
Last night, the Nats had the sacks packed with none out in the fourth and failed to score. Tonight, they had the bases juiced with one out in the first, with a chance to pounce all over Zack Greinke, who hadn't allowed a...For the second straight night, the
Nationals had a golden opportunity against Dodgers pitching, loading the bases early in an inning.
For the second straight night, the Nats squandered the chance, left the bases loaded and heard a chorus of boos from the crowd at Nats Park.
Last night, the Nats had the sacks packed with none out in the fourth and failed to score. Tonight, they had the bases juiced with one out in the first, with a chance to pounce all over Zack Greinke, who hadn't allowed a run in two straight starts (spanning 16 innings) coming into this outing.
Walks to Anthony Rendon and Bryce Harper sandwiched around a Ryan Zimmerman single put a runner at every bag, and Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond both came up with a chance to give the Nats the early lead.
Werth popped up foul to the catcher. Desmond popped up to second.
Inning over, threat over.
The Nats missed their chance to get to Ricky Nolasco in the fourth last night, and ended up falling to the Dodgers 3-2. They went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on the evening.
The offensive issues continue tonight, and a frustrated crowd again is letting their team hear it.
Update: We've now played two innings and the Nats are 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
Yup, it gets worse.
Chad Tracy - who was pretty down on himself last night after going 0-for-4 and leaving six runners on base - doubled to right leading off the second, but the Nats failed to do anything with the chance.
Wilson Ramos had an unproductive out, grounding out to short and forcing Tracy to stay at second. A Gio Gonzalez sacrifice bunt moved Tracy to third with two outs, but Denard Span lined out to center to end the inning, keeping a big zero on the scoreboard next to the Nats' team name.
Update II: Three innings played, six failed at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Zimmerman and Harper both singled with one out in the third, but Werth lined out to right and Desmond popped out to second to end the inning.
Werth and Desmond both put together nice at-bats off Greinke, working the count full and putting good wood on the ball. Werth smoked a ball to right-center, but Yasiel Puig tracked it down, and Desmond ripped a line drive foul down the left field line before popping out.
That means next to nothing, however. The important part is the Nats have stranded six runners, gone 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and still are locked in a scoreless tie with the Dodgers despite having plenty of chances.
