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“We just got to continue to play good baseball,” Davey Martinez said after the Nationals’ 6-0 loss to the Rockies on Saturday. “I mean, we’ve been hitting the ball. I mean, this is the first time — I can’t remember the last time we got shut out, I really can’t.” Actually, it wasn’t that long ago.
Last Monday, actually, September 13th against the Miami Marlins in D.C. But ... before that it was back in June, the 11th of June, when the San Francisco Giants shut Washington out, 1-0.
But the point was the Nationals have been putting runs on the board recently.
“We’ve been scoring a lot of runs,” Martinez said. “So let’s come back tomorrow and start putting the ball in play again like we have been and stay in the middle of the field like we have been. We’ve been doing really well with that and score runs and see what happens.”
In Saturday’s game, the Nationals went just 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and eight left on base in their third straight loss, loading the bases in the second, and twice during the sixth, but coming up empty in those instances.
“I thing we’re just — we fall behind,” Martinez said after the Nationals fell behind 3-0 a half-inning in, and 6-0 in the fourth, “... and once again we just start to put all this pressure we got drive in all the runs when you go up there.
“It’s a lot different when all of a sudden you’re ahead, or things are rolling, and you see the at-bats are a lot different, they really are.
“Now, when you fall behind, you’re down 3-0 or 6-0, you want to be the guy to knock in all the runs.”
Getting too big in those situations is something Martinez is often talking about wanting to avoid.
Will the Nationals take advantage of their opportunities today, and avoid getting swept in the three-game series with the Rockies in D.C.?
HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE FINALE WITH THE ROCKIES:
Top of the morning.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 19, 2021
Top of the morning.
Top of the morning.
Top of the morning.
Top of the morning.
Top of the morning.
Top of the morning.#NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/iZQEwXyeif