The latest Washington Nationals game news & news & analysis as the Nationals fall 6-0 to the Athletics at Nationals Park.

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Athletics secured a commanding 6-0 shutout victory over the Washington Nationals in the rubber match this afternoon at Nats Park. Jacob Lopez delivered a brilliant performance on the mound, pitching 7.2 scoreless innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts while allowing only three hits.

The losing pitcher, Mitchell Parker, struggled through 5.0 innings, giving up six hits, four earned runs, three walks, and striking out four, and giving up one home run. Parker threw 85 pitches, and 52 of them were strikes.

Parker’s season record now stands at 7-12 with a 5.43 ERA over 23 appearances and 122.2 innings pitched. Reflecting on his outing, Parker admitted, “I fell behind too many times and had to leave too many good pitches over the plate. They’re an aggressive team, so giving them their pitch usually doesn’t work out well.”

Offensively, the Nationals continued to struggle, managing just three hits and leaving two runners on base. However, players like Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III showed signs of promise. Hassell's double extended his hot streak to a .400 batting average over his last six games. Lile commented on facing Lopez’s tricky pitching style: “Just the arm angle. He was kind of a sidearm guy, and everything was coming from behind me at a crossfire angle. It was a tough at-bat.”

Daylen Lile went 1-for-3 at the plate, and over his last 17 games, he is hitting .277 (18-for-65) with four doubles, three triples, and one home run. Robert Hassell III also recorded a hit, going 1-for-3 with a double. Hassell has now reached base safely in five of his last six games and is batting an impressive .400 (6-for-15) during that span, with four doubles, one home run, five RBIs, one walk, and three runs scored.

Catcher Riley Adams contributed one of the Nationals’ hits today, going 1-for-3. In his last seven games, Adams is hitting .286 (6-for-21) with two home runs, one double, two walks, two RBIs, and four runs scored. On defense, he has thrown out a career-high 12 of 35 attempted base stealers this season, including catching Darell Hernaiz stealing in the eighth inning.

Nationals Interm’ manager Miguel Cairo explained his lineup choices against left-handed pitchers: “House hasn’t been hitting well against lefties. I wanted to start Paul DeJong because he’s been swinging well. JB isn’t hitting well against righties but does better left-handed, so I gave Luis García Jr. a chance at second base to see if he could perform better. I need to improve my lineup strategy against lefties.”

The Athletics’ offense got contributions from multiple players. Colby Thomas hit his first career home run—a two-run shot in the second inning—and drove in a career-high three RBIs. Tyler Soderstrom added his 21st homer in the eighth inning. Max Schuemann had a career day with three doubles and a run scored, Darell Hernaiz hit his first career triple and scored twice, and Brent Rooker added two hits and a stolen base.

Cairo offered his outlook on the team’s progress: “We have 26 players and 10 coaches. We have to do our job and get better. We’ve got seven weeks to improve. Yesterday it was encouraging to see the guys battling, and they're still fighting every day and working hard. But today, we just couldn’t get it done against Lopez.”

The Nationals have struggled both in this homestand and in August, as they have only won one game so far. During this homestand, the Nationals went 1-5 and were outscored 61-23.

The Nationals now head west for a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants starting tomorrow night and will visit Kansas City to face the Royals next week. Perhaps the road trip will help reset the team as they enter the second half of the season.