The Washington Nationals will try to break out of their offensive slump when they host the Texas Rangers in the rubber game of their series on Sunday.
After scoring nine or more runs in four straight games last week, Washington has scored a total of nine runs in their past six games, but thanks to solid pitching have managed to win two of them.
They were shut out 5-0 on Saturday. Granted, the Nationals were facing Jacob deGrom and the 36-year-old right-hander, who has allowed two earned runs or less in 10 consecutive starts, pitched seven strong innings. Still, pitchers less storied than deGrom have stifled Washington of late.
“Hitting’s not easy,” manager Dave Martinez said after Saturday’s loss. “Hitting comes and goes. You’re not going to freaking hit every day. I say it every day; it’s tough. But you’ve got to be able to work, and in a game like today, try to scratch and claw to get a couple runs and stay in it.”
The Nationals are 11th in the National League with a .239 team batting average.
Thanks to deGrom’s dominance, Texas snapped a four-game losing streak Saturday.
“It’s hard to quantify how much he means to the club,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s just so consistent, and he sends such a sense of confidence with his club when he’s on the mound.
The Rangers are now 22-4 when scoring at least four runs according to MLB.com. Texas starters have the best ERA in the American League (2.88).
However, Texas will throw a bullpen game on Sunday with left-hander Jacob Latz (0-0, 2.95 ERA) starting things off. He has worked seven scoreless innings over his last five games and could pitch multiple innings on Sunday.
Washington will counter with right-hander Trevor Williams (3-6, 6.03). Williams struggled for a month but appeared to turn things around when he pitched six scoreless innings in a win against the Seattle Mariners on May 28. Last time out, however, he allowed five runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings of Tuesday’s home loss to the Chicago Cubs.
“I have to do a better job of shutdown innings,” Williams said. “Especially when our offense puts up one run or two runs, I have to do a better job of that. Work in better counts for myself. I did a poor job today of not winning the 1-1 counts or the 0-0 counts.”
On Saturday, Marcus Semien had two hits — including a two-run double that made it 4-0 in the eighth — and drove in three runs in his second game in the cleanup spot for Texas. He has 13 hits over his last 25 at-bats.
“Marcus, big day,” Bochy said. “He came up big. … It’s good to see him swinging like that. We got runners on base and finally broke it open.”
Sam Haggerty went 3-for-5 and scored twice.
Robert Hassell III had one of Washington’s three hits Saturday and has hit safely in eight of his last 10 games. He is batting .317 (13-for-41) in that span.
–Field Level Media
