The loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in Thursday's series finale was the Washington Nationals' third straight loss overall and their fifth loss in the last ten.
The Nationals, who were shut out in each of the last two games against their NL East rivals from the City of Brotherly Love, ended the series in the midst of a streak of twenty-two straight scoreless innings.
Nats' skipper Dusty Baker was asked for his feeling on the scoring drought last night?
"How are you supposed to feel when you see a bunch of zeroes up there?" Baker said. "But we hit some balls on the nose, you can't guide the ball."
"We tried about everything. It was one of those days when not much worked our way. Offensively or defensively."
It was a frustrating way to end a homestand that started with three straight wins over the Minnesota Twins.
After twenty-one games, the Nationals headed out for the ten-game road trip that starts tonight in St. Louis at 14-7 overall, in first place in the NL East, but not exactly firing on all cylinders.
"We'll get it fixed," Baker said. "It's just not easy while you're in it and it doesn't take long to really get in a funk like that.
"We don't have any choice, you've just got to keep playing and keep grinding and hopefully we'll get it fixed on the road trip."
"These last three games here weren't very easy to take, but you've got to take it," Baker continued.
"You know you're going to go through some ups and downs and some rough streaks during the season and this was certainly tough this week, yeah."
Baker was asked how you going about fixing what is currently ailing the Nationals?
"If I knew at the moment, I would have fixed it a long time ago," Baker said.
"So, like I said, we'll get it fixed. You've got to work your way out of these things. We're getting good pitching and that's where it starts. And you've just got to go back to work, it's that simple."
The Nationals get back to work at 8:15 PM EDT this evening in the series opener with the Cardinals.
Here's the lineup Baker is sending out behind Stephen Strasburg in the first game of three in St. Louis:
We open up the series in St. Louis tonight at 8:15 PM ET. #OnePursuit pic.twitter.com/Jx8tKYNUBY
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 29, 2016