We could go on all night about Doug Slaten's inability to retire Stephen Drew. We could talk about Yunesky Maya's inability to get out of the fifth inning, extending his streak of winless starts at the beginning of his Major League career. But the bottom line is this: The Washington Nationals managed three hits against Josh Collmenter and two relievers, and the Nats lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-0, before 20,332 at Chase Field.
The Nats fall to 25-32 for the season.
There's no way to sugar coat this one, so we're not even going to try. Maya was charged with all four runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. But Slaten, presumably a left-handed specialist, allowed a bases-clearing triple to the only batter he faced, lefty swinging shortstop Stephen Drew. That, in a nutshell, was the game.
The Nats only scratched out three hits against Collmenter (4-1, 1.25) , making his eleventh start of his career. Washington batters struck out seven times, walked once, and left four runners on base.
It was a stark comparison to the modest three-game winning streak, where the Nats were getting big, timely hits from many in the lineup. Last night, however, big hits were not to be found.
Maya, once again, could not get thought the opposition lineup the third time around. He walked Collmenter to lead off the fifth inning, a bad harbinger. Ryan Roberts followed with a double, eliciting a visit from pitching coach Steve McCatty. After striking out Kelly Johnson, Maya hit Justin Upton, loading the bases. Manager Jim Riggleman called upon Slaten, who promptly gave up Drew's triple, effectively ending the game.
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THE GOOD: Cole Kimball and Henry Rodriguez combined for three scoreless innings. allowing one hit. one walk, and four strikeout.
THE BAD: The Nats were 3-for-30 last night. Enough said.
THE UGLY: Slaten. He's allowed more than half of all inherited runnesr to score against him this season. That's unacceptable.
THE STATS: Three hits, one walk, seven strikeouts. 0-for-3 with RISP, four LOB, no GIDP. No errors.
NEXT GAME: Saturday at 8:10 pm EDT against Arizona. Livan Hernandez (3-6, 3.87) v. Joe Saunders (2-5, 4.77).
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