Nats drop nightcap in ninth, lose Herrera to injury (updated)

It was right there for the taking, a doubleheader sweep and a chance to make a definitive statement that they intend to thrust themselves into the mix of the National League East's three-team pennant race right now.

Instead, the Nationals squandered yet another golden opportunity to win a close ballgame, and because of that a long and exhausting day and night at the ballpark wound up as nothing more than a push. No ground gained, no ground lost. Which is not what they need right now.

A 3-1 loss to the Braves hours after they won the opener 8-3 was a bitter pill to swallow. The Nats were in position to do something dramatic late, the game tied as the ninth inning arrived. But fill-in closer Kelvin Herrera needed only four batters to blow the game up, then departed with a shoulder injury the extent of which won't be known until he gets an MRI on Wednesday.

"We'll see," Herrera said when asked about his level of concern, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "We've got to see the results tomorrow."

After getting seven standout innings from Max Scherzer and a 1-2-3 eighth from Ryan Madson, the Nationals turned to Herrera to pitch the ninth in a tie game (standard operating procedure for the home club). But it was quickly obvious the right-hander wasn't fooling any of Atlanta's hitters.

Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis each roped line drives to left for singles to get the rally started. Kurt Suzuki smoked the first pitch he saw, only to be robbed by a diving Anthony Rendon at third base. But then Ender Inciarte delivered the biggest hit, scooting a ball down the first base line that caromed off the short wall and away from an unsuspecting Bryce Harper.

By the time Harper got the ball back in to the plate, two runs had scored and Inciarte was standing on third base.

"I think he just misplayed the ball," manager Davey Martinez said. "Bobbled it a little bit, and he scored. Ball was hit perfectly off the end of the bat. Nothing you can do about that."

Of greater concern, director of athletic training Paul Lessard responded to the triple by making his way to the mound to check on Herrera, who was showing signs of a shoulder problem.

"We were looking at him," Martinez said. "His ball was coming out OK, but when I saw him (shaking his arm), I thought there was something wrong."

"He didn't quite have the life that he had the last outing," catcher Matt Wieters said. "So he called me up there and just said he wasn't feeling right."

After a short conversation, Herrera departed alongside Lessard, manager Davey Martinez left to signal for Justin Miller from the bullpen as everyone awaited word of the reliever's physical condition.

Herrera, who was coming off perhaps his best outing since joining the Nats in June, said he had not dealt with any prior shoulder issues. But when he took the mound for the ninth inning tonight, he began experiencing tightness, which he believes had a significant negative impact on his pitches.

"I couldn't finish my pitches," Herrera said. "And I felt like I was aiming them, instead of throwing them."

With one final chance to rally in the bottom of the ninth, the Nationals got a leadoff double from Ryan Zimmerman (his fourth extra-base hit on a 6-for-8 day and night) and then put the tying run on first when Michael A. Taylor was hit by a pitch. Matt Wieters briefly brought the crowd to life when he ripped a 106-mph laser to third base, but it was snagged by Johan Camargo, who then threw to second base to double up Zimmerman and end the game in agonizing fashion.

"It's a funny game," Wieters said. "Was able to get a blooper (for a single) earlier in the game. I would've rather had that one than the blooper, for sure."

The end result of all this? The Nats ended their day exactly where they began it: 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Phillies (who are still playing tonight at Arizona), 4 1/2 games behind the second-place Braves.

After an 8-3 victory in the day's first game, the Nationals knew they were probably in for a tougher challenge tonight against Sean Newcomb, one of the better young left-handers in the league and one who nearly no-hit the Dodgers in his last start.

Sure enough, Newcomb matched Scherzer pitch-for-pitch, overcoming one early blemish created by a kid who has created a lot of those this season.

Juan Soto had already impressed in the matinee, reaching base five times. In his first at-bat tonight, the 19-year-old showed off his power stroke, taking Newcomb deep to left field on an 0-2 pitch. Yep, just another opposite-field homer off a lefty in a pitcher's count, the latest in a long line of impressive accomplishments for the rookie.

Such as this one: Soto now has hit more big league home runs as a teenager than Mickey Mantle did. The only names still ahead of him on the list: Tony Conigliaro (24), Bryce Harper (22), Mel Ott (18) and Ken Griffey Jr. (16). Soto still has up to 49 games remaining in his season.

That one run needed to hold up for quite a while, because Soto's teammates couldn't do anything else against Newcomb, who departed after six innings of one-run ball with only one other runner reaching scoring position along the way.

"Not a lot of missed opportunities," Zimmerman said. "Just a well-pitched game."

Scherzer tried his best to make that 1-0 score last, pitching out of jams in both the second and fourth against a Braves lineup that has excelled at making the three-time Cy Young Award winner work hard for every one of his outs this season. Scherzer got through the fifth in a flash and entered the sixth with his pitch count a manageable 81, but then came the one blip.

Scherzer's 1-0 slider to Charlie Culberson was down in the zone, but not down enough to prevent the infielder from lofting it to left field and just over the fence for a leadoff homer in the sixth. It wasn't a blast, but it was enough to tie the game and ultimately prevent Scherzer from earning his 16th win of the season.

That also meant the decision in this game would go to one of the Nationals' seven relievers. They already used five of them in the opener. It was up to the other two, their best two, to get the job done in the nightcap.

One did, the other did not.

"Two great teams tonight," Scherzer said. "This was a big league juego, and everybody was out there grinding and it just happens that they won. Proud of everybody's effort. Doubleheader on a hot day, this was good baseball."