WASHINGTON -- Facing a slugging Dodgers lineup for the second time in a week, Patrick Corbin delivered his first scoreless outing of the season in the Nationals’ series opener on Tuesday night.

This, six days after he allowed five runs at Dodger Stadium.

The veteran southpaw allowed three hits and three walks while recording a trio of strikeouts on 86 pitches (50 strikes) in the Nats’ 4-1 loss at Nationals Park.

“Maybe a little better location today,” Corbin said. “I still fell behind some guys, but I thought they were around the plate. … I think overall, [I] stayed aggressive, located the cutter better today and was able to keep us in there. Obviously, it’s a tough team over there. So just try to be in it, and it just didn’t come out on our end today.”

Corbin had not pitched more than five scoreless frames since June 28, 2023, when he tossed seven scoreless at Seattle. He had surrendered four runs or more in each of his first four starts of the season, entering the game with an 8.06 ERA.

“He kept the ball down, he got behind but he made some good pitches to get back in the counts,” said Nationals manager Dave Martinez. “He kept us in the game, and he threw the ball really well.”

Corbin faced Los Angeles’ Nos. 1-3 hitters Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman three times. The results: Betts 1-for-3 (single), Ohtani 0-for-3, Freeman 1-for-2 (double, walk).

Corbin entered the game having held Freeman to a .204 batting average (9-for-44). In a smaller sample size, he has limited Ohtani to one hit in nine at-bats.

“Obviously you know the power that he has, you try to stay on the corners versus him,” Corbin said of Ohtani. “I think being left-handed helps a little bit, but obviously he’s such a good hitter, he can hit lefties and righties really well. So you try to locate your pitches, get ahead of him, keep him off balance, mix your pitches up. And [I] just was able to do that the last two games versus him.”

Corbin worked in 40 sinkers, 17 sliders, 16 fastballs, 10 cutters and three changeups.

“We’ve seen Corbin a lot over the years,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I think if his slider is sharp and late, it’s tough to lay off. It looks like the fastball. I thought he had it working tonight. He got a lot of weak contact hits or swings, where last week when we faced him it didn’t have a lot of teeth to it. Tonight I thought he was really good, I really did.”

The Nationals made the call to the bullpen for Derek Law after Corbin retired Freeman on a groundout to first base as the first batter of the sixth inning. Corbin had sat for an extended period of time between innings when right fielder Lane Thomas required medical attention after avoiding a tag stealing second base. (Thomas will undergo an MRI on Wednesday to evaluate left knee stiffness.) Martinez noticed some of Corbin’s pitches to Freeman were up in the zone when he got back on the mound.

“You understand the score, the team we’re playing, things like that,” Corbin said. “You go until your name’s called and until they’re ready to take you out.”

The Nationals’ 1-0 lead was erased four batters later when Law allowed a game-tying RBI single to Kiké Hernández. Hunter Harvey was assessed his first loss of the season after yielding two runs.

“I didn’t think I pitched very good tonight,” Harvey said. “Pat pitched his butt off, and then we come in and didn’t do our jobs.”

The Nats looked at the total team production in Corbin’s fifth start of the season. They left 11 runners on base and were 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

“Corbs, of course, gave us a chance by pitching so well,” said Jacob Young, who drove in Washington’s lone run. “… We battled all night. Just got to score more than one against a team like that.”