'Frustrating': Corbin's struggles continue

WASHINGTON -- As Patrick Corbin fell to 6-12 on the season and the Nationals were dealt their 11th loss in 12 games, manager Dave Martinez recognized a trend in the left-hander’s pitching frustrations.

“What I'm starting to notice is patterns for him,” said Martinez after a 12-2 defeat to the Braves on Saturday at Nats Park. “Once he gets past the second time through the order, I started noticing they just started sitting on his slider. He gets ahead, and he buries two in the dirt. They foul one off that could be a pretty good pitch, and then they just started sitting on his slider.”

Corbin’s ERA rose to 6.04 after giving up six runs off seven hits, including one homer, while issuing two walks and recording five strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings

Of Corbin’s 97 pitches (57 strikes), he threw a mix of 55% sliders, 31% sinkers, 11% four-seam fastballs and 3% changeups. Martinez would like to see that breakdown change later in games, which he plans to discuss with Corbin on Sunday so the ninth-year veteran can work on implementing these adjustments before his next start.

“I think the first two times around, he threw an abundance of sliders to [Jorge] Soler, [Ozzie] Albies. They swung at them,” Martinez noted. “Then the third time up, you saw Soler not swing at any. He threw a fastball that was really close, 3-2, that was a ball. But it was close, and he froze him. So when I see that, I said, ‘They're just sitting on sliders.’

“We need to talk to him about starting to make adjustments the third time through. His fastball -- especially his two-seamer -- is electric. He's throwing 94-95 [mph]. I really believe he needs to start throwing that a lot more later in games, because it does have some action on it, and he can get the ball down in the zone with it.”

Corbin held the Braves scoreless the first two frames before allowing two runs in the third off an Albies RBI triple and a Freddie Freeman RBI single, both hit into center field.

Before the game, Martinez spoke about wanting to get Corbin through the “one tough inning that typically bites him a little bit,” which turned out to be the fifth on Saturday. Albies homered off a changeup in a seven-pitch at-bat, and Dansby Swanson plated two runs with a single to push the Braves' lead to 6-1 by the end of Corbin’s outing.

“I don’t think it’s mechanical or physical, just kind of not getting results,” Corbin said. “I feel like I’m making a lot of great pitches and then something spirals out of the way. Make one mistake or a couple and it kind of leads to some runs. Obviously, it’s been frustrating. I’ve been saying this over and over and over. But, I mean, nothing I can do about it now. I’ve just got to continue to try to get better. All I know how to do that is to come to the field, work, work on anything I can and try to move on.”

Corbin has allowed a Major League-high 85 earned runs this season, and he still is searching for his first win since July 7 in San Diego.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there again and trying to turn this around,” Corbin said. “I’m just not executing and doing what I’ve done before, so it’s frustrating. … I feel like I’m competing, I’m out there trying to do my best. Things aren’t just working out right now.”

The Nationals struggled to provide run support for Corbin. They were held to two runs by the Braves for the second game in a row.