Aggressive play backfires as Nationals lose ground with 6-5 loss

The Nationals can't afford to battle themselves and the Mets at this point in the season. Left-hander Gio Gonzalez came out sluggish, forcing the Nats to fight uphill all night. An error by Yunel Escobar coupled with an ill-timed double play grounder interfered with a comeback effort as the Nationals fell 6-5.

Gonzalez trudged through a 26-pitch first inning, but escaped with consecutive strikeouts of Justin Upton and Jedd Gyorko. The next time Gonzalez faced the meat of the Padres order, the left-hander wasn't as successful.

Padres starter Tyson Ross led off the third with a single. After Yangervis Solarte popped out, Melvin Upton Jr. hit a potential double play grounder to Escobar, but the Nats third baseman couldn't make the play.

"He caught it fine," manager Matt Williams said. "He had trouble transferring - he was gonna go to second - out of his glove, and then decided to go to first and didn't quite get his feet set."

Escobar's throw to Ryan Zimmerman was wide, allowing Upton Jr. to reach safely on the error. Matt Kemp immediately followed with two-run double, ripped to the right-center field gap.

Upton continued the assault, belting Gonzalez's 93 mph fastball over the wall in left-center, giving the Padres a 4-0 lead.

Gonzalez lasted just 4 2/3 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He has now surrendered 16 runs (14 earned) in 12 1/3 innings over his last three starts.

Doug Fister followed Gonzalez to the mound and finished off the Padres in the fifth. After a scoreless sixth, Upton tagged Fister for another homer with two outs in the seventh. The solo shot eventually proved to be the decisive blow.

Trailing 6-2, Ross hit pinch-hitter Clint Robinson with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Denard Span followed with a double ending Ross' night. Padres interim manager Pat Murphy called on right-hander Shawn Kelley, who issued back-to-back walks to Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon to give the Nats a run.

Murphy then went to left-hander Marc Rzepczynski to face Bryce Harper. On an 0-1 slider, Harper shortened his swing and drilled a two-run single to center to pull the Nats within one.

With one out and Rendon on third and Harper at first, Rzepczynski then fell behind 3-0 to Escobar. Zimmerman was standing on deck, possessing seven RBIs in his last three games.

Rzepczynski challenged with a 92 mph sinker and Escobar offered, hitting a groundball to Solarte, who started a rally-ending double play.

"I was trying to lift the ball, get it out to the outfield and drive the run in," Escobar said, translated by bullpen catcher Octavio Martinez. "And unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. But that was my mindset going into that particular pitch."

Despite the fact that Escobar has hit into the third most double plays in the National League this season, Williams defended the decision to swing away on 3-0.

"We can't change the way we play," Williams said. "We must try to take advantage of those opportunities. You can look at it a million ways. I'm not gonna put the handcuffs on him 2-0 and I'm certainly not gonna do it 3-1. It's an opportunity for him to pick a pitch to drive to get airborne. It didn't happen tonight.

"We're not gonna change the way we play. We do it all the time. And 3-0 swings are a big part of our game. We've had a lot of success doing it. It didn't happen tonight."

Coming into Wednesday's game, Escobar was 2-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs when swinging on a 3-0 pitch in his career.

That turned out to be the last quality chance for the Nats, who went quietly in the eighth and ninth against Padres relievers Joaquin Benoit and Craig Kimbrel.

With the Mets winning their sixth straight game in a 9-4 victory over the Phillies, the Nationals dropped 6 1/2 games out of first place in the National League East.

"Just got to keep battling," Harper said. "Keep trying to win ballgames, keep having good at-bats and just trying to do what we can. Personally, I'm trying to come in here and play as hard as I can no matter what. These fans expect that. This city expects that, and that's what I'm going to do.

"Just trying to come in here, try to be happy, try to smile and laugh and do what we can. Hopefully, we can make up some games, and then play the Mets and see what we can do."