Little mistakes not allowing Nats to get on a roll again

MILWAUKEE - This has happened to the Nationals a few times this season. After an emotional win, they follow a good game with a dud.

On Sunday, the Nats endured two rain delays and still were able to score runs on multiple occasions in a 6-2 win over Atlanta. They pounded out 15 hits, tallied in four separate innings and left 12 men on base.

On Monday, the Nats were befuddled by Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacín, held to one run on five hits, scoring only once on Daniel Murphy's second homer of the season in a 6-1 setback.

Shortstop Trea Turner struck out twice and was unable to lay down a quality bunt in the fourth inning. He was quickly tagged out by Chacín. This unsuccessful bunt attempt followed a called third strike in the second inning that Turner did not agree with and argued to home plate umpire Nic Lentz. Hitting coach Kevin Long argued for Turner from the dugout. Lentz threw Long out of the game.

Afterward, Turner said he has to keep his head up despite his rough night at the plate and in recent games.

"Yeah, but when you start feeling sorry for yourself, then it doesn't really matter," Turner said. "You can make excuses and stuff, but (at) the end of the day, you got to figure it out. So that's what I got to do."

Veteran first baseman Ryan Zimmerman was unable to make a play on a chopping grounder down the line by Christian Yelich. The ball got past Zimmerman and three runs scored. Later, with a scoring opportunity in front of him, Zimmerman grounded into a rally-killing double play.

"That's kind of the way it's been all year," Zimmerman said. "We got to figure out a way to get out of that and move forward. We had some good at-bats, hit some balls hard, didn't get much for it.

"Got to get on some kind of roll at some point. You can't keep kind of winning a couple, losing a couple, that's not going to do it. All you can do is come here and continue to work and go out there and compete every day."

Left-handed starter Gio Gonzalez was asked about the inconsistent play that has not allowed the Nats to have many long winning streaks this season. He blamed his pitching for slowing down their runs.

"I got to do a better job again," Gonzalez said. "Definitely on me. I got to go out there and do a better job to start. Give our team a chance to win. Can't be doing that when I'm walking people and putting their runners in position. It's just unfortunate. I got to do a better job."

Manager Davey Martinez spoke about Gonzalez's difficult sixth inning, which became the defining moment. He said defensively the Nats had a shot at a pickoff at second base, but were unable to execute it.

"(Gonzalez) gets the outs," Martinez said. "He gets runners on first and second base. Justin Miller comes in and we thought he had the guy struck out. We had the inside move and he was dead out and Trea couldn't get to the base. And then Solís comes in and does his job, gets the ground ball. We just can't field the ball. It played out the way I thought it would play. Gio had 107 pitches. It was a good moment to get him out of the game."

So just as much as the offense and starting pitching not being as consistent as the Nats had hoped coming into this campaign, the Nats are also struggling at the little things, defense and baserunning. These factors also play a role in why the team can't get on a roll or put teams away.