Defensive miscues, listless offense plague Nationals in 4-1 loss to Brewers

Baseball is the ultimate team sport defensively. All eight players have a responsibility in recording an out. When one person fails, it adversely affects the entire team.

That was particularly true Saturday in the Nationals’ 4-1 loss against the Brewers, in which they fell to 3-12 at home. After retiring the first two batters of the game, left-hander Foster Griffin ran into trouble.

He allowed a line-drive single to William Contreras before walking Gary Sánchez and Jake Bauers to load the bases.​

Griffin struggled to get chase on his off-speed pitches in the first, partly because of the Brewers’ keen eye and unwillingness to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. After falling behind Luis Rengifo, Griffin threw an 83.5-mph changeup in the zone that induced a weak grounder to third baseman Brady House.

If House completes the routine play, Griffin escapes the jam and the Nationals don’t yield a run.

But House was unable to field the ground ball cleanly, and it escaped his grasp, allowing Contreras to score from third and putting the Brewers ahead 1-0. A two-run single by Brandon Lockridge extended the lead to 3-0 before Sal Frelick popped up to second baseman Nasim Nuñez to end the inning.

Griffin went six innings, allowing three runs (zero earned) on three hits, with four walks and three strikeouts. He rebounded nicely after that first inning, but it was House’s inability to field the routine ground ball that proved the difference in the Nationals’ loss.

“[I] just didn’t make the play,” said House, who has committed six errors this season. “It was a routine play.”

Entering Saturday, the Nationals led the majors in errors (30), and it’s not because of a lack of effort. The group goes through pregame fielding drills constantly, trying to hone each player’s technique. But that pregame work has yet to translate into success in games.

“We want to play winning baseball,” manager Blake Butera said. “We want to win a lot of games, and in order to do that, we can’t make this many mistakes. We can do all the work we want to pregame, but if we’re not looking at what that work is and not making adjustments to it, then we’re not doing our job.

“We’re going to adjust our pregame work and try something a little bit different to clean up these mistakes.”

After a month of play, Butera said, he wants to up the intensity to simulate game action as much as possible.

On the first-inning error, Butera said, House “got in between hops and let the ball play him a little bit.”

The Nationals drafted House — a career shortstop — and transitioned him to the hot corner in 2023.

So far, the results haven’t been as positive as the organization hoped. Butera understands House is learning the position, but House didn’t want to use his late start as an excuse — he’s started 262 games in the minor leagues at third base and 96 in the majors.

“I’ve played enough games to where I should have it down by now,” House said.

Last season, House graded out well in outs above average (2), and his arm strength was in the 79th percentile, according to Baseball Savant. But his defense has regressed this season — he’s in the 11th percentile in OAA (minus-2).

At third, House has to make split-second decisions, whereas at shortstop, he would have more time to read the ball off the bat. Butera posed incorporating more decision-making in the team’s pregame work.

The key to any team is a strong defense. Being a stout fielding team establishes a floor for when the offense goes through dry spells.

But the schedule is relentless, making developing young talent challenging, especially for a Nationals team that has the youngest position-player group in the majors.

Butera has to balance the wear and tear of his team with adjusting the pregame habits to try to improve the defene.

“As a staff, we’ll make sure we find a way to make it work,” Butera said.

This article has been updated.