They finally got the early offense they’ve been craving since Opening Day. They just couldn’t sustain it. Or prevent the game from getting away from them late.
The formula wasn’t a carbon copy of the Nationals’ last week, but the final result was: a 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks that leaves them 1-6 for the second time in the last three years.
As was the case in most of those previous losses, the Nats were right there in this one to the end, with opportunities to emerge victorious. And as was the case in most of those previous losses, they were unable to do what was necessary to get over the hump.
"It's one pitch, one at-bat," right-hander Jake Irvin said. "Just timely things. Play 162 of them, the game starts to reward you for doing the right things."
A tie game through six turned into a two-run deficit in the seventh when Jose A. Ferrer gave up the decisive runs. The hard-throwing reliever, who was charged with Tuesday’s loss in Toronto after allowing two runs in the eighth, was one pitch away from posting a zero this time. But his 0-2 fastball to pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk was deemed just high and inside by plate umpire Ryan Wills. Seconds later, Ferrer threw a fastball over the plate to Grichuk and watched the ball soar to the wall in right-center, caroming away from Dylan Crews for a two-run double.
"He just didn't miss," manager Davey Martinez insisted, referencing the 0-2 pitch on the corner. "It was a strike. Let's call it what it is. (Wills) missed it. That's OK. Comes back the next pitch and missed location. He tried to go in, he left it out over the plate."
Needing to mount a rally to make up the deficit, the Nationals couldn’t conjure one up. They went down in order in the seventh against Shelby Miller. They managed only a one-out single in the eighth off A.J. Puk. And then they came up short one more time in the ninth against closer Justin Martinez.
"It's a long season, as everyone knows," second baseman Luis García Jr. said, via interpreter Kenny Diaz. "It's important for us to stay together, game by game, day by day. Obviously, all of us have done a great job staying together. It's a long season, and we've just got to take it day by day."
The Nationals’ problem areas through the season’s first week were plenty, but high upon the list was their inability to score early and seize a lead. They entered this one with only two total runs in the first three innings of the game, neither of them coming in the first inning.
So it could only have been viewed as an encouraging development when CJ Abrams led off the bottom of the first by launching Brandon Pfaadt’s second pitch to right-center. Abrams’ third homer in his last four games got the Nats on the board in a hurry, much to everyone’s delight.
"I thought for sure tonight would be different," Martinez said.
Even better, they weren’t done. Four batters later, García tagged a Pfaadt fastball into the second deck in right field, giving the Nationals three hard-earned runs in the first inning, quite the departure from the last week.
"The plan was to attack the starting pitcher early," García said. "That's what we came out to do. Unfortunately, the results were what they were, but we just tried to attack from the get-go."
The only problem: They scored early, but not often. Though there was some more loud contact, including four lineouts over the next three innings, there were no more runs off Pfaadt through the fifth. There were, in fact, only two more hits during that stretch, one of them Crews’ long-awaited first knock of the season to snap out of an 0-for-19 funk.
But there was still one more big blast to be hit before Arizona went to its bullpen, and that came from the team’s hot-hitting cleanup man. Nathaniel Lowe was brought here to play Gold Glove defense at first base and hit for power. He’s done both to date, with three home runs now after tonight’s game-tying shot to right in the bottom of the sixth.
"We're hitting some homers," Martinez said. "But we've got to start getting on base and start hitting some two- and three-run homers."
Lowe’s solo homer tonight got Irvin off the hook after a so-so start, one that bore some resemblance to his season debut, just with a couple more runs crossing the plate.
Irvin enjoyed only one clean inning, the top of the second. Otherwise, he dealt with traffic on the bases throughout. And he struggled to put a stop to threats as they arose. He gave up a two-out RBI single to Josh Naylor in the first, then a two-out solo homer to Corbin Carroll in the third.
Carroll would do more damage in the fifth, this one proving to be Irvin’s undoing. He ambushed a first-pitch curveball and sent it flying to right field for his second homer of the night and a 4-3 lead. Irvin would depart at inning’s end, having now surrendered six runs in 10 innings on the season.
"I have to be a lot smarter and better in certain situations," he said. "The offense put three together in the first. It's my job to shut down after that. Didn't do it."