Solís' struggles vs. lefties reach staggering proportions

DENVER - With his team trailing by two runs in the bottom of the sixth and a left-handed batter leading off for the Rockies, Davey Martinez made the move most managers would make to try to keep the game close. He brought in a lefty from his bullpen to face that one batter: David Dahl, who has received only 64 plate appearances against southpaws this season and batted a mere .210 with a .557 OPS.

What happened next could not have come as much surprise to anyone who has observed the Nationals all season.

Sammy Solís jogged in from the bullpen to face Dahl. He warmed up. He began the at-bat. He worked the count full. And then he served up a towering home run to Dahl to extend the Nationals' deficit to 5-2, which proved to be the final margin of the night.

It was merely the latest in a long line of such mistakes by Solís, who unceremoniously handed the ball back to Martinez before he could face another batter, and made the long walk back to the dugout.

Solís has now been scored upon in five consecutive appearances, and in seven of eight. He has surrendered a hit to 13 of the last 32 batters he has faced. Break it down by matchup splits, and it's even more alarming. Solís has retired only three of the last 14 left-handed batters who have stepped up to the plate against him. He has surrendered eight hits, two of those homers, walked two and hit a batter.

"I told him I'm not giving up on him," Martinez said. "And he knows that. ... Sammy earlier in the year helped us win a lot of games. And then he kind of lost it a little bit. But I'm not giving up on him. I'm not."

The numbers are staggering. Left-handed batters now own a .993 OPS against Soíis. That's better than the OPS any National League hitter has produced this season.

At this point, Martinez acknowledges, it has become a mental hurdle.

"More that than his physical being," the manager said. "I think now he's just frustrated. He's just got to go home this winter and regroup and understand who he is, and come back ready to go in the spring."