The Washington Nationals carry an unwanted label into their road series against the Cincinnati Reds, which kicks off Tuesday night. Despite continued solid hitting, the Nationals have struggled mightily in the field, entering the matchup with a Major League-worst 39 errors—far ahead of the second-worst team, the Tampa Bay Rays, who have 28. The Oakland Athletics lead the league with just eight.
Washington committed five errors over the weekend while losing a series to the Miami Marlins, capped by a 5-2 defeat on Sunday. Beyond the official miscues, the Nationals also made mental errors on defense and costly mistakes on the basepaths, preventing them from fully capitalizing on three strong starts from their rotation.
The Reds, one of baseball’s better defensive units, halted an eight-game losing streak on Saturday and followed with a 5-0 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday, notching consecutive victories.
Washington will send right-hander Miles Mikolas (1-3, 7.44 ERA) to the mound Tuesday, while Cincinnati counters with righty Brady Singer (2-2, 5.63). Mikolas turned in his longest outing of the season Wednesday, earning a win by going 5 1/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins, allowing two runs on three hits. He surrendered his ninth homer of the year but issued no walks and struck out three.
Catcher Drew Millas recalled Mikolas’ pregame plan: “‘Drew, this is what we’re going to do today. We’re going to dominate the bottom. We’re going to be away. We’re going to be in. But we’re going to dominate the bottom, make them chase, and then pop the top.'”
Mikolas, who spent the previous seven active seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, is familiar with the Reds, posting a 6-9 record and 5.45 ERA in 23 appearances (21 starts) against them.
Singer has struggled in May, allowing eight earned runs over 9 1/3 innings in his last two starts. He gave up four runs in six innings of a no-decision against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, despite striking out a season-high six batters. Singer is 0-1 with an 11.05 ERA in two career starts versus Washington.
Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz collected three hits in his third straight multi-hit game, and Andrew Abbott pitched six scoreless innings in Sunday’s victory. Spencer Steer homered, and JJ Bleday added a two-run triple. Abbott benefited from several key defensive plays, including Steer’s catch of a foul pop at the dugout steps to end the first inning and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes’ backhanded stop on a sharp grounder to end the top of the fifth.
“Yeah, they’ve stepped up big for me,” Abbott said of the Cincinnati defense. “Key’s diving play to end one inning, and then Steer, and all the outfield plays. Guys step up in big ways. And I think we feed off the energy.”
For the Nationals, Luis Garcia Jr. recorded a triple and a double, drove in a run, and scored in Sunday’s loss. Daylen Lile had two hits, and Cade Cavalli allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings.
“We got a really good group of guys here, and it hurts when we lose, but we’re gonna bounce back and just keep competing,” Cavalli said. “I think over 162, we’ll look up and we’ll be happy with what we’ve done.”
