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. After falling behind against Luis Rengifo, Griffin threw an 83.5-mph changeup in the strike zone that induced a weak grounder to third baseman Brady House.

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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.

One error led to three unearned runs for the Nationals and changed the complexion of the game. Shortstop CJ Abrams also recorded an error in the fourth inning that allowed Lockridge to reach base. But Abrams’ miscue didn’t hurt the Nationals after Griffin fielded Frelick’s bunt to get Lockridge out at first.

Shortstop Joey Ortiz then grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Nationals, despite a surprisingly productive offense that entered Saturday’s game second in total runs scored (176) in the majors and powered them to a 15-19 record, are still very much in the infancy of their rebuilding effort. Without the talent advantage on most nights, the team must record the routine plays to have a chance. Even in their diminished state as they deal with a rash of injuries, the Brewers are stout defensively and tend not to beat themselves.

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After the first, Griffin constantly got ahead of hitters and lived in the strike zone. He went six innings, allowing three runs (zero earned), three hits and four walks with three strikeouts. He lowered his ERA from 2.67 to 2.27.

Plastered at the bottom of the televisions inside the Nationals clubhouse is the phrase “Attack.The.Zone,” as video of pitchers executing the phrase plays.

Griffin adhered to that philosophy and found success when he was on the attack and getting into more favorable counts — he threw 14 first-pitch strikes.

Through seven starts, the 30-year-old has pitched as well as the Nationals could have hoped. But the defensive miscue — and the offense’s inability to drive in runs — proved the difference as the Nationals dropped their series against the Brewers.