In the series finale against the Florida marlins, the Nationals pitching staff finally put up a fight. Too bad the offense was nowhere to be seen; Washington was shutout 5-0 on the last game of a Marlins’ sweep.
Livan Hernandez allowed only three runs through in just over six innings. All the more impressive, Livan had to wait about two hours before getting out to the mound due to a rain delay. Technically considered a “quality start”, it still did not prove to be enough for the Nationals to win the game. The Marlins pitching staff managed to completely shut down the Nationals’ offense.
“Livo battled, kept us in there and gave us a chance to win the ballgame,” Manager Jim Riggleman said. “After he was a little upset in the beginning and he was able to go really deep in the ballgame.”
Hernandez ran into his problem early on in the game as he allowed a two run home run to Marlin’s phenom, Mike Stanton. Stanton took the pitch the other way and at first glance it appeared to hit off the top of the wall in right field. Stanton slid into third for a triple. Soon after the umpires gathered and reviewed the play. Replays showed that eh ball had in fact gone over the wall and then bounced back. It would be all the Marlins needed.
Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco did not give the Nationals offense much of a chance. Nolasco and the Marlins bullpen managed to wiggle out of tight spots to prevent the Nationals from getting close. At one point, Washington sent up slugger and league leader in home runs, Adam Dunn to try to drive in some runs with the bases loaded and two outs. Nolasco got him to strike out and Dunn tossed his bat away in disgust. It was representative of the rest of the evening.
Another missed opportunity for the Nationals came later in the game for the pinch hitting Alberto Gonzalez. With runners on first and second and no outs, Gonzalez hit into a rally-killing double play.
After his early problems, Hernandez settled down and after the run he allowed in the third, he went another three and a third innings of shutout baseball. Nolasco gave up six hits which obviously amounted to nothing for the Nationals due to their aforementioned difficulty with runners on base. In fact, Washington went a staggering 0-10 with runners in scoring position.
“When [Nolasco] needed to he made big pitches to pitch out of trouble a little bit,” Riggleman said.
Washington’s losing streak has now been pushed to five games and it is up to John Lannan and Jason Marquis, two pitchers who have been struggling of late, to put a stop to it in the upcoming series against Arizona.
