WASHINGTON, D.C. - JUNE 8 - The Washington Nationals struggled again in today’s series finale against the Texas Rangers, leading to their fourth loss in the past six games. Trevor Williams had a passable outing, but the lineup struggled to find their footing at the plate, leading to a 4-2 loss.

Williams took the bump and gave the Nats an amazing effort. After a 1-2-3 first inning, he allowed a single to Marcus Semien to open the second frame. Evan Carter then made him pay for it with a home run that just cleared the out of town scoreboard, and would have been gone in just more than half of all MLB stadiums. While that put the Nats in an early 2-0 hole, that was all of the damage Williams would allow, despite additional threats throughout his outing. Manager Dave Martinez hooked him after a double in the fifth inning, ending his day with 4.1 innings pitched, in which he allowed six hits and no walks while striking out two. He threw 81 pitches, 55 of which were strikes. Out of Brad Lord, Jose A. Ferrer, Cole Henry, and Andrew Chafin’s 4.2 innings, the only earned run allowed was from Henry on a solo homer.

Offensively, some guys had good days, while the lineup struggled overall. Alex Call hit a solo homer to open the scoring in the fourth, and he was followed by a Nathaniel Lowe single to move a runner to third, prompting Josh Bell to bring him in on a groundout, tying the game. The lineup had six hits in total, two walks, but they struck out 11 times over the afternoon. It is now abundantly clear that change may be needed, as the team scored just four runs this series, and lost four of six for this homestand.

Up next…

The Nats will take Monday off in Queen’s before facing the Mets on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They will be without Nasim Nuñez, who was just sent down, but Andres Chaparro will join the team from Rochester. After this set, they will host the Marlins and Rockies before heading to the west coast.