The Washington Nationals offense remains flat after dropping their third straight game, this time a 6-3 finish against the St. Louis Cardinals
After a hot start to spring training, the Washington Nationals have turned ice cold with spring training coming to a close, falling 6-3 against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. This marks their third consecutive loss after falling to 11-7-3 in spring training.
One day after finishing with three hits and one run in a loss against the Marlins, Washington posted five hits and four errors in Sunday's loss.
Miles Mikolas made his third start of spring training after allowing five hits, four earned runs, three walks and just one strikeout in 4.2 innings, including one home run allowed.
That lone home run came in the bottom of the first inning after Mikolas gave up a 419 foot shot over the left field wall, bringing in a pair of runs after previously giving up consecutive singles.
Washington answered right back in the top of the second after Luis Garcia Jr. opened the frame with a single to right field before Brady House drew a walk. Joey Wiemer would then clear the bases with a 426 foot home run to left field to clear the bases and tie the game at three, but that would be the closest the Nationals would get on Sunday.
St. Louis answered back in the bottom of the inning after Mikolas allowed the first two batters to get on, though both were attributed to errors by Luis Garcia Jr and Dylan Crews. The Cardinals then hit a sac fly to take back the lead.
The Nationals would go down in order in each of the next three innings before Keibert Ruiz ended the cold streak with a single to right field, but nothing more with the offense falling flat over the last week.
With Clayton Beeter on the mound in the eighth inning, St. Louis added its sixth run of the day after an error by Randal Diaz, capitalizing on a chance made possible by a wild pitch by Beeter.
Washington will now return to action on Monday, March 16 against the New York Mets in the fourth meeting between the two NL East foes. First pitch is set for 6:10 PM with broadcast finally available for fans on MLB.TV. The next three games will be available for streaming, finally giving fans a chance to get a look at the new look Nats ahead of the expected final round of roster cuts with already four complete by manager Blake Butera ahead of year one.