The Nationals put two runners on with one down in the first, but failed to drive either in. Johnny Cueto walked Bryce Harper in the first at bat of the second inning, but Harper was doubled up on a fly to the right-center gap by Wilson Ramos that Cincinnati Reds' right fielder Jay Bruce tracked down before turning, firing and doubling Harper up on a one-hop throw to Todd Frazier at first from the warning track.
Jayson Werth singled to start the fourth, but was stranded.
Wilson Ramos singled to start the fifth but only got as far as second base.
Harper walked with one down in the seventh, but was caught in a rundown when he took far too wide a turn and was tagged out trying to take an extra base on a dribbler to third on which Ramon Santiago threw too late to first to get Ramos.
Reds' reliever Jonathan Broxton walked Anthony Rendon with two down in the eighth, then hit Werth to put two on before Cincinnati's skipper Bryan Price went to Aroldis Chapman for the first out of a four-out save.
Ian Desmond walked to start the ninth when Chapman came back out, but he was thrown out trying to steal second on what Nats' skipper Matt Williams said afterwards was a designed play on which Harper faked a bunt so that Desmond could advance himself into scoring position in what was a 1-0 game in Cincinnati's favor.
In all, Washington was 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and seven runners left on base in what ended up a one-run loss to Cueto and the Reds.
Harper was asked after the game about his tough day on the basepaths. He said he thought for sure that Ramos got all of the fly to right-center in the second.
"I thought it was burned for sure," he told reporters. "Guys hit balls like that in this yard all the time and it usually hits off the wall or goes out of the yard. So, nothing I can do about it. Definitely would have scored if it was over his head. Bruce made a great play and came up firing and nothing I could do."
Getting caught up around second on Ramos' dribbler towards third?
"I was trying to go to third," the 21-year-old outfielder said. "Thought I had a bead on it and, you know, they got me."
His manager didn't really have a problem with that play, explaining that it was just a case of bad judgement and a bad jump.
"Certainly if the ball gets away from the first baseman or if there's an errant throw he can make it, but he didn't have a good enough jump," Williams said.
"Generally you see that when guys are on the move, when they're running, and that ball is dribbled to third like that they can take third, but again, he's aggressive, trying to make something happen. He just got caught."
Williams explained that the feint on the bunt when Desmond was caught stealing in the ninth was a play he called for himself, trying to take advantage of the scouting report on the Reds' closer.
"[Chapman is] 1.6 [seconds] to the plate," the first-year skipper said. "And we've got an opportunity there to get a guy in scoring position. So, we've run it a few times this year, it's worked. I don't know. Desmond didn't get the greatest jump, but that's a designed play that we work on and the fact that he is slow to the plate, we wanted to take a chance there."
Harper was supposed to fake a bunt to draw the infield in and then pull back as Desmond tried to steal second.
"He's not supposed to get it down," Williams said. "That's a designed play to steal second base. Depending on how quick he is... and he'd thrown over there twice. We got it, we just didn't execute."
"I was trying to get the bunt down the first pitch," Harper said, "and then the next pitch was a fake bunt, try to pull it back and let [Desmond] steal second and get him into scoring position. It's tough against Chapman. He throws 103 [mph] and I kind of have no shot, so..."
Desmond didn't get a good jump either and was thrown out by a few steps by Reds' catcher Brayan Pena, who'd thrown out seven of 21 would-be base stealers this season (33%), and added another caught stealing.
The Nationals didn't have many opportunities against Cueto, and didn't make anything of the opportunities they did get, running themselves out of some chances and failing to make things happen when they tried to.