Sluggish start to critical road trip for Nats in 2-1 loss

After suffering a devastating sweep at the hands of the Mets, the Nationals desperately needed a strong start to their six-game road trip. That didn't happen with the offense coming out of the gates sluggish and, once again, the bullpen stumbling late as the Nats lost 2-1.

The Mets won their second straight over the Braves, so the Nationals fall 8 1/2 games back in the National League with their fourth straight defeat.

A one-out walk to Martin Prado led to the only run against Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez. Justin Bour followed with a base knock to right, advancing Prado to third, where he scored on Marcell Ozuna's groundout to Ian Desmond.

Marlins left-hander Jarred Cosart blanked the Nats through the first five innings, but Miami went to right-hander Kyle Barraclough to start the sixth. Yunel Escobar led off with a single and then quickly moved to second on Barraclough's errant pickoff attempt.

Escobar's aggressive base running continued when he tagged and took third on Ian Desmond's line out to right. That put Escobar in position to tag and tie the game when Wilson Ramos drove a sacrifice fly to deep center.

Despite Gonzalez pitching well, manager Matt Williams' leash was short on the left-hander. Christian Yelich started the bottom of the frame with a base hit. Gonzalez then issued a free pass to Prado. After Bour smacked a long drive to right-center, Williams yanked Gonzalez on just 86 pitches.

Right-hander Blake Treinen followed Gonzalez to the mound and promptly coaxed a double play grounder from Ozuna to end the threat.

"If (Gonzalez) didn't get in that trouble, he certainly could've gone a lot longer than he went," Williams explained to reporters after the loss. "But we had to get out of the inning right there and get Blake in there."

It worked in the sixth, but in the seventh, Williams turned to right-hander Casey Janssen. Janssen - who had given up eight runs over three innings in his last five outings - promptly surrendered a leadoff double to J.T. Realmuto.

Ichiro Suzuki followed with a sacrifice bunt, popped up near the third base line. Escobar thought about coming, but then retreated back to the bag. The ball fell in front of Janssen, who then threw late to third and all the runners were safe.

Miguel Rojas then lifted a shallow fly ball to right. Bryce Harper charged, making a sliding grab. But going to the ground cost Harper as his throw home was up the line and Realmuto scored easily for the eventual game-winning run.

"(Janssen) fell behind to (Realmuto)," Williams recalled. "And then the bunt is popped up in the air. I think, my view of it, that Yunel assumed that Casey was gonna go get it and it dropped. And at that point he could've taken the out at first, but he decided to go to third and it was too late."

The Nationals stranded nine men on base, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.