Instant Analysis: Diamondbacks 3, Nats 2

The Nationals got the pitching they needed, but not the offense in the opener of an important series between NL wild-card contenders

Photo by Billy Sabatini / ALL-PRO REELS

The Nationals opened arguably the team’s biggest homestand in at least five years tonight, with an energetic crowd on hand and a fellow wild-card contender in the opposing dugout. Who’d have thought their best-in-baseball lineup would put up a tepid showing during a 3-2 loss to the Diamondbacks?

Dylan Crews supplied a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth off a high fastball from Eduardo Rodriguez. But the Nats squandered multiple opportunities for more off the Arizona starter, stranding a pair in scoring position in both the first and sixth innings. And they barely made a dent into the D-backs bullpen, going down quietly over the final three innings to leave a crowd of 36,065 disappointed.

The Nationals fell to 52-52, three games behind an Arizona club that currently holds the NL’s final wild-card spot.

For the fifth time in recent weeks, Blake Butera used Carson Palmquist as opener, hoping the left-hander would set the tone for a win for the first time. Palmquist proceeded to face eight batters, retiring only three of them (one via sacrifice bunt) while walking three and giving up two hits, before Butera summoned Zack Littell for bulk relief. Littell did allow both inherited runners to score before getting out of the top of the second, but the veteran was highly effective otherwise, tossing five innings of one-run ball.

Arizona took the lead in the top of the seventh when Tom Cosgrove replaced Littell with one on and one out and gave up a single, a four-pitch walk and a sacrifice fly to Gabriel Moreno. The rest of the bullpen kept the score right there, but the lineup (in a rare display) couldn’t do its part.

HITTING LOWLIGHT: Crews’ fourth-inning homer was a highlight. Unfortunately, it was the only highlight. The Nationals didn’t give themselves many scoring chances tonight, and they squandered the few they did have. With two on and one out in the first, CJ Abrams struck out and Crews flew out to center. And with two runners in scoring position and one out in the sixth, Harry Ford struck out, with Nasim Nuñez eventually grounding out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

PITCHING HIGHLIGHT: Littell entered with one out in the second, tasked with pitching out of a jam created by Palmquist. He did allow both inherited runners to score, but it was hardly his fault. Those two runs scored on a swinging-bunt single and a groundball that should’ve been an inning-ending, 3-6-1 double play but wasn’t cleanly turned by Luis García Jr. and Abrams. Once he got through that, Littell was outstanding, throwing strikes and keeping the ball in the park. He was still on the mound in the top of the seventh and did allow a one-out single to Ketel Marte that ended his night. Marte would score with Tom Cosgrove on the mound, the go-ahead run charged to Littell. But just like those two earlier runs, the right-hander really wasn’t much to blame for it.

NOTABLE: Jake Irvin threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings in a rehab start for Double-A Harrisburg tonight, allowing only two batters to reach base while throwing 63 pitches. Trevor Williams gave up six runs and was tagged for four homers in 4 1/3 innings for Triple-A Rochester, throwing 64 pitches.

UP NEXT: This weekend’s series is loaded with left-handed pitching, and we’ll get another southpaw showdown Saturday at 4:05 p.m. Foster Griffin makes an important start (maybe his last?) for the Nats against Arizona rookie Mitch Bratt. TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM