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Nats struggling to find offense
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Braves infielder Yunel Escobar (right) sidesteps a sliding Austin Kearns as he completes a double play yesterday.
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Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz throws against the Washington Nationals during the first inning of an MLB baseball game, Saturday, April 12, 2008, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari) ------ 2 col. full Black & White Page B7
Greg Fiume/Getty Images
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Jeff Francoeur heads home after hitting a three-run homer in the first inning.
Greg Fiume/Getty Images
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With loss to Braves, Nationals' losing streak reaches nine
Date published: 4/13/2008
BY MATT EPPERS
WASHINGTON-- In his pregame press conference yesterday, Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta talked about the tough pitching match-ups his team always seem to face when it is struggling.
"It always works that way," Acta joked. "That's how it was last year. Whenever we were struggling, we faced guys like [Jake] Peavy or [Cole] Hamels."
In the midst of its current losing streak, Washington ran up against Tim Hudson Friday night. Hudson held the Nationals to three hits over eight shutout innings.
The Nationals faced another of Atlanta's vaunted starting pitchers yesterday in John Smoltz.
Washington fared slightly better against Smoltz than Hudson, but the overall result was the same: The losing streak continues.
Smoltz allowed one run on five hits through six innings, and Jeff Francoeur belted two home runs and drove in a career-high seven runs to propel the visiting Braves to a 10-2 win over the stumbling Nationals.
Much of the announced crowd of 32,532 had filed out by the time it was over.
Those who stayed, however, saw the Nationals lose their ninth straight game, the franchise's longest such streak since 2000.
"Obviously we're frustrated because we're losing," said Ryan Zimmerman, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI. "But the important thing is sticking together. You have to worry about [the losing streak], but you can't let it get the better of you."
After rain delayed the first pitch 91 minutes, the Braves wasted no time putting the game out of reach.
Cleanup hitter Mark Teixeira singled in a run in the top of the first off Nationals starter John Lannan.
Francoeur followed with a line-drive, three-run homer to left that gave Smoltz all the support he needed.
Washington put two runners on in the first and third only to see Smoltz escape jams. In all, the Nationals left 10 runners on base.
"We expect to be better," said Austin Kearns. "You don't tip your hat before the game at the tough guy on the mound. You've got to find a way to give yourself a chance."
In the top of the fourth, Lannan (0-2) loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk. Francoeur brought in two with a single to push the lead to 6-0.
Lannan finished the inning but did not return, charged with six runs on nine hits in four innings.
"Today, he was just unable to throw strikes and locate his pitches," Acta said of his starter. "He was missing the target by a couple of feet on some occasions. It put us behind the eight ball against a very tough team."
The Nationals got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth on Willie Harris' RBI triple.
On in relief of Lannan, Jason Bergmann then gave up an RBI groundout in the fifth and back-to-back home runs in the sixth.
Date published: 4/13/2008
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