Why has the Nationals offense been grounded?

One by one, they swung at hittable pitches. And one by one, they pounded the ball into the ground.

Whether leading off an inning, trying to get something going with two outs or trying to drive in a runner from scoring position, the Nationals kept meeting the same fate during Monday night's 7-3 loss to the Cubs: Groundball outs.

How bad was it? Through the seventh inning, the Nats had put 18 balls into play. Only four of them were hit in the air, and all of those resulted in hits (two singles, two homers). The 14 balls they hit on the ground all were turned into outs.

And by the end of the game, the Nationals had hit into 17 outs on the ground.

What in the world is going on here?

"I don't know," manager Davey Martinez said during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "We're hitting the ball hard."

That wasn't entirely true Monday night. Of the 19 hardest-hit balls during the game, only five came off the bats of Nationals players. Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber's home runs each were accompanied by an exit velocity over 104 mph. Yan Gomes hit a 101 mph grounder in the ninth. Juan Soto hit a 111 mph grounder in the sixth. And Josh Bell managed to line a ball to left field at 111 mph for a fourth-inning single.

But everything else the Nats hit in this game left their bats at 94 mph or less, including eight of the 12 softest batted balls of the night.

This has been a problem for Soto for several weeks now, since the star slugger returned from a shoulder injury. He legitimately has been hitting the ball hard with regularity, but he simply hasn't been able to elevate it, leading to a groundball rate that has gone up 5 percent since last season and a line drive rate that has gone down 6 percent.

"You watch batting practice, and he's hitting balls just like he normally does to left-center field, homers to right field, center field," Martinez said. "And I'm talking about balls that are crushed. I think it's just a matter of not trying to do too much. Just go up there, just see the ball and hit it. Juan's going to start getting the ball in the air, and he's going to start hitting his home runs. He's going to start driving the ball to the gaps. I know that."

The Nationals desperately need Soto (now batting .264 with only five extra-base hits in 111 plate appearances) to start doing just that. Because few others in their lineup are doing their part to make up for it.

Bell and Schwarber did have nice games Monday, the former going 2-for-2 with a walk, the latter going 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk. But Starlin Castro has turned ice cold since extending his hitting streak to 11 games late last week, going 0-for-19 with 10 groundouts since.

Castro found himself at the plate for the biggest at-bat of Monday's game: bases loaded, two out in the eighth, the Nationals trailing by three runs. He hit a chopper to the right side of the infield that looked like it might sneak through for an RBI single, but Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner made a diving stop to rob Castro and end the inning.

"I feel bad for Starlin," Martinez said. "Over the past few days, he's really hit the ball hard and has nothing to show for it. ...

"He came up in a big moment and hit a one-hopper, and their second baseman made one heck of a play. I just want him to go out there and keep going. Don't try to change anything. Just see the ball like he always does and try to hit it hard, and stay in the middle of the field. That's what he's good at."