Nationals waste Gonzalez's gem, lose 2-1 to Cardinals

ST. LOUIS - The Nationals, owners of the majors' most productive lineup throughout the first half of the season, haven't exactly played the part so far this weekend.

Held to one run in Friday night's blowout loss to the Cardinals, the Nationals did it again tonight. They avoided their first shutout of 2017 thanks to a two-out rally in the ninth, but they couldn't complete that rally and wound up wasting Gio Gonzalez's stellar start in a 2-1 loss at Busch Stadium.

Gonzalez was brilliant, tossing seven innings of one-run ball and retiring the last 11 batters he faced to lower his ERA to 2.77 and make as strong a final case for inclusion on the All-Star team as was reasonably possible.

But it went for naught when the Nationals lineup, imposing all season but now reeling from the losses of table-setters Trea Turner, Adam Eaton and Jayson Werth, put up nothing but zeroes against Michael Wacha and the Cardinals bullpen until Stephen Drew's RBI single with two outs in the ninth.

Wacha's dominance over the Nationals shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone who has watched this lineup flail away against the right-hander for the last four years. As a rookie in 2013, Wacha was one out from no-hitting the Nats before Ryan Zimmerman legged out an infield single in the top of the ninth. He hasn't let up much since.

With his six scoreless innings of work tonight, Wacha lowered his ERA in five career starts against Washington to a sparkling 1.30. He scattered four hits and a walk, allowing two runners to reach base in the same inning only once.

So the Nationals couldn't have been too upset when Cardinals manager Mike Matheny pulled his starter after 94 pitches and entrusted the game's final nine outs to his bullpen.

Fortunately for Dusty Baker, Gonzalez was nearly as effective. The left-hander was burned only once, when he issued two walks in the bottom of the second and then surrendered an RBI single to Alex Mejia (the rookie's first career hit).

That was one of only two at-bats St. Louis took all night against Gonzalez with a man in scoring position, a remarkable fact given how much the southpaw has needed to pitch his way out of jams all season. He entered the game with a league-best .101 batting average against with runners in scoring position, prompting Baker to compare him pregame to Houdini.

Gonzalez didn't need to escape much tonight, though, because he rarely got into trouble. He got ahead of hitters with more regularity than usual, issued only those two second-inning walks and kept his pitch count manageable.

Gonzalez finished with a flourish, striking out the side in the seventh to end his night with 11 consecutive batters retired.

Sammy Solís, making his first major league appearance since injuring his elbow two months ago, entered for the bottom of the eighth and promptly served up a home run to Mejia (the first of his career) on his very first pitch.

Down 2-0 in the ninth, the Nationals tried to rally against St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal. Bryce Harper drew a walk, Daniel Murphy singled and Drew lined a two-out hit past the shortstop to bring home a run and avoid the shutout. Jose Lobaton's gutsy walk loaded the bases and brought Adrian Sanchez to the plate for a most dramatic first career at-bat. But the rookie infielder struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch off the outside corner against the just-inserted Matt Bowman to end the game.