{"id":2677,"date":"2026-06-04T08:05:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2677"},"modified":"2026-06-04T08:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:05:02","slug":"nationals-are-swept-by-marlins-as-may-seems-a-distant-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2677","title":{"rendered":"Nationals are swept by Marlins as May seems a distant memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington gets little from its offense and falls below .500 ahead of long road trip.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Brazilian players from a Rio de Janeiro favela find hope and opportunities thanks to soccer<\/a><\/p>\n

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Washington’s Curtis Mead shatters his bat during a swing in the sixth inning against visiting Miami. (Imagn Images\/Reuters Connect\/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Washington Nationals\u2019 performance in May was a promising sign that they were making progress. They went 16-12, their best single-month record in nearly three years, climbed above .500 and had a staff that was outpitching its track record.<\/p>\n

The start of June, however, has been a bit of a return to reality. The visiting Miami Marlins beat the Nationals, 4-1, on Wednesday, sweeping the series and dropping Washington to 31-32. A team that was riding high on Sunday looked as flat as they had all season on Wednesday, reverting to old habits that hurt them in the first month of the season.<\/p>\n

The Nationals have an off day on Thursday, a timely opportunity to take a step back before beginning a three-game series at the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Miami came in and they punched us in the mouth,\u201d Manager Blake Butera said. \u201cI think it\u2019s up to us to go into this day off, use it to reset, flush it, and be ready to go in Arizona on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Alvarez got the start Wednesday, pitching from the first inning for the first time this season. He was inefficient in his previous outing, giving the Nationals only three innings and allowing three runs, but showed signs of improvement on Wednesday. He pitched 4 2\/3 innings, allowing a solo home run in the second inning to Esteury Ruiz but nothing else.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe threw the ball really well,\u201d Butera said. \u201cHe got in a little bit of trouble there early on, but then settled in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake Irvin is taking longer than anticipated to recover from a right shoulder strain. It had been thought he would return after his 15-day stint, but that will not be the case. Alvarez will be needed in the rotation for the foreseeable future, taking a lefty arm out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n

The impact was felt during this series, especially as Butera chose to stick to traditional matchups. On Monday, that meant sending out Richard Lovelady in the sixth inning, and on Tuesday, trusting Michell Parker in the ninth. Lovelady allowed two runs, and Parker allowed a home run, both taking the Nationals out of the game.<\/p>\n

The Nationals made no moves on Wednesday to try to replenish their bullpen. The options aren\u2019t plentiful in Class AAA either, especially since PJ Poulin hasn\u2019t been in Rochester for 15 days yet.<\/p>

Read more The NWSL Championship is coming to Washington<\/a><\/p>\n

After Alvarez was removed in the fifth inning, Brad Lord took over and got the Nationals through the next 1 1\/3 innings. He walked three but allowed no damage.<\/p>\n

Orlando Ribalta, who has become one of the Nationals\u2019 most reliable relievers, faced four batters in the seventh, passing the game to Clayton Beeter with runners on both corners. He struck out Kyle Stowers but ran into trouble in the eighth. Beeter loaded the bases on two walks and a single, and two runners scored on a single from Joe Mack to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead.<\/p>\n

In the ninth, Gus Varland let in a run and, at 32 pitches, couldn\u2019t make it through the inning, forcing the Nationals to bring in Paxton Schultz.<\/p>\n

The relievers fell behind often, a trait that hurt them in the first month of the season, and issued seven walks. Butera said it\u2019s on the staff to reiterate their messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just another reminder to tell these guys to attack the zone, believe in your stuff, get ahead,\u201d Butera said. \u201cWhen you play 162 games, there\u2019s going to be times where it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s get back to what we believe in and what\u2019s important to us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The offense, which leads the league in runs, didn\u2019t provide any help. Marlins starter Max Meyer held the Nationals to one run and two hits in seven innings. They fared no better against the bullpen, spoiling chances in the eighth and ninth innings on Wednesday. They went 2 for 20 with runners in scoring position this series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those series,\u201d Daylen Lile said. \u201cIt\u2019s baseball, it happens. If you look at the past, we\u2019ve done a lot collectively as an offense, and the Marlins came in prepared. It was just one of those series.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Marlins, Lile said, seem to play their best baseball against the Nationals. But the Nationals, compared with previous years, can point to their success in May, giving them the belief that they are better than what they showed this series.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur confidence is not getting torn down just because of one series,\u201d Lile said. \u201cWe still have a lot of confidence in our offense, so we just move on to the next series.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Sherpa guide missing for a week on Mount Everest rescued while crawling to base camp<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington gets little from its offense and falls below .500 ahead of long road trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNationals are swept by Marlins as May seems a distant memory - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2677\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nationals are swept by Marlins as May seems a distant memory - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington gets little from its offense and falls below .500 ahead of long road trip.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2677\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T08:05:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/667daf8d942efbe5cb67f5073334d788-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2677#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2677\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Nationals are swept by Marlins as May seems a distant memory\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T08:05:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2677\"},\"wordCount\":866,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2677#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b3d9feb5e910d189b728ee8fb87f2365-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2677#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2677\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2677\",\"name\":\"Nationals are swept by Marlins as May seems a distant memory - 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