Nationals drop another one-run game, lose 5-4 to D-backs

The depleted Nationals know they have little margin for error right now if they want to eke out victories in close ballgames. Once again tonight, they did just enough to put themselves in position to win, and then just enough to end up on the wrong side of the final tally.

Despite several opportunities to bust the game open at the plate, and despite multiple opportunities for one of their aces to protect a slim lead, the Nationals found a way to lose 5-4 to a very good Diamondbacks club and start this long homestand off on the wrong foot.

The one-run loss - the club's seventh in eight such contests this season - leaves the Nationals with a 3-8 record at home, hardly the kind of results they expected on friendly turf.

This game, like many before it, was there for the taking. But it was the opposition that took it with clutch hitting and dominant relief pitching.

Down 4-3 in the sixth, the Diamondbacks took the lead for good with two hits and a sacrifice fly off Stephen Strasburg. Arizona's bullpen then tossed four scoreless innings and prevented the Nationals from getting any whiff of another potential rally after they squandered several others earlier in the evening.

The Nationals scored four runs in the game's first five innings off Zack Godley, which should've been enough with Strasburg on the mound. But they failed to capitalize on several opportunities to really pile on against the Arizona starter, and that fact loomed larger and larger as the night progressed.

The Nats had two one with one out in the first but stranded both on base. They got a two-run homer from Howie Kendrick in the third and another run later when Matt Wieters hustled down the line to prevent an inning-ending double play (though it required an overturned replay challenge to make it count).

Then came a pivotal bottom of the fourth, in which Bryce Harper stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, bringing the crowd to its feet. Godley, though, had the slugger on the defensive throughout the at-bat, firing off four straight curveballs before finally getting him to whiff at a fastball down and away. And when Ryan Zimmerman grounded out to short, leaving him a ghastly 2-for-29 with the bases loaded since 2016, the Nationals had officially squandered that golden opportunity.

As if that wasn't enough, they loaded the bases again in the fifth, and though they were able to push one run across via Wilmer Difo's sacrifice fly, they again couldn't deliver the big blow that would've knocked Godley out of the game.

Despite all that, Strasburg was twice handed a lead and twice gave back at least the tying run during the following half-inning. The right-hander, who served up a homer to A.J. Pollock on an 0-2 fastball in the top of the second, surrendered an RBI double to Daniel Descalso (on a ball to the gap Matt Adams couldn't cut off) in the fourth, then surrendered an RBI triple to Pollock followed by a sacrifice fly to Descalso in the sixth.

Strasburg departed with one out in the seventh, having allowed a total of five runs on six hits, leaving himself in line for the loss.