NEW YORK - Joe Ross pitched fairly well, but Jacob deGrom was better, shutting down the potent Nats offense in a 5-1 series finale Mets victory. deGrom went eight innings, allowing only one unearned run in the first at-bat, scattering three singles with two walks and six strikeouts. The Nationals mustered only four hits against Mets pitching on Sunday. Daniel Murphy's double in the ninth was their lone extra base knock. He now has reached base safely in all 29 games against his former...

The Nationals dropped the Braves 10-5, thanks to another offensive outburst that included a five-run sixth inning and 14 hits overall. Right-hander Joe Ross was unable to hold an early 3-0 advantage as the Braves scored five runs to take the lead into the bottom of the sixth. But the Nationals rallied again, thanks to a two-homer three-RBI performance by Ryan Zimmerman to snap a four-game skid. Manager Dusty Baker said the big bats against Braves knuckleballer R.A. Dickey provided some relief...

Against the Padres on Sunday, Joe Ross was unable to build off his last start. This was the same scenario that hurt him to begin the season. On April 19, he had a good start against the Braves. He followed that with two tough starts against Colorado and the Mets in which he allowed a combined 10 runs over 8 2/3 innings. After working on his mechanics at Triple-A Syracuse and building his velocity back up, Ross returned to D.C. and had a very solid effort in a 10-1 win over Seattle on May 23. In...

A lot of the talk to begin the season was about how important the likes of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman are to the Nationals' chance at repeating as National League East champions. But this week, some different names stepped to the forefront to try to snap a trend of two series losses in a row at Pittsburgh and at Atlanta. Tanner Roark and Joe Ross pitched well to begin the series against the Mariners, paving the way for two victories in a...

A positive start for Joe Ross on Wednesday night for Triple-A Syracuse. Ross pitched seven innings and allowed one run, scattering eight hits. He walked one and struck out six for his second win in a row, a 7-5 victory at Buffalo. He threw 99 pitches, 64 for strikes. He is now 2-2 with a 4.88 ERA. After Dustin Antolin struggled, Joe Nathan notched two outs for his fourth save of the season. Those on the ground report that Ross was pretty consistent throughout. He consistently hit 91-93...

With the unusual conditions in Denver, a start where your breaking ball doesn't break and your velocity is a tick off might be brushed aside. But when you can't go six or seven innings for the second straight start, is that cause for concern? Right-hander Joe Ross was held back at Triple-A Syracuse a couple of weeks before a fifth starter was needed in the Nationals rotation. Was that strategy simply meant to lessen Ross' work load? Or was it also a red flag concerning where his stamina is...

DENVER - It wasn't the best start for Joe Ross in Tuesday's 15-12 slugfest win for the Nationals over the Rockies. His slider wasn't sliding and his velocity was lower than usual. He said that having to warm up again after a 66-minute rain delay didn't help. Could his lower velocity be attributed to the rain and cold at Coors Field? "A little bit. It's kind of tough," Ross said. "I went out in my normal time just to get ready and then find out there's going to be a rain delay, plus...