Nats rally but can't finish off sweep of Dodgers (updated)

They dug themselves into an immediate, four-run hole, then managed to claw their way back and take the lead for a while. That the Nationals even found themselves in this position, setting up the possibility of a series sweep of the Dodgers and a five-game winning streak, was a remarkable turn of events in the season’s second week.

And it would’ve been quite the story had they pulled it off, capping a brilliant homestand with an eye-opening performance against the defending champs.

That’s not the story they ultimately wrote. After reliever Eduardo Salazar gave up the decisive pair of runs in the seventh, the Nats were left with a 6-5 loss and a sour ending to this otherwise uplifting stretch.

It wasn’t a bad loss, not at all considering the manner in which it played out and the opponent they faced. But it had to leave at least a twinge of "what ifs" circulating around the clubhouse, a potentially stunning series sweep instead morphing into a mere series win.

"It's something that motivates us," second baseman Luis García Jr. said, via interpreter Kenny Diaz. "Obviously, it's important to continue playing together, and I felt like we did a good job of that. And against, obviously, a team of that caliber, I think we did a good job battling. It wasn't our day, but we're going to continue playing and battling as a team."

It took a lot for the Nationals to even put themselves in position to pull it off. After winning a nail-biter Monday and a blowout Tuesday, they made life tough on themselves today by falling into a 4-0 hole before Jake Irvin even recorded an out. But Irvin impressively rebounded to go six innings without giving up anything else, and his teammates got all four runs back, plus one to take the lead by the third inning.

If only their bullpen had been able to finish an admittedly difficult job and hold a daunting Dodgers lineup scoreless the rest of the way.

Salazar was the somewhat surprising choice to pitch the top of the seventh, and the right-hander immediately served up the game-tying homer on an 0-2 slider to No. 9 batter Andy Pages. An infield single by Shohei Ohtani (on a play García might’ve been able to make) and a walk of Tommy Edman put the go-ahead run in scoring position. And when Teoscar Hernández looped another 0-2 slider just beyond García’s lunging attempt, the Dodgers had the lead back.

"If I could go back and not leave that hanging slider there to Pages, I obviously would," Salazar said, via Diaz. "I thought I had good momentum early on in the inning, and unfortunately I couldn't execute the pitch I wanted."

The Nats, meanwhile, weren’t able to sustain their early success at the plate. They were held to one hit over the final six innings by the Los Angeles bullpen, with one of their few baserunners the rest of the way (Jacob Young) picked off trying to steal second to end the eighth. They did put a pair on base in the bottom of the ninth with Paul DeJong's bloop single and Dylan Crews' walk, but CJ Abrams hit a sharp grounder to the right side and James Wood grounded out to strand the tying run at third.

"Early on, we made them throw the ball in the zone," manager Davey Martinez said. "We didn't chase, and we got the ball in the zone, had some good swings. And then all of a sudden, we started chasing a little bit. We've got to remember: Let the pitchers work, even when they're out of the bullpen."

The Nationals couldn’t have reasonably envisioned a worse start to this game, facing the distinct possibility of needing to give Jake Irvin a quick hook after using up their only three long relievers during Tuesday night’s win. Four batters in, Irvin and the Nats trailed 4-0, the Dodgers all over everything the right-hander threw at them, capped by Tommy Edman’s two-run triple to right and Hernández’s two-run homer to left-center.

What was going with Irvin? Was he tipping his pitches? Was he just missing his location? Was he bothered by a shaky strike zone from plate umpire Chris Guccione?

"You think about the first four batters of the game, they're pretty good," Martinez said. "But I love the fact he battled back and gave us what he gave us."

Whatever the case, the Nationals had no choice but to leave Irvin out there to try to figure it out on his own. Which is exactly what he did.

Unable to retire any of the first four batters he faced, Irvin proceeded to retire 18 of the final 21 batters he faced. Only one of them reached scoring position. Only one recorded a hit. Seven of them struck out, including Max Muncy on a curveball to end a 103-pitch outing that could only be described as gutsy.

"Giving up four runs to the first four hitters of the game is definitely not how you draw it up in your head," Irvin said. "At that point, it's a team outing. Gotta get as deep as possible, and you just dig deep and do it for the boys in the bullpen."

Perhaps Irvin was boosted by his teammates, who stared that early 4-0 deficit in the eye and began to rally right away. They got three runs back in the bottom of the first, a rally that was ignited by Abrams.

Returning to the lineup after a two-day respite due to a minor hip injury, Abrams led off and did to Landon Knack exactly what he did to the Dodgers right-hander in his major league debut last year: Homered to lead off the first. It was Abrams’ fourth of the season, all of them coming in his last seven games played.

"He's such a good player," Martinez said. "There's more in there. I always say this kid has a chance to hit 40 doubles, 30 homers."

The Nats continued to put together quality plate appearances in the first, forcing Knack to throw 41 pitches while they scored three runs. And they continued to keep the pressure on, plating the tying and go-ahead runs in the third, thanks to García’s RBI double and Alex Call’s sacrifice fly. Just like that, Irvin found himself in line for the win.

"Just watching those guys go out and fight, you can feel that they've got your back," Irvin said. "For me, that's just huge to know those guys are pulling like that. You've got guys coming through in the dugout just giving you a tap on the leg, saying: 'We got you.' That's what it's all about."