Nats rally late, then fall apart in ninth in dagger of loss

SAN DIEGO - They got the string of clutch hits they needed to tie the game in the seventh. They got a pair of scoreless innings of relief from the two righties who have shown signs of potential as reliable setup men. And then they got the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth with good execution and then a fortuitous wild pitch from the opposition.

All the Nationals needed to pull off a solid win over the Padres tonight were three outs from Sean Doolittle.

"You go into the bottom of the ninth feeling pretty good, up by a (run) with Doolittle," manager Davey Martinez said. "I'll take that every day."

Just not this day.

Behind a surprising flurry of hits off Doolittle, plus some critical fundamental breakdowns at the worst possible time, the Nationals walked out of Petco Park tonight not with an inspiring victory but a dagger of a 5-4 loss that strung as much as any they've suffered to date in 2019.

"Shoot, man. I just got beat," said Doolittle, who suffered his third blown save in 16 attempts. "Some of the other times where I had rough ones, I felt like I didn't have my best stuff and they took advantage. Tonight, I thought I had pretty good stuff. I thought I made some pitches, and I gave myself a chance to get the save and get out of the inning. I just got beat."

Things were looking oh so encouraging for the Nationals, who scored three times in the top of the seventh to snap a 14-inning scoreless streak, then got zeros from both Tanner Rainey and Wander Suero to take the game into the ninth knotted at 3-3.

They then scored the go-ahead run thanks to a leadoff double by Brian Dozier, a well-executed sacrifice bunt by Victor Robles and a changeup in the dirt by San Diego reliever Adam Warren, allowing Dozier to scamper home and Yan Gomes to move into scoring position as the trailing runner.

"We've been doing that over the last couple weeks," Martinez said. "We've been playing winning baseball that way. Even Robles putting down a nice bunt to get him over to third: That's the way we've got to play. We've got to do the little things."

Except the Nationals then proceeded to not do the little things when they still needed to do them to complete the victory. Gomes inexplicably was thrown out trying to tag up on Gerardo Parra's flyout to deep left field, ending the top of the ninth in ignominious fashion.

"He's got to be 1,000 percent sure he's going to make it," a clearly perturbed Martinez said. "You don't make the third out at third."

"That was stupid," Gomes admitted. "That's not something I need to be doing right there. It's something I'll put in the back of my mind, to be more aware of the situation. I thought it was getting deep enough. I thought I could take a good chance. It didn't go my way."

Even so, the Nationals led 4-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth. And Doolittle started things off in fine fashion, striking out Manny Machado with a high fastball. He did surrender a one-out triple to Eric Hosmer on a misplaced pitch down in the zone, but he responded by striking out Franmil Reyes on three pitches and leaving the big slugger snapping his bat like a toothpick in disgust.

All Doolittle had to do was retire rookie Josh Naylor, a lefty who was only 1-for-7 against lefties in the big leagues. Doolittle did what he wanted to do and threw a first-pitch fastball up at the top of the zone. And Naylor managed to get on top of it and drive the ball back up the middle for the game-tying single.

"Props to Naylor," Doolittle said. "I went back and looked. I did exactly what I wanted to do with that fastball. It came right back at me, probably harder than I threw it."

The game was now tied, but there were two outs and a runner on first, with .188-hitting catcher Austin Hedges at the plate. The advantage was still in Doolittle's favor. Until Naylor surprisingly took off for second base and made it without so much as a throw from Gomes.

"I don't think I really had a chance," the catcher said. "I guess it's one of those things. He got aggressive, went (on Doolittle's) first move and just got a good jump."

"Yeah, I was surprised by the stolen base," Doolittle said. "But in that situation, your focus is 100 percent on the hitter. It's a little frustrating. But I'm not going to lose sleep over that part of the inning."

Trouble is, that unexpected stolen base put Naylor in scoring position with two outs. And when Hedges sent a base hit to left, the Nationals' only hope of extending the game was for Juan Soto to make a good throw to the plate. He did not, leading Gomes up the first base line and allowing Naylor to slide in and set off a celebration at Petco Park.

Thus did the Nationals make another solid start from Erick Fedde moot. Martinez was hoping for depth out of his young right-hander tonight. And he got that, thanks to Fedde's efficiency (and perhaps an ultra-aggressive approach by the Padres lineup).

The only problem: Fernando Tatis Jr. was a one-man wrecking crew. The rookie shortstop singlehandedly scored the game's first run when he led off the bottom of the first with a single, took second on a slow roller, stole third and then scored on another slow roller to give San Diego a quick 1-0 lead.

That's where things stayed until the sixth, Fedde cruising along with an average of only 12 pitches per inning. But then up stepped Tatis and out went the ball, a two-run blast to center off a 3-2 slider over the plate.

"The 0-0 pitch was a slider that he swung and missed at," Fedde said. "I thought that was a really good pitch, and we could get a groundball, or maybe a swing and a miss. Unfortunately I just left it a lot on the plate, and he made me pay."

It was Fedde's only real mistake on this night, but it was enough to spoil an otherwise standout start - because the Nationals weren't able to do anything offensively to support their starter while he was in the game.

Ah, but the Nationals did do something offensively as soon as Fedde was finished. They finally got the string of clutch hits they'd been seeking for more than 24 hours.

Gomes came through with the first one: a single through the left side of the infield to bring home Howie Kendrick. Two batters later, Trea Turner found himself in position to tie the game with a simple single thanks to a wild pitch that allowed both Dozier and Gomes to move up 90 and into scoring position.

And Turner delivered with a blooper into shallow center field, just under Wil Myers' diving attempt. It left his bat at a mere 71 mph, but it was perfectly placed and it tied this game.

And the game remained tied as both bullpens tried to give their respective lineups a chance to produce the decisive run. The Nationals relief corps, relatively refreshed after all of the top arms got Thursday night off, got zeros from both Rainey and Suero.

And when they scored in the top of the ninth to take their first lead of the night, all they needed was for their All-Star closer to close it out.

Easier said than done.

"Shoot, I feel like I'm throwing the ball good," Doolittle said. "I threw the ball overall pretty well tonight. In the context of our season, obviously it looks bad. And I've had some hiccups there in the middle of May. But I really feel like ... I don't know, it's tough."