Nats drop 10th in a row, marking longest skid since '08

WASHINGTON – In spite of a ninth-inning rally, the Nationals’ losing streak reached 10 games on Tuesday in a 10-6 loss to the Rockies.

The team had only hit a double-digit skid once before, losing 12 games Aug. 11-20, 2008.

“Believe me, it stinks, man,” said manager Dave Martinez. “Nobody wants to lose 10 in a row. I know I don’t. I know those guys don’t. But we’re not going to quit. We’re going to keep fighting. That’s who we are. I don’t quit and I’m not going to quit on those guys, so we’ve got to keep fighting every day.”

The Nats are the second club to lose 10 consecutive games this season. The Athletics were defeated in 11 straight from May 14-24.

“I think most of us have been through it in some form or another,” said veteran right-hander Michael Soroka, who was a member of the 2024 White Sox that lost 21 in a row. “... It's not fun. It sucks, no matter where you do it. We have to be better. But I do think there's a lot of guys that understand that we could turn this around.”

The Nationals ended the month of May on a high note, going 4-2 on a West Coast trip to Seattle and Arizona. They scored nine-plus runs in each of those wins and had offensive momentum with them when they returned to Nationals Park.

This month, though, the bats have been quieted. Washington’s last win was a 2-0 victory over Texas on June 6. They have been outscored 53-36 by the Cubs, Rangers, Mets, Marlins and Rockies.

Since June 1, the Nationals rank 29th in batting average (.218) and slugging percentage (.325) and 28th in on-base percentage (.279).

“You’ve just got to keep going,” said veteran first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. “You’ve got to trust the guys next to you. You can’t press and solve it all in one at-bat or one day. But the second you quit, the game will steam roll you. So you need to just keep going, no matter what kind of stats show up on the scoreboard, because we’re very far from done and there’s ideally a lot of good baseball in front of us.”

Throughout this stretch, Martinez has emphasized the importance of scoring early. The Nationals are 24-11 on the season when they score first. In June, they rank 19th among all teams in first-inning offense (five runs), contrasted by ranking fourth in ninth-inning scoring (10 runs).

“It feels like when we have a big deficit and we’re pretty pressed for time, we’re really good at putting really good at-bats together.” said Lowe. “But we need to find a way as a group to do it earlier, obviously. If I had a way right now off the top of my head, I’d tell you. But we’re obviously looking for that answer as a unit.”

This was exemplified on Tuesday when the Nationals attempted to fend off the Rockies’ seven home runs. While the Nats got on the board first, the Rox quickly evened the score and reclaimed the lead in the fourth inning. Washington surrendered six runs off four homers in the seventh inning, only to fight back with a four-run final frame.

Martinez focused more on the Nationals’ fight than the noise coming from the crowd as the Rockies did damage at the plate.

“Honestly, for me, I try to look at the positives,” said Martinez. “... What I look at is, this team doesn’t quit. It’s late, we have life at the end. They don’t give in. We had good at-bats. For me, now we’ve got to take those at-bats to the early part of the game. That’s going to be the key.”

Amid these struggles, the Nationals are approaching a three-city West Coast road trip to face the Dodgers, Padres and Angels. The Nats won their April series against the Dodgers and are 15-20 on the road.

“We’ve got to know we're still a good team,” said Soroka. “I think that's where we can't let that get out of hand. Obviously, it's getting towards mid-season and any 10-game losing streak hurts. But this is the point where we’ve got to turn it around and put together a nice win streak on the other side to kind of negate it a little bit. And I think we can.”

But before they leave Nationals Park, they still have two games left against the Rockies where they will try to even the series.

“I want to see us go out there and score 10 runs tomorrow and give up two,” said Martinez. “That would be perfect.”