Patrick Corbin solid, but Nationals shut out by Aaron Nola and the Phillies, 6-0

Winless in his last three starts, (0-2), with a 5.19 ERA and a .324/.364/.563 line against in 17 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched in those outings, Patrick Corbin talked after he gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings against the Philadelphia Phillies last week in D.C. about continuing to build up in this odd 2020 campaign.

“I feel each time I’m out there my arm is feeling better and better,” Corbin said, “feel like I’m locating better, and just more consistent with all my pitches.

“Just have to keep working out, keep doing all my things in-between, throwing bullpens, things like that to finish this season strong.”

He put together another good start last night in Citizens Bank Park, but couldn’t help his team avoid a fourth straight loss...

Facing the Phillies again in consecutive outings, Corbin tossed four scoreless on 70 pitches to start, but gave up a leadoff home run on a 1-1 slider up to Alec Bohm that the rookie third baseman hit out to left in the fifth, and the Nationals’ starter ran into trouble with two out in the inning, with Rhys Hoskins, on a single to left, and Bryce Harper, on a walk, reaching base in front of J.T. Realmuto, who hit a 1-1 sinker through the right side for an RBI single that made it a 2-0 game.

Patrick Corbin’s Line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 Ks, 1 HR, 92 P, 55 S, 5/2 GO/FO.

The Phillies added four more in the bottom of the sixth to blow things open in the second of four in Citizens Bank Park, which they went on to win, 6-0.

“His pitch count got up high,”Davey Martinez said when asked about ending Corbin’s outing when he did.

“He was at 93 pitches in five innings, that was good. That was good. I talked to him when he came out.

“[Corbin] said he was good right there. I’m going to listen to him. He said he was getting a little fatigued, but he kept us in the ballgame. That’s all you can ask of these guys, and we turned it over to the bullpen.”

“I felt okay there,” Corbin explained, “... just when you throw around 90-something pitches through five, I got ahead of a couple guys there earlier, 0-2, 1-2, got ahead, and just wasn’t able to finish them.

“And they fought off some good pitches and I wasn’t able to throw something better. Just need to continue to work on that, work on some location. These guys are a deep lineup, they have some veteran hitters in there who will make you throw strikes. So, you got to be on your game.”

Overall, the 31-year-old southpaw said he felt good while he was in the game.

“They extended some at bats, got the pitch count up, but it’s a tough lineup over there, tried not to make any mistakes there,” Corbin said.

“Just the home run was a breaking ball that wasn’t located very well, and he put a good swing on it, but other than that I felt alright.

“The pitch count got up higher than I would like. Didn’t finish guys today.”