Another gutsy pitching effort, but an extra-inning loss (updated)

That the Nationals found themselves with a real chance to win Friday night after Max Scherzer departed 12 pitches in with a tweaked groin was fairly remarkable. And that they found themselves again with a real chance to win tonight after giving surprise call-up Jefry Rodriguez the start against the Giants was fairly remarkable in itself.

That after all that, they didn't win either game? Well, that's downright agonizing. But hardly surprising during this season of offensive offense. And tonight, offensive baserunning at a critical moment.

Despite another gutsy performance from a cobbled-together pitching staff that put up 14 consecutive zeros over the course of the day and night, the Nationals lost the nightcap 2-1 when they could not plate a single run against the Giants in regulation, then let two runs score in the top of the eighth while managing to score only one in the bottom of the inning as baseball's controversial doubleheader and extra-inning rules converged to create a nightmare for the home team.

LaMonte Wade Jr.'s leadoff single to right off Kyle Finnegan scored Curt Casali (who had been automatically placed on second base to begin the inning) for the first run of the game. Finnegan, making his second relief appearance of the day, would give up another run during a prolonged inning that felt like death by paper cuts for a season-high crowd of 24,066 that seemed ready to explode all night if only the Nats could plate a single run.

They finally did in the bottom of the eighth. But alas, they could not plate the necessary second run to prolong the game. Starlin Castro's leadoff double off the center field wall scored automatic runner Yan Gomes, and when Victor Robles was hit by a pitch, the crowd came back to life.

Josh Bell's long flyout to center advanced Castro to third and should've put the Nats in position to tie the game on a mere fly ball. But Robles, representing the winning run, attempted to tag up from first and wound up oversliding the bag, then getting tagged out, wiping out the possibility of a sacrifice fly. Trea Turner popped up moments later, and that was the ballgame, with Juan Soto left standing in the on-deck circle.

"I know I was the winning run on the bases," Robles said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "And as soon as the fly ball went up, I wanted to make sure I could try to put myself in a position to score. And when I saw my teammate tagging up, I felt like it was a good opportunity for me to do the same and try to make it a little better for either Trea Turner or Juan Soto to deliver a base hit and score the runs."

Robles' manager didn't agree with his read of the play and didn't withhold his opinion during his postgame Zoom session with reporters.

"Honestly, I thought it was a poor ... right there, that's not a very smart decision," Davey Martinez said. "We had the top of the order coming up, a man on first and third. Just let the game play out. You see the ball coming, you tag up, you see that the throw's going to be really close, you just come back and let those guys get a chance to hit."

So it was that the Nationals missed out on an opportunity to sweep the 14-inning doubleheader and instead suffered another hard-luck loss on the heels of an uplifting 2-0 victory on the heels of a hard-luck 1-0 loss.

They gave themselves only a couple of scoring opportunities in this game. They had two on with one out in the second but stranded both runners when Castro lined out to center and Robles struck out on a 3-2 slider above his armpits. They got a two-out double from Josh Harrison in the fourth, but Gomes immediately grounded out to end that inning.

But that's all they managed for most of the night, continuing a trend not only from this weekend but from this season. This was the 18th time the Nationals have been scoreless through five innings in 61 games, the second time they've done it in this series.

Knowing all that, Martinez isn't surprised when some of his players turn over-aggressive and attempt to make something happen that's not there for the taking.

"These guys are trying to push the envelope because we're not swinging the bat," he said. "That's the bottom line. We're not scoring any runs. These guys are playing hard, they're trying too much to do something that we shouldn't really be doing. We've just got to relax and play the game."

Not that the Giants have scored much here, either. They got a solo homer from Buster Posey in the fourth inning Friday night. And that's all they got, thanks to a gutsy effort from a depleted Nationals pitching staff that had to turn to another unexpected arm tonight.

Here's what necessitated Rodriguez's emergency start: Austin Voth breaking his nose during a fill-in start Sunday in Philadelphia, Jon Lester lasting only 3 2/3 innings Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla., the Nats and Rays playing 11 innings Wednesday, a rainout of Thursday's series opener against the Giants forcing today's doubleheader and Scherzer throwing only 12 pitches Friday before tweaking his groin.

Plain and simple, the Nationals needed a fresh arm who could give them at least three innings for tonight's game. And that fresh arm belonged to Rodriguez, the 28-year-old former prospect of theirs who was traded to Cleveland in December 2018 for Gomes, then rejoined the organization this season on a minor league contract.

Rodriguez's numbers at Triple-A Rochester (7.56 ERA, 1.740 WHIP in 16 2/3 innings) hardly suggested he was knocking on the door for a promotion. But his pitching schedule lined up for tonight, so the Nationals decided to give it a shot and hope for the best.

They got the best they could reasonably expect from him. Though he was erratic at times - not surprisingly, given he trouble he has repeating his mechanics with his lanky 6-foot-6 frame - Rodriguez was effective when he needed to be. He stranded a pair in the first. He stranded a runner on third in the third. And he induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the fourth on his 60th and final pitch of the night.

"I felt great that the team showed they still have confidence in me," Rodriguez said, via Martinez, the interpreter. "I was trying to prove them right and do the best I can out there."

In a seven-inning game, manager Martinez didn't need any more than four innings from his starter. He was comfortable handing over the rest to his bullpen.

Kyle McGowin took care of business in the fourth, striking out a pair, including pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford, to lower his ERA to 2.04. Tanner Rainey created a jam in the sixth when he issued a one-out walk and then hit a batter, but the righty escaped with a flyout and a groundout. And Brad Hand, pitching both ends of the doubleheader, worked around a leadoff walk in the seventh to give his teammates a chance to win another game.

"They've been great," Martinez said of his pitching staff so far in this series. "I'm watching the guys make pitches when they need to, commanding the strike zone, challenging hitters, getting the ball up when they need to, throwing their off-speed pitches for strikes. They've been great. Let's continue to do that. If they can continue to do that and we start hitting, we're going to start winning some games consistently."

Sixty-one games into this season, they're still hoping that comes true.