Cleveland, OH - This afternoon, the Washington Nationals lost against the Cleveland Guardians, 3-2. The Nationals couldn’t pull off a series-tying win this afternoon. Tomorrow, they’ll look to avoid the sweep.

The Nationals are now 26-31 for the season. Entering Saturday night, they are still in third place in the NL East and are 16-18 on the road. The Nationals are now 5-4 in this 18-game stretch without a day off.

Several miscues on offense and defense in today’s game for the Nationals could have led to a win.

LHP Mitchell Parker pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits. He struck out five and faced 25 batters. Parker now has a 4-3 record as he got the loss for the Nationals. The Nationals bullpen was also impressive this afternoon by only giving up one hit, no runs, and striking out two:

• RHP Dylan Floro went 0.2 innings, giving up only one hit, no runs, and striking out one.
• RHP Derek Law went 1.2 innings, giving up no runs and no hits, striking out one and walking one.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Nationals put together two runs on six hits. They went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base.

The Guardians got off to an early 3-0 lead when they scored twice in the bottom of the first and put up one run in the bottom of the third. It wouldn’t be until the top of the fourth, thanks to an RBI ground ball by Joey Meneses and a bloop fly ball by Jesse Winker, pulled the Nationals to within one entering the late innings of the game. That is all the Nationals would score today.

With Davey Martinez’s second ejection of the season in the top of the third after Jacob Young was called out by home plate, umpire Malachi Moore called on what looked like a foul ball on an up-and-in pitch but was called a swinging strike by Moore. Miguel Cairo finished out the game as the manager for the Nationals.

Next, the Washington Nationals will finish the weekend series and the road trip against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Nationals will send RHP Jake Irvin (2-5, 3.43 ERA) to the mound and will face right-hander Carlos Carrasco (2-4; 5.16 ERA).

Carrasco has faced the Washington Nationals nine times (2-3; 34.1 IP; 29 SO, 13 BB) in his career and has a 5.24 ERA against the Nationals during his career.

Following this series, the Nationals will travel back to D.C. where they will open a seven-game homestand against the New York Mets (3 G) and Atlanta Braves (4 G).

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