Nats looking for answers with bases loaded

WASHINGTON -- Just before the start of the hour and 44 minute-long rain delay, the Nationals started putting something together offensively. A three-run homer from Yan Gomes tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. However, a blown bases-loaded situation cost the Nationals their third straight to the Dodgers on Saturday.

“Oh, it was huge,” said manager Dave Martinez on Gomes’ game-tying home run. “You know, we come back, we scored three runs. Then, the rain. The rain slowed our momentum down. Then we got to come back out and regroup.”

In the 5-3 loss at Nationals Park, both teams put up three runs in the fourth inning before the delay hit with one out in the top of the fifth. The game resumed at 10:20 p.m. ET, and the Dodgers quickly picked up an unearned run off of reliever Wander Suero in the top of the sixth.

• Box score

Washington had the opportunity to match its opponent and then some, loading the bases in the bottom half of the same frame. After Juan Soto reached base on a forceout at second, Starlin Castro walked and Gomes was hit by a pitch, the scene was set for a potentially magical moment. As trainers checked on Gomes at first, Gerardo Parra walked toward the batter’s box. The stadium erupted in a chorus of “Baby Shark,” complete with hand motions and clapping along to the left fielder’s walk-up song.

With two outs on the board, though, Parra struck out on four pitches, ending the inning and the Nats’ late rally.

This team has struggled all season in high-leverage situations, owning the third-worst batting average in MLB with the bases loaded entering Saturday (.197). Twenty-three times this season, including Parra’s at-bat, a Nationals player has struck out in that situation.

The Nationals are working with a far different lineup than they started the month -- even the series -- with. Slugger Kyle Schwarber was placed on the 10-day injured list along with catcher Alex Avila prior to Saturday’s start. Trea Turner remains day to day with a jammed left middle finger, sidelining him for the third game of the series.

• Nationals' injuries & roster moves

Injuries led Martinez to move a few things around in order to try and jump-start his offense. For the second game in a row, pitcher Jon Lester was called upon to pinch-hit, recording an inning-ending strikeout in the bottom of the fifth. Parra started in left field in place of Schwarber, his fourth start of the season.

It’s not to say that any other player would have recorded a hit in the bases-loaded situation. But it is in moments like that where Schwarber’s bat is missed.

The “injury rat,” as Max Scherzer called it on Friday, showed just how much damage it did when the Nats had yet another rally going, this one in the bottom of the ninth. After getting runners on first and second with no outs, Martinez had only Josh Bell available to pinch-hit, forcing Parra and the just-acquired Alcides Escobar to hit for themselves.

“No, no,” repeated Martinez when asked if Bell or Turner could have been used earlier. “We want to get Bell to a spot where he could drive in some runs to win the game. Bell was going to hit. If we tie the game, he’s probably going to have to go play the outfield. And Trea would have been up after him.”

Instead, the battered roster led to two strikeouts from Parra and Escobar before Bell entered the batter’s box.

“As I was waiting on the on-deck circle, I was seeing what was happening and how the situation was going to play out,” said Escobar. “I was getting myself ready, obviously excited and trying to do the best and give myself the best opportunity to hit the ball hard somewhere. Unfortunately, I feel bad that I wasn't able to make good contact at all on that, and more than anything, that first swing … I look back and that's the one swing I kind of regret.”