Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper wore a grey Vegas hockey T-shirt late Friday, an ode to his hometown team in the NHL.
But the luck of Vegas or its playoff hockey team is not rubbing off on Harper or his teammates.
The Nationals lost a one-run game for the seventh time this season, falling 5-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Washington is now 1-7 in one-run games and began the day five games back of the first-place New York Mets in the NL East.
“We have to keep going. If we do that good things will happen,” said Harper, who was 0-for-3 with a walk. “Just keep going, just keep grinding. We are a good team.”
One of the bright spots was Nationals second baseman Howie Kendrick, who had three hits to lift his average to .303.
But he admitted not everyone in the lineup is pulling their weight.
He didn’t name names, but first baseman Ryan Zimmerman (1-for-5) is hitting .188 as the cleanup man and third baseman Wilmer Difo saw his average dip to .200 while also making an error.
“Hopefully this thing will turn around,” Kendrick said. “I think you have to stay positive. That is the only way you are really going to get out of it. We have been up and down with the bats a little bit. We have been hitting into some bad luck. Those things are going to turn around.”
“You just have to be who you are,” he added. “You have to go out and play your game. Hopefully that is enough that day. We have a lot of professionals in this locker room.”
The Nationals (11-15) have now lost five of their last six games and are just 3-8 at Nationals Park this season. Washington left 10 runners on base.
“I don’t get frustrated,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “At some point it will turn around. I really believe that. We just have to keep plugging away. We have been close. We just have to get the big hit.”
Difo, playing for the injured Anthony Rendon, drove in a run on sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to give Washington a 4-3 lead.
But first-place Arizona (18-7) responded with two runs in the sixth, taking a 5-4 lead on an RBI triple by A.J. Pollock and a sacrifice fly by Daniel Descalso.
Pollock tormented the Nationals all night, hitting a homer off starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg in the second inning and ending up with three hits.
Strasburg (2-3) gave up just six hits but was charged with five earned runs in 6.1 innings of work.
“His stuff was good,” Martinez said. “He kept us in the game.”
The Nationals had 11 hits, but left the bases loaded in the fourth as Harper struck out and Zimmerman grounded out to end the threat. Harper lined out to start the last of the ninth, Zimmerman grounded out and Moises Sierra fanned for the final out.
The Nationals tied the game at 2 in the third on a two-run homer by Kendrick, who hammered an 0-2 pitch over the fence in center off Arizona starter and winner Zack Godley.
Washington’s Andrew Stevenson, who had a career-high four hits Wednesday in San Francisco, got the start in center fielder over Michael A. Taylor.
Martinez said the Nationals wanted to be careful with Taylor, who injured his groin on a check swing Wednesday.
“I want to be cautious,” Martinez said.
Taylor pinch-hit in the eighth and grounded out.
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