The Washington Nationals have a 54-27 record in their last 81 games, a half-season of baseball. In that span, they are 1-2 against the Baltimore Orioles, the second-worst team in MLB.
What a weird sport.
The Nats lost 2-0 to the O’s on Tuesday. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak, on the heels of a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley.
Last night’s game was over in the first five minutes. Hanser Alberto singled on the first pitch of the game from Patrick Corbin (10-6, 3.15 ERA), who then hit Trey Mancini on the foot, ahead of an Anthony Santander double that put Baltimore on the board.
A Jonathan Villar sac fly made it 2-0, and that was it.
Aaron Brooks came in with a 6.21 ERA to face a team that had scored 104 runs in its past 11 games, but Brooks was, for a night, Cy Young, striking out six and allowing just four baserunners over six innings of work.
The Nationals had only one real threat all night, loading the bases with two outs in the eighth off Orioles reliever Hunter Harvey, who struck out Asdrubal Cabrera on a 98-mph four-seamer to end the threat.
Baltimore closer Mychal Givens set the Nats down in order in the ninth.
Washington (73-58) at least didn’t lose ground to Atlanta (80-54), which lost at Toronto, 3-1, the second straight loss for the Braves, who are still five and a half up in the NL East.
The Nationals are also still three clear of the Cubs for the first NL wild-card spot, and five up on the Philadelphia Phillies and six ahead of the New York Mets.
Story by Chris Graham
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