By the time it was finished, Nationals starting pitcher John Lannan looked like a boxer who had been left in the ring to take a beating.
On a scorching Thursday afternoon against the Florida Marlins, Lannan struggled to control his sinker. But with his bullpen taxed to the limit, manager Davey Johnson had to let his 26-year-old lefty figure things out on the mound. And while Lannan avoided a knockout blow, it wasn’t good enough in a 5-2 loss.
Lannan walked four batters and hit another, throwing 115 pitches — seven shy of his career high — in just six innings of work. He escaped the most dangerous jams with minimal damage. But Washington’s limited offense let one opportunity after another slip away with 11 runners stranded on base, including six in scoring position.
| Nats notes |
| » Nats outfielder Jayson Werth produced two hits and two RBI. It was just his fourth multi-hit game since May 30. |
| » In his last seven appearances — 9 2/3 innings in all — Washington reliever Henry Rodriguez has allowed 12 earned runs on 10 hits with nine walks and three wild pitches. |
| » Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was 4-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Since last Friday, he is 13-for-27 at the plate. |
“It’s unacceptable,” Lannan said. “I’m better than that.”
He has been for much of the 2011 season. Lannan (7-7, 3.63 ERA) last allowed more than three earned runs in a game on May 21 at Baltimore. But his control has abandoned him at an inopportune time. Lannan has now walked four batters in each of his last three starts.
Lannan gave up single runs in the third and fourth innings. Mike Stanton then hit his second homer of the series in the sixth inning off Lannan and reliever Sean Burnett let an inherited runner score on a single by pinch-hitter Bryan Petersen. That was all the Marlins (52-53) needed to sweep the series from the Nats (49-55), who lost for the ninth time in 13 games since the All-Star break.
“Not typical of John Lannan,” Johnson said. “I thought he had good stuff. And he did. But he was just all over the place. He’s had seven or eight innings with that number of pitches. It was a struggle.”
His teammates didn’t help. Johnson took responsibility for a missed sign that led to Ian Desmond getting thrown out at third base on a double steal attempt. That cut short a two-out rally with runners at first and second in the fourth inning and Danny Espinosa at the plate.
For his part, Espinosa committed an error that led to Florida’s first run. Recent trade acquisition Jonny Gomes struck out with runners at first and third in the seventh inning. Earlier, he grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. Reliever Henry Rodriguez single-handedly gave Florida an insurance run in the eighth inning with a walk, a stolen base allowed and a wild pitch before an infield grounder drove in the final run.
“Up until this point we’ve been doing the little things to help us win games, help us stay in games” outfielder Jayson Werth said. “I’d say the last few nights, for sure, it seems like fundamentally we haven’t been that sound. That’s really not hard to get back on track. It’s just focus and playing the game the right way. So chalk that up to a bad stretch. But realistically we’ve got to play better baseball.”
