WASHINGTON -- The Nationals’ season-high five-game winning streak was snapped with a 5-1 loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Mets on Saturday afternoon at Nats Park.
Coming off a dominant eight-inning outing in Sunday’s shutout against the Giants, starter Joe Ross was hit hard -- twice. He allowed two home runs to Francisco Lindor, and he finished the day having allowed five runs on six hits with five strikeouts and one hit batter in five innings.
Although Ross threw 50 of his 67 pitches for strikes, he noted his command with runners on and getting behind in the count. Manager Dave Martinez mentioned a dip in the effectiveness of his slider on Saturday.
“I just got beat by one guy,” Ross said, later adding, “I feel like I wasn’t as sharp today.”
Following Ross’ exit, Austin Voth made a significant sixth-inning relief appearance -- his first since suffering a broken nose during a June 6 at-bat in Philadelphia. Voth was struck in the face with a 90.5 mph fastball from Vince Velasquez, and he spent time on the injured list after having his nose reset.
After giving up one hit, he got out of the inning with a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play and a flyout.
“The ironic thing [is], first hit went right by him, but he was OK. There was no hesitation,” Martinez said. “He got back on the mound and got outs. That’s a good sign. Now I feel like he’s back to normal.”
As the Mets’ bats got hot, the Nationals’ cooled down. They plated one run in the fifth inning off a Juan Soto RBI single, but left 10 runners on base and did not capitalize on seven drawn walks.
“We worked some good at-bats, we got on base, we couldn’t get that one or two big hits,” Martinez said.