Who’s to Blame for the Nationals 7-Game Skid? Not Davey Martinez and His Staff, According to Him

The fake comeback kids do it again as Nats rally falls short in the late innings for the third straight game

It was an all too familiar result for the Nats today, as despite their best attempts in the 9th to pull off the 4 run comeback, they fall short as James Wood pops out with the bases loaded.

Despite the rare solid start from Trevor Williams, who went 5 ¹⁄₃ innings and allowed just 2 runs, the Nats offense was yet again dormant. They scored just 1 run going into the 9th

which was gift wrapped and handed to them by the Marlins on 2 two out walks to bring in a run. Things started to click in the 9th, with 2 doubles, a walk, and an error putting the tying run on third and the go ahead run on first with 0 outs. Keibert Ruiz then pinch hit for Riley Adams and grounded out softly to first base, forcing the runner on third to freeze but moving the winning run up to second base.

With first open, CJ Abrams was intentionally walked to set up the double play. Amed Rosario followed this up with a fly out to left which Ricky Gutierrez surprisingly did not send the pinch runner Jacob Young on. While an understandable hold as the fly out was not very deep and your best hitter was coming up to the plate, but based on the actual throw it looked like Jacob Young would’ve scored and tied the game.

With the bases loaded and 2 outs, James Wood came up with a chance to be the hero, but couldn’t come through as he popped out to the shortstop Otto Lopez on a tricky play which saw him, third baseman Connor Norby, and left fielder Kyle Stowers all converge on the ball.

This loss drops the Nats to 30-40 on the season, having lost their last 7 games in a row and last 4 series. They are the only team in MLB averaging less than 3 runs per game in the month of June. Perhaps the worst part of it all, however, was Davey Martinez’s response to a question from Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post about how much of the blame fell on the players vs on the coaches.

Now it’s no secret Davey is extremely loyal to his coaching staff and never wants to throw them under the bus, but to claim that it is “never” the coaches fault when things are going wrong, in turn pinning it all on the players that he’s responsible for coaching, is unacceptable.

It’s a comment that clearly shows Davey is growing frustrated with the results on the field, and perhaps even the roster he’s been given to manage by General Manager Mike Rizzo. Either way, it’s a comment he may wish he could have back and likely won’t go over well in the front office.

MacKenzie Gore takes the mound tomorrow vs Eury Perez for the Marlins in a game that may very well decide the fate of this Nationals coaching staff, as 8 losses in a row and getting swept by the rebuilding Miami Marlins at home has got to lead to some kind of change.