Not much to rave about in 6-1 loss

Bryce Harper hit his second home run in as many days. Yeah, that's about all the positive stuff to report coming out of the Nationals' 6-1 loss to the Padres this afternoon. The Nationals couldn't get much of anything done against Padres starter Anthony Bass, who went eight strong innings in his best outing of the season, allowing just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts. Outside of Harper's home run, the Nats only had three runners in scoring position all afternoon (that counts Adam LaRoche advancing to second on defensive indifference with two outs in the ninth), and scored fewer than two runs for the first time since May 1. Today was also a rare occasion where the Nats' starting pitcher wasn't able to pick up the offense by going deep into the game and keeping his team in it. Stephen Strasburg was pulled after just four innings, having allowed four runs on seven hits. The righty walked two and struck out five, throwing 81 pitches over his four frames of work. This gives Strasburg his first loss of the 2012 season, dropping him to 3-1. The Nats fall to 22-14 on the season and, for now at least, drop back into a tie for first place in the National League East. The Braves will have a shot to retake sole possession of first place tonight when they take on the Reds.