Bats staying quiet, Detwiler laboring a bit

The Nationals last scored a run in the fifth inning Monday night. Since then, they've gone 16 scoreless frames. Yeah, for the bulk of those innings they've faced Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, two of the top arms in the majors. But there haven't been many quality at-bats during that 16-inning stretch, and the results have shown. The Nats trail 2-0 after three innings tonight, as the Dodgers have scored single runs in the first and second innings. The second run off Nats starter Ross Detwiler came in on a Greinke RBI single, the second time in as many nights that a Dodgers pitcher has done some damage offensively. Last night, Kershaw scored one of Los Angeles' two runs after getting hit by a pitch. Wilson Ramos laced a double to the gap in left-center in the second inning, and Roger Bernadina singled through the hole on the right side in the third. Other than that, it's been a whole lot of nothing for the Nats so far. Up with Ramos on second and two outs in the second inning, Danny Espinosa tried to lay down a bunt, an example of just how much Espinosa is searching for something positive offensively right now. Those are the situations that hitters look forward to - a runner in scoring position with a chance to get your team on the board. Espinosa trying to bunt for a base hit in that spot shows just how much he's lacking confidence at the plate. After grounding out to end the inning, Espinosa took his helmet off and nearly slammed it to the ground in frustration, stopping himself just before the helmet made contact with the infield dirt. Meanwhile, Detwiler hasn't looked like his normally sharp self tonight, and he appeared to be in some discomfort when going to cover the first base bag in the third inning. He was slow getting to the base and had a bit of a hitch in his giddy-up. He had a similar problem his last time out, but insisted after the game he was fine health-wise. Team trainer Lee Kuntz and manager Davey Johnson came out to talk to Detwiler, but he stayed in the game. Detwiler loaded the bases in the third, but worked out of the jam thanks to a nice defensive play by Ryan Zimmerman, who moved to his left to glove a hard-hit liner by Scott Van Slyke. Detwiler appears to be having trouble getting over his front leg and following through. We'll monitor that the rest of this game.