Game falls apart in seventh as Nats fall on road again (updated)

MILWAUKEE - Anthony Rendon was a welcome addition to the Nationals lineup, until he got ejected. Stephen Strasburg was dominating a tough lineup, until he couldn't get one final out. And Dan Jennings ... well, he simply couldn't get any outs, turning a competitive game into a rout.

The Nationals' 6-0 loss to the Brewers tonight was dripping with all sorts of new drama, none of it positive for a team that has now lost 10 of 13 and is barely hanging on by a thread.

Not even Strasburg's brilliance for six innings nor Rendon's return from the injured list could salvage tonight's affair. The Nationals still couldn't do anything at the plate as a team. Strasburg, with zero margin for error, finally caved with two outs in the seventh, and then Jennings poured more gasoline on the fire to make the loss even uglier than it might have otherwise been.

Having now reached the halfway point of a daunting, 10-game road trip through Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Los Angeles with a 1-4 record, the Nationals (14-21) find themselves 7 games under .500 for the first time since Sept. 18, 2011.

That's before the club had posted the first of its seven consecutive winning seasons, a streak that will only continue if this current team can find some way to right its wayward ship.

Does this group have what it takes to do that?

"I don't see why not," Strasburg said. "In times like this, No. 1 you have to believe in the guy next to you. No. 2, you have to believe in yourself and show up ready to play, ready to go out there and beat the crap out of somebody. It's not waiting for things to happen, doing things right and giving everything you have. That's all you really can do, and that's something you can live with."

Rendon's return tonight should have been an emotional boost for a Nationals lineup with so many key members injured. Wouldn't you know it, though, that in his first at-bat since returning from the injured list due to a pitch off his elbow, Rendon was ... hit by a pitch off his left triceps?

"Three inches above where I got hit (last time)," he said.

No harm, no foul. Rendon stayed in the game, and though he didn't make much impact at the plate he certainly did in the field. The perennial Gold Glove Award finalist not only made several smooth plays at third base, his presence also allowed the Nationals to improve defensively at shortstop, with Wilmer Difo sliding over after struggling Carter Kieboom was demoted to Triple-A Fresno.

But none of that would matter if they couldn't score any runs. And they didn't.

Rendon had one of the best opportunities of the night to do something about that. He stepped to the plate with two on and two out in the seventh. But after his scorcher down the left field line landed about a foot foul - "I knew the way I hit it ... I knew it wasn't going to stay fair," he said - he was called out on a third strike on (or possibly off) the outside corner.

Rendon barked at plate umpire C.B. Bucknor, whose negative history with players across the league is well known. And when Rendon pointed with his bat how far outside he believed the pitch was, Bucknor ejected him.

"I told him he was wrong, maybe a couple other words," Rendon said. "I know better in that situation not to get tossed, but he definitely got the best of me, so ... happens."

"He felt he had an argument there, and he's frustrated," said manager Davey Martinez, who couldn't bolt from the dugout fast enough to save his star from ejection. "I'm not going to blame him for that. He knows. It was just unfortunate."

The game was still scoreless at that point, thanks to Strasburg's brilliance. With a dominant curveball in particular, he struck out 11 batters and held the potent Brewers lineup in check. But he found himself in a bases-loaded jam with one out in the seventh, and though he struck out Eric Thames with a changeup, he still needed to get Lorenzo Cain with the bases loaded and two outs.

What did Cain do? He poked Strasburg's first-pitch fastball just inside the first base line, and as the ball rolled into the right field corner all three runs scored.

Strasburg talks often about the fact he can't control what happens after the ball leaves his hand, good or bad. Was he able to keep that mindset on this one?

"Have to," he said. "Sucks, but you're exactly right. I think the one pitch that I could've done a better job of executing was the curveball to (Travis) Shaw that he was able to stay inside and hit out there (for a single earlier in the inning). Other than that, you know ... ground balls. Hit it where we weren't."

Strasburg departed with a demonic look in his eyes and sat bug-eyed in the dugout as Jennings entered to try to keep the deficit at three runs. The lefty wound up letting three more runs cross the plate, unable to retire any of the four batters he faced.

Jennings, an in-season acquisition meant to help solve the Nationals' bullpen woes, has now allowed 11 of the 21 batters he has faced reach base. He has done little to help solve the problem.

"We've got to come out of the bullpen, and we've got to throw strikes," Martinez said. "It's tough when you're (behind in the count) 3-0, 3-1, 2-0, 3-2. It doesn't work that way. You've got to come in, and you've got to throw strikes."

Nationals relievers haven't been able to do that all season. It's one of several reasons this team now finds itself in a wholly unfamiliar position, owners of the fourth-worst record in baseball.

It's been a long time since this franchise was in such a dire predicament. And it's going to take quite a turnaround to get out of it.

"It's definitely been frustrating," Rendon said. "Nobody enjoys losing, but that's why it's a long season. I know we always say that, but we've just got to stay positive and continue to do the little things. And hopefully, they come out to be the big things."