Plenty of missed opportunities in Nats' 4-1 loss

As time continues ticking away on the regular season, the Nationals can't afford to squander any opportunities. With the Braves knocking off the Mets tonight, the Nats had a prime chance to cut the division lead to 5 1/2 games. But left-hander Gio Gonzalez once again battled command issues early and the Nationals bats came out sluggish as the Orioles took the opener 4-1.

Caleb Joseph and J.J. Hardy entered tonight's game batting .246 and .213, respectively. Gonzalez walked them both in the second inning. Joseph scored the Orioles' first run on right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez's line drive single to center. Hardy crossed the plate shortly after on Nolan Reimold's base knock.

That was all the offense Baltimore ended up needing as the Nationals managed just three hits on the night, two of which didn't even leave the infield.

The Orioles pounced on Gonzalez again in the fifth. After a single from Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Steve Pearce followed with back-to-back doubles, plating two more runs. Attempting to prevent further damage, Nationals manager Matt Williams ended Gonzalez's night after just 4 2/3 innings.

"We got to the point where they had four runs and didn't want to give up another one," Williams said.

The Orioles chose to stay away from Bryce Harper for most of the night, walking the National League MVP candidate in three of his four plate appearances. But Jayson Werth, Clint Robinson and Ian Desmond - the Nats' four, five and six hitters - combined to go 0-for-6 with three strikeouts to end innings following Harper's walks.

"(Jimenez) got Jayson the first time up on a fastball with a two-strike count and then got him on a splitter the next time," Williams said. "He doesn't throw as hard as he once did, but the split-finger was really good tonight."

The Orioles walked six batters and committed three errors, yet the Nats failed to take advantage.

"(We) had chances," Williams said. "You make pitches when you need to. I don't know, we had three hits or something. We didn't have many. We had some chances and didn't come through tonight. We've been coming through a lot lately but not tonight."

The loss drops the Mets' magic number to six as the Nationals remain 6 1/2 games back in the NL East with only 12 games remaining in the season.

"We just gotta win," said Harper after setting the Nats' single-season record with 118 walks. "If we win ballgames, then that's what we gotta do. Tonight, it didn't matter because we didn't win. All-in-all, every time we come in here, we gotta win games. If we do that, then I think we can be in contention. We just gotta keep going and keep battling the best we can. That's a great team over there in the Orioles and hopefully we can come back and get (Chris) Tillman tomorrow and see what happens."