MIAMI -- Not much has gone right for the Marlins this season. Whether it be injuries, bad breaks or lack of execution, one thing remains in their control: effort.

In the midst of their second skid of at least seven games this season, manager Skip Schumaker made an example of Jesús Sánchez during Monday night’s 7-2 loss to the Nationals at loanDepot park.

With one out in the third inning, Alex Call deposited a pitch from left-hander Trevor Rogers in front of Sánchez in the right-center gap. Once Sánchez retrieved it, he took a few steps back and held onto the ball too long before throwing into second base. Call was hustling the entire time (29 ft/sec sprint speed), sliding in ahead of shortstop Tim Anderson's tag for a double.

To make matters worse, Anderson sustained a mild left thumb sprain on the play and is day to day. Sánchez was replaced by Vidal Bruján, who pinch-hit for Sánchez in the bottom of the third. Dane Myers took over in right field.

“I have literally no rules except for giving me everything you have,” Schumaker said. “He lost the ball in the lights. I've lost the ball in the lights many times. After that, I felt like the effort wasn't there, and so I decided to remove him from the game. Sánchez plays hard. He's a good kid. He wants to play every day. There's teaching moments. He hurt himself. He hurt the team by me having to remove him from the game. I know he feels bad about it now, but there's just no excuse for not giving me or his teammates 100 percent every time he's out there.

“It's the Major Leagues. You are blessed to play this game, so blessed to be out there. There's 20,000 or so that's ever done this before, so you give everything you've got until you're removed from the game -- or we'll find someone else that can do that. I will say that every guy gives us everything they have. Besides what the record is, everyone is working. But I expect and our staff expects and the clubhouse expects 100 percent effort when you're out there.”

Once Rogers retired the side in a two-run frame, Schumaker met Sánchez at the bottom of the dugout stairs. Sánchez briefly walked into the tunnel before returning to the dugout and sitting by himself for most -- if not the remainder -- of the game.

“I made a mistake, and something that you have to learn from [are] your mistakes,” Sánchez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I cannot give you guys an excuse or anything. It was a mistake.

“I know Skip trusts me a lot. And one of the things he likes from all of us is to give 100 percent every time we are out there, so I made a mistake. I learned from it. You know, I've got to give all I've got tomorrow.”

Losing Sánchez was tough for a lineup desperate for runs. He had singled in his first at-bat of the game, improving his average to .360 over his last nine games after a slow start to the season. Sánchez has been part of a platoon with Avisaíl García, who landed on the injured list on Sunday, and now Myers.

“It was just the matter of I disrespected all my teammates,” Sánchez said. “That's one of the things that actually I was not feeling well, because it's a terrible feeling. And I know that I'm an important piece of the team that I could help, and I took myself out of the game.”

The play epitomized Washington’s aggressiveness on the basepaths. The Nationals are tied for first in the Majors in stolen bases after 12 in the four-game-series sweep.

“They know who I am,” Schumaker said. “The club knows who I am. We have some guys that we've talked to that are frustrated. I get it like an at-bat where you just miss a pitch and you're frustrated and sometimes you don't run 100 percent down the line. Well, we tell you, ‘Once you do that, you've got to run, and next time, you're out of the game.’ We've had those conversations before, and guys have been great. They understand, ‘I messed up,’ and then you move on.

“‘You're grown men and you're big leaguers.’ But you don't want it to become a thing. You don't want that to be your identity. And I think people that have been around me know me, that that's just not who I am and that's not how I was raised. I give you everything, I expect you to give us everything. So it's not just for the staff. It's more like your teammates, and give your teammates everything you have. That's probably what upsets him most when he looks at the video of like, ‘Yeah, I messed up.’”