Injuries, lack of depth costing Nationals in tight games

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals head to San Francisco for the final leg of their three-city road trip with a 10-12 record that feels like it should at least be flipped around, if not even better than that.

The Nats are 1-5 in one-run games so far this season, the lone victory coming way back in the opening series in Cincinnati after Sean Doolittle gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth before hanging on.

Surely they could have pulled out wins in a couple of those tight ballgames had they simply been able to execute in a key moment at the plate, on the mound or on the bases.

Then again, it might have helped matters had they been playing with a full deck at any point. Which they haven't.

The Nationals opened the season without Daniel Murphy in their lineup but have since lost Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon to the disabled list. Brian Goodwin also landed on the DL, further depleting a bench that would have looked like one of the sport's best if healthy but instead has been stretched thin.

Howie Kendrick and Wilmer Difo? They were supposed to join Goodwin and Matt Adams in providing Davey Martinez several strong options off the bench. Instead, those two have been forced into the everyday lineup, along with 29-year-old journeyman Moisés Sierra, who went from Triple-A to the big league bench to the starting lineup in rapid succession out of necessity.

The domino effect of all that? During the ninth inning of Sunday's nip-and-tuck loss, Martinez had to send Adams, Difo and Andrew Stevenson to the plate and Matt Reynolds to the bases in a failed attempt to rally against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen.

Stevenson's at-bat - with two on and nobody out - was especially painful. He took strike one. Then he squared around to bunt but pulled back and took strike two. Then he swung through strike three.

"I want him to bunt, but he's also facing one of the best closers in the game, and he throws fastballs, and Stevenson is good at hitting fastballs," Martinez said. "The first pitch was his. And after that, we tried to bunt, and he took it."

The situation is equally troublesome in the Nationals bullpen, which already was lacking in depth before the season began and during this trip has rarely featured all three of the club's top late-inning arms.

Brandon Kintzler pitched three days in a row at the start of the week and was unavailable for Wednesday's finale in New York. Ryan Madson wound up pitching his third straight game that night, took the loss, and hasn't been available since while still dealing with the residual effect of all that work.

"We just wanted to give him some rest," Martinez said. "He's pitched more ... I try to keep these guys from getting a game behind, but our games have been so close that it's been tough."

Madson said nothing new has cropped up in the four days since he last pitched. He simply has needed that much time to recover. He's hoping his arm is ready to return to action tonight against the Giants, but he couldn't say for certain Sunday night.

Given all that, Martinez found himself asking Trevor Gott not only to get out of a tight jam in the bottom of the sixth - he did, striking out Yasiel Puig and Chase Utley with mid-90s fastballs - but then to return to the mound for the seventh. The young right-hander wound up surrendering the winning run via a hit batter, a single through the right side of the infield and a sacrifice fly.

"You just try to play matchups," Martinez said. "Solís, he can get us out of that inning, and then we can do something else. On the flip side, Gott came in and did unbelievable. He really did."

Martinez hasn't been perfect in his first month as a big league manager. He's made a few curious decisions that backfired. But he also hasn't been playing with a full deck.

And until that happens - or until some others step in and fill some significant voids on the roster - Martinez will be facing an uphill battle.