The Washington Nationals' home-field woes continued Saturday afternoon as they dropped a 4-1 decision to the Milwaukee Brewers, officially losing the series at Nationals Park. Despite racking up nine hits, the Nats managed just one run—a frustrating pattern that's becoming all too familiar for a team now sitting at 15-19 on the season. Their 3-12 record at home is currently the worst in the league, a stat that no ball club wants to see a month into the regular season.
Starter Foster Griffin put in a solid six innings of work, striking out three and throwing 97 pitches. While he didn't allow an earned run, the Brewers still managed to take the lead on his watch. The trouble started early. After retiring the first two batters of the game, Griffin gave up a single, then walked two straight to load the bases. A fielding error by Brady House on a grounder opened the door for Milwaukee's first run, and a subsequent single pushed the lead to 3-0 before the Nats could even settle in.
Washington's offense finally showed some life in the fourth inning. Curtis Mead led off with a double to right field, and CJ Abrams brought him home with an RBI single—cutting the deficit to 3-1 and giving the home crowd something to cheer about. But that spark wouldn't last.
Brad Lord took over for Griffin in the seventh and managed to escape trouble, but the eighth inning proved costly. After allowing an infield single, Lord gave up back-to-back singles to load the bases again. A sacrifice ground ball pushed the Brewers' lead back to three runs, putting the game firmly out of reach.
The Nationals mounted a final comeback attempt in the ninth. Jacob Young singled to right, and Daylen Lile reached on a fielding error, putting runners on first and second with a chance to tie the game. But the rally fizzled as quickly as it started—a strikeout and a pop-up ended the threat and sealed Washington's fate.
For Nationals fans, the story is becoming all too predictable: strong pitching efforts undone by defensive mistakes and an offense that just can't string together enough hits when it matters most. If the Nats want to turn things around at home, they'll need to clean up the little things—and fast.