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.
"They play the game to win," Martinez said. "There's not one guy in that clubhouse that I can say is just going through the motions. No, these guys want to win. They come fired up."
For all the things that went wrong tonight, though, the sequence that will generate the most attention came in – and after – the top of the second. Gore had been off to his best start in a Nationals uniform, recording his first four outs on a total of nine pitches, all of them strikes. Then came Jordan Walker’s sinking liner to the right of center field, and the narrative immediately changed.
Robles, playing an unusually deep center field since getting a late break on a drive over his head Monday afternoon that turned into a crash-into-the-wall RBI triple, ventured toward his left to make what appeared like a fairly routine play. Then he slowed down and watched as the ball landed well in front of him, likely knocked down by a strong wind blowing in from right field. (For what it’s worth, Statcast’s expected batting average on that hit was a healthy .610.)
"Normally I should be making that play," Robles said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "Right now, I'm a little uncomfortable where I'm placed to play. It's new for me, and I just have to get adjusted to it. I'm not used to playing that deep right now. So it's just a matter of getting adjusted, because unfortunately I feel a little lost right now in that position, because I'm not used to playing there."
From the mound, Gore stared toward Robles in disbelief. Four pitches later, the lefty was looking toward center field again, this time at the spot high up the batter’s eye where Dylan Carlson’s 445-foot two-run homer landed.
When the inning ended, Gore approached Robles at the far end of the dugout and the two engaged in a brief-but-animated discussion before Martinez, Ildemaro Vargas and Luis García stepped between them. As far as dugout confrontations go, it was exceptionally tame compared to the infamous Jonathan Papelbon-Bryce Harper dustup of 2015. But it still was unlike anything seen around this team in a while, at least in public.
"They talked about it. We talked about it. It's good," Martinez said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's good. It happens. When you're trying to compete, it happens."
"Look, Vic's a great outfielder," Gore said. "You all know better than I do; you've all been watching him for a long time. We talked about it. We're good. It's over with. He had two hits tonight and made plays after that. It's a tough spot, but he's a great outfielder. I made some bad pitches today and gave up a lot of runs."
"I should've had that ball," Robles said. "And we both agreed on that."
Robles, who just returned from a back injury that sidelined him more than a month, didn’t look 100 percent healthy as he ran the bases and trotted out to his position the following inning. He didn’t look 100 percent healthy when he could only make it to first base on an eighth-inning drive off the left field wall, then as he struggled to go first-to-third on Abrams’ subsequent double to right-center. Regardless, he remained in the lineup for the entirety of the game.
"I'm going to actually talk to him again here in a little bit, just to see where he's at," Martinez said. "I'll find out what he's thinking."
"I feel fine," Robles said, acknowledging he was worried about his back after crashing into the fence Monday but had no lingering effects afterward. "I felt fine today."
This game spiraled further out of control in the ensuing innings, not because of anything Robles did in the field or on the bases but because of what Gore did on the mound. The lefty at times overwhelmed St. Louis’ hitters, recording eight strikeouts in six innings of work. But he also was hit hard throughout the remainder of his start, which turned into one of his worst of the season.
Gore had to fight his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, responding to a mound visit from pitching coach Jim Hickey with a three-pitch strikeout of Andrew Knizner. He wasn’t so fortunate in the fifth, in which he allowed back-to-back singles, then let the Cardinals pull off an uncontested double-steal that put both runners in scoring position.
That proved costly when the lead runner was able to score on Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly to left, then when the trailing runner was able to score on Willson Contreras’ RBI double.
The top of the sixth brought Carlson back to the plate, with a familiar result. This time, the St. Louis outfielder blasted a fastball to left for his second homer of the game and a 5-1 lead. Gore would finish the inning but would depart having allowed five total runs on nine hits and two walks, his ERA jumping to 4.02.
"We all want to win," he said. "We're all trying to win. Right now, we're not doing little things well. If it's me not locating pitches or ... we're just struggling. That's a tough situation. All I have to say is I was not good tonight. It's hard to win when the starter gives up five runs."
Add his struggles to the list of concerns facing the reeling Nationals right now.
"We're never going to accept losing, because for me that's the beauty of the game: You're out there to compete to win. Not to lose," Martinez said. "They're going to keep battling. ... Of course they want to win games. And like I've said before, sometimes I think they're trying too hard to do everything right. They've just got to go out there and play the game, let it happen."