Stagnant offense, sloppy defense contribute to 5-1 loss

The Nationals offense was clicking well in the season's first four games. In three wins at Cincinnati and then the first game at Atlanta, the bats put together 29 runs on 38 hits, racing out to a 4-0 record.

Since Monday, April 2, however, the offense has slowed down. The club has won only two of their last nine games. Their two wins in the last 10 days were by scores of 2-0 and 4-1, with major contributions from Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in those two games. The 1-2 duo combined to pitch 17 innings and allowed no runs.

During their 2-7 stumble, the Nats offense has managed a total of 26 runs, or 2.88 runs per game.

Thursday, the Nats went up against Chad Bettis and the Rockies and lost 5-1. The only run on a solo shot by Howie Kendrick in the fifth. The club put together a season-low four hits and had one chance with runners in scoring position. The Nats left only three men on base.

The offense has had extreme difficulty stringing together multiple hits in an inning: having grounded into six double plays in the last two games.

Bettis (2-0) finished seven innings, scattering three hits, allowing only one run, walking two and striking out five.

"He mixed it up really well, we hit some balls hard, it was just right at their guys and they had a little more offense than we did tonight, and that's what it comes down to," Kendrick explained. "But he mixed it up, threw a pretty good game, got double play balls when he needed it and he just made pitches."

The roughest night at the plate went to Bryce Harper, who early in the season was one of the hot hands on the Nats offense. Harper struck out three times. Bettis got him twice to swing strike three on his changeup.

"Yeah I thought he pitched well," Harper said. Fastball, changeup, looked pretty good, he was mixing it up pretty well tonight and sometimes that's going to happen."

Despite these results, manager Davey Martinez believes the club is still hitting the ball hard and putting together positive at-bats.

"I really believe, here's a couple guys struggling, but for the most part, I'm seeing some pretty good at-bats," Martinez said. "We're taking our walks. (Ryan Zimmerman) hit a couple balls hard again today. Those things are going to come. I always say hitting comes and goes. It's part of it."

Left-hander Gio Gonzalez (1-1) lost for the first time in his career to the Rockies, but managed five innings, allowing three runs, two earned runs with three walks and seven strikeouts. DJ LeMahieu went 2-for-3 against Gonzalez with a leadoff homer to begin the game and an RBI double in the second.

The Nats need to tighten up their defense as well if they are going to get out of this funk.

One play in the first inning that hurt the Nats chances was on defense when Howie Kendrick dropped a pop up in shallow right field with two outs off the bat of Ian Desmond. The error allowed a run to score and the Rockies were quickly up 2-0.

Martinez thought the wind was a factor and felt Kendrick broke the wrong way off the bat.

"You know what, gotta have it," Kendrick said. "Sometimes you get out there and you misjudge balls and that's just part of the game. You feel worse for your pitcher because that's a run scored there. We have two outs already but hopefully next time I'll make that play."

It is not just one problem that has the club arriving on a 2-7 run. The Nats need to clean up their defense, their base running and most importantly, supercharge their offense if they are going to get out of this current mire.