Nats can't sustain offense, fall to Orioles in series finale

The Nationals lineup tonight, at least on paper, looked as imposing as it has in a while.

CJ Abrams was back after a nearly two-week stint on the injured list. James Wood was back in the No. 3 slot, where ideally he could drive in more runners than himself. The bottom three (Josh Bell, Dylan Crews, Luis García Jr.) featured big names who often hit much higher up in the order.

If only that translated into offensive success once the game actually started.

Imposing or not, the Nats were rendered helpless at the plate tonight by Cade Povich and the Orioles bullpen, which dominated over the course of a 2-1 loss that denied the home team a shot at a rare series sweep over its interleague rivals.

MacKenzie Gore did his part on the mound, tossing six innings of two-run ball, but still was tagged with the loss due to a lack of run support from a lineup that has struggled lately to string together productive nights.

“We’re just not hitting left-handed starters,” Davey Martinez said. “That’s been the key.”

The longtime manager isn’t wrong about that. The Nationals sport a .606 OPS against lefties this season, which ranks 25th in the majors. Against righties, that number jumps to .718, good for 15th in baseball.

Abrams received a nice ovation as he stepped to the plate for his first at-bat in 13 days, then did what most astute observers probably assumed he’d do: swing at the first pitch. He popped that Povich fastball up to shallow left field, and we were underway on a gorgeous, 75-degree April evening.

Fielding that new-look lineup, the Nationals got themselves one early run against Povich (via Bell’s second-inning single to score Amed Rosario), but nothing else.

As has unfortunately been a trend too often during the season’s first month, the Nats let a struggling opposing starter mow through their lineup with relative ease. They drew only one walk and made Povich throw only 87 pitches over 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

“I truly believe we’re guessing,” Martinez said. “We’ve got to stay on the fastball. I talk about this all the time: If you watch the catchers and if they call a breaking ball and the guy throws a fastball, they usually throw it right by them. That’s kind of what happens as a hitter; you’re just late. You can’t get ready for the fastball. Be ready for the fastball. And if he throws you a breaking ball, you can make adjustments.”

Gore tried to keep pace and make that minimal early run support hold up, but that was a tall task on any night. The left-hander made it through his first four innings unscathed on a mere 54 pitches, but the Orioles finally started working good at-bats against him in the fifth and made him pay for it.

Ramón Laureano’s one-out double got the rally started, and Ryan O’Hearn followed with a single to left that put James Wood in a good position to try to throw Laureano out at the plate. Wood’s throw, though, was well up the first base line, so not only was Laureano safe but O’Hearn was able to advance to second without a throw.

“At that point, you try to throw the ball home, but you’ve got to throw the ball through the cutoff man,” Martinez said. “If we have a chance to cut the ball off and get the guy out at second, so be it.”

That proved costly two batters later when Cedric Mullins worked a nine-pitch at-bat and managed to sneak a grounder through the two middle infielders for a two-out RBI single that gave Baltimore a 2-1 lead.

“He fouled a lot of pitches off,” Gore said. “It was a good at-bat with him. I’ve got to give him credit. … We did get the ball on the ground. He just hit it where we were not.”

His pitch count rising, Gore wouldn’t have a chance to make it past the sixth inning. His final line (six innings, two runs, four hits, one walk, eight strikeouts) may not match up with his pair of gems earlier this season against the Phillies and Rockies. But it’s a sign of how good he’s been that those solid numbers merely look decent in comparison.

Six starts into his season, Gore is the proud owner of a 3.34 ERA and major league-leading 53 strikeouts in only 35 innings. But he owns only two wins, a product of poor run support and poor relief work behind him.

The Nationals had one last shot to get their starter off the hook with the threat of a ninth-inning rally. Keibert Ruiz managed to reach on a little dribbler to the right side that got under Félix Bautista’s glove, and pinch-runner Nasim Nuñez then managed to narrowly steal second – the call stood on replay review – and later reach third on Nathaniel Lowe’s groundout.

But with the tying run 90 feet away, Rosario grounded a full-count pitch from the Orioles closer to short, ending the game.

“Obviously, one of the best closers in the game right now,” Rosario said, via interpreter Kenny Diaz. “I just went trying to find a fastball, and obviously the result wasn’t what we wanted. But that’s part of the game.”