Corbin rocky in reunion game against D-backs

PHOENIX -- For the 87th time in his seven-year big league career, Patrick Corbin took the mound at Chase Field. Only this time, he wasn’t wearing a D-backs uniform.

Corbin came to Arizona as a visitor for the first time this weekend, and on Sunday afternoon, the Nationals left-hander made his first career start against his former team. However, Corbin couldn’t help end the Nats’ recent rough stretch in his return to the desert.

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Washington dropped the series finale, 7-5, to Arizona as Corbin allowed five runs over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision. The left-hander hadn’t allowed more than three runs since June 11, as he had a 1.76 ERA over his previous eight starts entering Sunday.

The Nationals have lost seven of their last 10 games, dropping three consecutive series to the Dodgers, Braves and D-backs. However, they remain tied with the Phillies for the second National League Wild Card spot.

“You’re going to have games like this where you battle out there and things just didn’t go my way,” Corbin said. “We still had a chance to win today, it just didn’t work out. Guys will just throw this one away and come back tomorrow and be ready to go.”

After Corbin retired the side in order in the first, the D-backs quickly got to him in the second as Adam Jones hit an RBI double and Nick Ahmed belted a two-run double before an out was recorded. In the third, Corbin gave up a leadoff inside-the-park homer to Ketel Marte on a ball that got past center fielder Gerardo Parra, who dove and missed.

Washington tied the game at 4 in the sixth when Matt Adams scored on a passed ball. But the Nationals missed an opportunity to capitalize, leaving the bases loaded when Corbin grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning. Arizona then took the lead back against Corbin in the bottom of the frame on Jones' second RBI double.

“I never got in a rhythm out there, they had some good at-bats. Obviously, they’ve seen me, I’ve seen them,” Corbin said. “I just thought they put good at-bats together, made it tough on me and I just never really executed pitches as well as I have.”

Corbin added he felt the D-backs did a good job against his slider, a pitch they know the southpaw regularly goes to in crucial situations.

When asked about the possibility of pinch-hitting for Corbin in the sixth, Nationals manager Dave Martinez said he wanted to stick with the left-hander, who had thrown only 70 pitches at the time and has consistently worked deep into games this season. Prior to Sunday, Corbin had completed six innings in 16 of 22 starts.

“The reason why we’re playing well is because our starters have done well,” Martinez said. “He had his moment to go out there and get through that sixth inning, and then some. If he gets through the sixth inning quick enough, then he goes back out. He couldn’t do that.”

Although the Nats tied the game again in the seventh on Anthony Rendon’s RBI single, Jones came through for the D-backs again with a go-ahead two-run single off right-hander Wander Suero in the bottom of the inning.

Parra and Brian Dozier each hit a homer for Washington, becoming the first teammates in the modern era (since 1900) to go deep in the same game after both pitched the day before, according to STATS.

But the Nats didn’t have quite enough offense to overcome another big day for the D-backs’ lineup. After Arizona was shut out and held to only one hit in Friday’s opener, it tallied 25 runs in the final two games of the series.

As Martinez noted, a key to the Nationals’ success has been their strong starting pitching. However, Corbin and Stephen Strasburg, two of their most reliable starters, combined to give up 14 runs in the final two games of the series.

With Max Scherzer still out with a mild upper back strain, it’ll be even more crucial that Corbin and Strasburg get back on track to help Washington with its push toward the postseason. Martinez is confident that will happen soon.

“We’ll get it back together, we will,” Martinez said. “We’ve just got to get more consistent, got to have those shutdown innings again like we did when we were going really good, and we’ll go from there.”