When the Nationals took the field Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park, they had lost four in a row and seven of their past eight. The lone exception during that stretch? The game started by Max Scherzer.
“He’s our No. 1," manager Dave Martinez said a few hours before the game. “I’m expecting him to come out and do his thing.”
Scherzer delivered a quality start, but it wasn’t nearly enough to snap Washington’s losing streak, which now stands at five after a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Zack Wheeler and the Phillies.
“We're in a losing streak and you want to be the stopper,” Scherzer said. “I wasn't. That's frustrating.”
The loss -- which marked the second straight shutout loss to the Phillies -- dropped Washington to 12-22, the second-worst record in the National League.
Last season, the Nationals started 19-31 before going on a run that propelled them to the franchise’s first World Series title. With only 26 games remaining in this shortened season, the sense of urgency has crept into Washington’s clubhouse.
“We definitely feel that,” Martinez said. “We’re in the stretch right now; it’s here. The window of opportunity is closing, but I'm not going to put that kind of pressure on these guys. I just want them to come out tomorrow, win tomorrow and go from there.”
Despite their recent skid, the Nationals sit just 4 1/2 games behind the Rockies for the final NL postseason spot, though five teams stand between Washington and Colorado in a crowded NL playoff picture.
“At the end of the day, we're only a few games out of contention for as bad as we've all played,” Scherzer said. “Anything can happen in a month. That’s why, when you feel these losing streaks, you want to end them. If you get on a winning streak, all of a sudden you can climb right back into this.”
The Nationals were hoping to start that winning streak Wednesday, having won in each of Scherzer’s past four outings.
Scherzer (3-2, 3.95 ERA) gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks, racking up six strikeouts (including three of former teammate Bryce Harper), but Wheeler countered with 6 2/3 scoreless innings, holding the Nats to just three hits.
“We actually hit the ball pretty hard,” Martinez said. “We just didn’t get any hits.”
That’s something managers often say in an effort to put a silver lining on a bad night, but Martinez had a point. The Nationals hit seven balls against Wheeler with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph, but those produced only a pair of singles.
Scherzer and Wheeler were locked in a scoreless duel into the fourth when the Phillies loaded the bases with one out, setting up Neil Walker’s broken-bat, two-run single.
“You’ve got to be accountable to what you have control over,” Scherzer said. “Yeah, he had a broken-bat base hit. Guess what? I walked two guys. You almost kind of deserve it in that situation.”
Scherzer stranded two runners to end the inning, but after the Nationals stranded two of their own against Wheeler in the sixth, Jay Bruce opened the home half of the sixth with a solo shot off Scherzer, who was visibly frustrated upon returning to the dugout at the end of the inning.
“Tensions are high,” Scherzer said. “When you run into a losing streak like this, everybody wants to be the guy that does something, that does a little thing that puts you over the top. When you don't, it's frustrating.”
Wheeler turned the lead over to the bullpen with two outs in the seventh, then watched recent acquisitions David Phelps and Brandon Workman combine for the final seven outs to finish off the shutout.
The Nationals are 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position during their three straight losses in Philadelphia, going hitless in three such chances on Wednesday.
They managed to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning against Workman, but rookie Luis García swung at the first pitch, hitting a grounder that Workman fielded easily for the final out.
“I think they might be pressing a little bit,” Martinez said. “The frustration shows when we have a chance, an opportunity, to do something. They all want to be the guy. Everybody's trying to drive in runs; everybody’s trying to hit that five-run homer.”