With many of his starters still not producing at the plate and a 12:30 p.m. game on tap the following afternoon, Nationals manager Davey Johnson turned to his bench for Wednesday’s game against the Florida Marlins.
The results weren’t any better with Rick Ankiel, Alex Cora and Jerry Hairston in the lineup. Mike Stanton homered, John Buck had a two-run single and Florida held on for a 7-5 victory over Washington at Nationals Park.
Nats starter Livan Hernandez (5-10, 4.19 ERA) lasted just two batters into the fifth inning with a balky sinker that he couldn’t figure out despite trying multiple grips. For a guy who pitches to contact that’s a critical pitch. Without it the opposition can wait for something over the plate and be relatively confident they will make solid contact.
Meanwhile, Hernandez’ teammates struggled at the plate until it was too late. Laynce Nix homered in the fourth inning, but otherwise Washington managed six hits through eight innings. In the ninth an RBI single by Jerry Hairston, an RBI double by Ryan Zimmerman and a two-run single by Michael Morse – all with two outs – cut a 7-1 lead to 7-5. But a high fly by Nix died in front of the fence in right field inches shy of tying the game.
The Nats (49-54) lost for the eighth time in 11 games since the All-Star break. Not even a closed door meeting in the clubhouse before the game could change the negative momentum that’s built since the team ended the first half with a 46-46 record.
“I think the guys are trying to do a little too much,” Johnson said. “I know the work ethic is off the charts. The pitching staff the first half really took us deep in ballgames and a lot of times that hasn’t happened in the second half. I’ve been having to use relievers and extend their roles. I’m not real comfortable with that.”
Hernandez was pulled with runners at first and third and no outs in the fifth. He had thrown 87 pitches, walked three and given up five hits. Ross Detwiler allowed one inherited runner to score in that fifth inning, but escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam to keep Washington within shouting distance at 4-1.
The Nats had their chances against Marlins starter Javier Vazquez, who entered the game with a 5.35 ERA. They left a pair of runners on base in both the first and second innings. Then in the seventh they had runners at first and second with no one out and a 3-0 count on Cora. But Vazquez got a called strike and a foul ball and then induced a 5-4-3 double play. Roger Bernadina advanced to third, but Stanton robbed Zimmerman of an RBI hit when he made a leaping catch at the wall in right field to end the threat.
Mike Cameron then twisted the knife further with a leadoff homer in the eighth to make it 5-1. He followed that with a two-run blast in the ninth off Washington closer Drew Storen, who was only pitching because he hadn’t worked since last Friday. In the end, those two insurance runs proved to be the difference.
“We’re not really panicking at all,” Zimmerman said. “We haven’t scored as many runs as we’d like or won as many games as we’d like in the past week. But we’re very upbeat. We like our team. We’ll come out tomorrow and try to win one and start a new streak for us.”
Nats Notes
Michael Morse singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
Ryan Zimmerman is batting 9-for-222 since the start of the Dodgers series last Friday
Former Nat Emilio Bonifacio extended his career-best hitting streak to 25 games with an eighth-inning single.
Follow me on Twitter @bmcnally14
