The warning signs have been there when you push your starters coupled with poor pitching efficiency it is a recipe for disaster. Almost the entire season the bullpen has been the weakness on the team, but when your starters are faltering it is a real reason for concern.
As we wrote yesterday, we pushed the alarm after Roark’s start that this is a worrisome trend on pitching efficiency and runs allowed per inning. Now the best starting pitcher the Nats have in Max Scherzer went awry tonight as he averaged over 20 pitches per inning and was not the ace “Max Scherzer” tonight as he takes the loss while giving up 3 runs over 5 innings.
The umpire did not help the Nats as it was a poorly called games but the Nats still had their chances. In the 5th inning, the Nats scored 2 runs and had Bryce Harper up with 2-men on and Harper popped up for the 2nd out and Ryan Zimmerman struck out for the 3rd out. The Nationals did not get one hit off of the Braves bullpen and have now gone hitless in 26 straight at-bats versus the Braves bullpen.
Trea Turner was the offensive bright spot for the Nats as he was 2-4 with an RBI. Zimmerman and Michael Taylor were hitless in the game, and Zim left 4-men on-base.
The Nationals must turn the tide and put this 4-game losing streak behind them.
