Dating back to last night, the Nationals are 0-for-their-last-15 with 10 strikeouts.
Somehow, some way, it keeps finding a way to get worse.
The Nats trail 1-0 after three innings tonight and have been set down in order by Kris Medlen to this point.
Nine up, nine down. Four strikeouts, five groundouts. Not a single ball hit out of the infield.
How much of that is Medlen, who has really looked sharp? How much of it is the Nationals, who continue to scuffle regardless of who is on the mound? Hard to tell. But this must be getting hard for Davey Johnson to watch.
Jordan Zimmermann has surrendered five hits through his first three innings, and Freddie Freeman gave the Braves an early lead three batters into the game when he singled in Jason Heyward, who led off the game with a double.
There's absolutely no life in Nats Park right now. This crowd is silent as silent can be.
Can't really blame 'em.
Update: Zimmermann has thrown 88 pitches through four innings and has already allowed seven hits and two walks.
Somehow, some way, he's managed to allow just two runs.
The Braves got one more in the fourth on Medlen's sacrifice fly to left-center, but thanks to Denard Span, who ran about 150 feet to track down Medlen's deep fly into the gap, as well as a couple big strikeouts of Jason Heyward and Freeman, Zimmermann left the bases loaded and got out of the frame without further damage.
Tanner Roark, the rookie right-hander who has yet to appear in a major league game and was promoted just yesterday, started warming in the Nats' bullpen in the top of the fourth.
Zimmermann probably isn't long for this game.
Update II: With one swing, the Nats have their first hit, their first two runs and a tie ballgame.
Jayson Werth crushed a center-cut fastball from Medlen deep to right-center with two outs in the fourth, his 16th homer of the season. Bryce Harper, who had walked ahead of Werth, came around on the two-run shot, which has tied this game 2-2.
Werth flipped his bat towards the Nats' dugout and gave a slow trot after launching the homer. I guess he better watch out for a pitch at his backside his next time up. Apparently that's how things are going these days.
Regardless, the Nats are back in this game. They only trailed by two prior to the Werth blast, but it sure felt like more than that.
Zimmermann, meanwhile, is done after just four innings of work. He's been pulled as we start the fifth, and Roark is now in for his MLB debut.
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