Nats can't overcome another dud from Corbin (updated)

The opportunity for Patrick Corbin to salvage his season has long since passed. There is no September surge that's going to change the perception of the left-hander's 2021 campaign, no strong finish that's going to leave a good taste in the Nationals' mouths as they head home for the winter.

Corbin may yet deliver one or two positive moments before the season wraps up in two weeks, but that would stick out as a supreme outlier in an otherwise dreadful six months for the second-highest-paid player on the Nationals.

No, at this point there's nothing left for Corbin to do but take the mound every fifth day and hope for the best, then confront the reality of a season gone down the drain.

"I think I have two more starts," he said in a Zoom session with reporters this evening. "Hopefully, finish those games strong. But I think more importantly, end the year healthy and hopefully on a good note to go into the offseason and kind of get over what happened this year. Personally, it's been not very good."

Add today's 6-0 to the Rockies to the list. Corbin left his teammates in a two-run hole only two batters in, then ultimately departed with a six-run deficit on the board after four more painful innings. It would all be concerning or troubling or alarming - pick your adjective - if only we hadn't already been through this countless times this summer.

This was the sixth time this season Corbin allowed six or more runs without completing five innings, tied with Kyle Hendricks, Matt Harvey, J.A. Happ and Jake Arrieta for most in the majors. It's the first time any Nationals pitcher has done it six times in a season since the franchise arrived in town in 2005.

For those who pay attention to won-loss records: Corbin is now 8-15. One more loss and he'll match Ramón Ortiz's single-season club record, set in 2006 at RFK Stadium. His 6.11 ERA already is assured of setting a club record.

In the past, the Nats would already have bumped a starter in this position to the bullpen, demoted him to the minors or cut him loose altogether. In this case, there's no real benefit, no viable alternative to start in Corbin's place, nowhere else to put him.

"Moving forward, we need him to start," manager Davey Martinez said. "If you think about 2022, you're looking at (Stephen) Strasburg coming back, you're looking at Corbin and then some of our young guys. I want to continue to run him out there every five days until this is over, see if we can get something going. And then he can build off that over the wintertime. We need to get him going. I want him to finish up strong this year."

Corbin actually entered this outing on the heels of back-to-back quality starts, offering some glimmer of hope for a late-season reversal of fortunes and at least some positive vibes heading into the winter. Then the game began and it became immediately apparent he was right back where he started.

Garrett Hampson crushed Corbin's second pitch of the afternoon off the wall in center field for a double. Brendan Rodgers then crushed his third pitch of the afternoon over the wall in right-center for a two-run homer.

By the time the top of the first ended, the Rockies were up 3-0, the third run scoring on Carter Kieboom's fielding error. But the damage inflicted upon Corbin was all too real. Four of the first five batters he faced recorded hits with exit velocities ranging from 103.3 mph to 109.3 mph.

"Just the way my season has gone," he sighed. "I think I was maybe max effort a lot of the game, which I'm normally not. Just really trying to throw the perfect pitch, and ended up missing my spots, yanking pitches. Location and fastball command wasn't very good today."

Corbin would settle down to some extent and get through the second and third innings without surrendering a run. But with his pitch count at 60 and the Rockies lineup coming to bat for a third time already, the top of the fourth felt like a disaster waiting to happen.

Sure enough, Corbin issued a one-out walk to Hampson, then gave up a single to Rodgers (who by then was merely a single shy of hitting for the cycle) and then grooved a 3-1 fastball to Trevor Story, who drove it into the right field bullpen for the three-run homer that sealed his fate on this afternoon.

It was the 36th home run surrendered by Corbin, already a single-season club record. The only Washington major leaguer to give up more homers in a season was original Senators right-hander Pedro Ramos, who was tagged for 43 in 1957 and 38 in 1958. (Expansion Senators lefty Pete Richert also gave up 36 in 1966.)

The Nationals have managed on occasion this year to overcome Corbin's struggles, rally to get him off the hook or at least make things interesting late. Not so much today. They loaded the bases against Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the sixth but failed to score. They finished the day 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and were shut out for the second time on this homestand.

"I think we fall behind, and we just start feeling all this pressure that we've got to drive in all the runs," Martinez said. "It's a lot different when you're ahead or things are rolling. The at-bats are a lot different. Now, when you fall behind, when you're down 3-0 or 6-0, you want to be the guy to knock in all the runs."

There are 14 games left for the Nationals to figure it out, two weeks on the schedule to salvage something, two weeks before this forgettable season comes to an end.