Nationals miss another opportunity in 6-1 loss to Cardinals

When the first Nationals homestand of the season opened Friday afternoon against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it unfolded rather predictably. Baseball’s richest team scored early, scored late and scored a lot in between during a blowout win at Nationals Park.

When the Nationals’ six-game homestand started to wind down Wednesday evening, a third straight series loss on the horizon, there was already an air of resignation to the proceedings. The St. Louis Cardinals had chased Washington’s starter early. The Nationals’ offense was struggling. Their besieged bullpen was left to carry them to the finish line.

Yes, the Nationals’ eventual 6-1 loss, the club’s seventh defeat in the past eight games, could have gone a lot worse. But it nonetheless represented a missed opportunity in a season whose vibes have changed notably in the past week.

There was no shame in dropping a series to the defending World Series champion Dodgers and their nearly $400 million payroll, just as there’d been no shame in leaving a competitive series against the Philadelphia Phillies with just one win. But there could be misgivings about losing a rubber match to the considerably less expensive Cardinals (7-5) and leaving the comforts of home with the fewest wins in the National League.

Now the Nationals (4-8) will head to Milwaukee for a weekend series after an uncharacteristically quiet day. They finished with just four hits, drew just one walk and got just one runner into scoring position after the third inning.

“It’s tough,” said left fielder Daylen Lile, who went 0-for-3 and was one of four Nationals to get on base. “It’s part of the game. It’s still early in the season. We still got a lot of baseball left. So all we can do is just keep trusting each other, keep believing in each other, believe in ourselves and just keep grinding.”

Washington starter Mike Mikolas took the mound Wednesday with some comfort in knowing that, after his last start, the only way was up. In a 13-6 loss Friday to the Dodgers, he allowed a career-worst 11 runs, the most ever by a Nationals pitcher in a single game. His ERA more than doubled over those 4 1/3 innings, to 14.46.

“I don’t think he was happy with his last outing,” manager Blake Butera said before the game, “so I think there’s some adjustments that he’s working on making.”

Butera said he hoped Mikolas would pound the strike zone and draw weak contact. Most important, he hoped the 37-year-old would give the Nationals a chance to get “deep into the game.” There was familiarity with St. Louis; five batters in the Cardinals’ starting lineup also started in Mikolas’ final appearance for the club last September.

But Mikolas (0-3) lasted just three innings, the shortest outing by a Nationals starter this season. He loaded the bases in the first, got out of trouble, loaded the bases again in the second, allowed a two-RBI single to first baseman Alec Burleson, got a mound visit from pitching coach Simon Mathews, then averted further damage.

Not even a scoreless, 14-pitch third inning could extend his day. Reliever Brad Lord was already warming in the bullpen, part of a plan to limit Mikolas’ workload after he threw 184 pitches over his first two starts.

“I didn’t give up as many runs as I did my first two outings — you know, that was nice,” said Mikolas, who made two All-Star appearances while pitching for St. Louis from 2018-25. “I didn’t give up any home runs. That was great. And my stuff felt much better. So I’m just going to be happy about those things. ... At the end of the day, I want to be as effective as I can be in whatever capacity that is. And I want to win as many ballgames as possible. So whatever that looks like, that’s what I’m here for.”

Added Butera: “He did his job.”

And, for a while, so did the relievers who followed him. Lord and Cionel Pérez combined to allow just two earned runs over four innings. Cole Henry nearly kept the Nationals within reach late until fading in the ninth inning, when he allowed two more runs as the Cardinals’ lead grew to five.

St. Louis starter Michael McGreevy (1-1), meanwhile, was mostly unbothered. The right-hander held a Nationals offense that had scored 15 runs over the first two games to one earned run — a third-inning grounder by first baseman Luis García Jr. — and four hits in six innings.

Washington, one of baseball’s best fastball-hitting teams, managed just two hits against a four-seamer that averaged 90.4 mph. At one point, McGreevy retired 11 Nationals in a row.

Even after McGreevy’s exit, Washington couldn’t so much as put a scare into the Cardinals’ bullpen. The Nationals grounded out once in the seventh inning, three times in the eighth and three times in the ninth. They finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position overall.

“I think we’ve shown a lot of spurts of what we can do,” Lile said.

Now the Nationals, long pegged for another rebuilding season, will need to grow on the road. The Brewers won’t give in easily. Neither will the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Washington still has time to smooth out some of its rougher edges.

If the Nationals can’t, however, there will be only so much hope awaiting them in their return home next week.

This article has been updated.