LOS ANGELES _ Two baseball teams heading in very different directions opened a four-game series at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night. The Washington Nationals arrived in Los Angeles in utter disarray. The Los Angeles Dodgers owned the National League's best record. For three hours and 11 minutes Thursday, the opposite seemed true.
After steamrolling through the Atlanta Braves to begin the week, the Dodgers were sloppy and silenced in a 6-0 loss to the reeling Nationals. They committed three errors. They mustered six hits and were shut out for the third time this season. They were again overmatched by left-hander Patrick Corbin in a replica from their encounters in 2018 and squandered their few scoring opportunities.
The lousy combination snapped their 10-game home winning streak and the Nationals' four-game losing skid.
"Corbin just kept making pitches," the Dodgers' Russell Martin said. "Kept getting us to chase outside the zone, disguising that slider really well behind that fastball. So it was one of those days the offense just couldn't get going."
Expected to compete for the National League East crown despite losing Bryce Harper, the Nationals had dropped 11 of their previous 14 games entering Thursday and were coming off a dismal three-game sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers. They have been beset by injuries _ notably to Trea Turner, Juan Soto, and Anthony Rendon _ but a shoddy defense and baseball's worst bullpen have exacerbated the problems. Last week, they fired their pitching coach.
Rumblings about manager Dave Martinez's job status have grown louder.
Luckily for them, the first inning continued to plague Rich Hill. The left-hander didn't survive the first inning in either of his first two starts without giving up a home run. Thursday was no different.
"I just got to not do that," Hill said of his early-inning struggles. "That would be nice. I don't think there's an explanation for that. It's coming out and continuing to attack hitters."
Adam Eaton led off with a double. Two batters later, Hill hit Anthony Rendon with a pitch before Howie Kendrick blasted a curveball over the left-field wall.
"Just getting behind the eight-ball early put us in a tough spot." Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Four batters into the game, the Nationals led 3-0 and the Dodgers faced their first deficit since their walk-off loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday. It was all the run support Patrick Corbin needed.
After six seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Corbin's decision to sign a six-year contract with the Nationals was a minor offseason victory for Los Angeles.
It meant Corbin was out of their division, far, far away in the NL East and they'd face him no more than twice per season for the foreseeable future.
Corbin tormented the Dodgers in four starts in his final hurrah with Arizona last season. He allowed two runs in 231/3 innings, using his wicked slider to flummox the Dodgers.
It was more for the same in a different uniform Thursday. Corbin held the Dodgers without a hit for three innings. David Freese sullied the no-hitter with an infield single in the fourth. He singled again in the sixth and Russell Martin added one in the seventh. Those were the Dodgers' only hits again Corbin.
The left-hander accumulated eight strikeouts. He finished seven of them with a slider. He walked four and hit a batter, but the Dodgers couldn't capitalize on the baserunners.
The hosts hatched their best scoring threat in the fourth inning, loading the bases with Freese's single and two walks, but Chris Taylor grounded into an inning-ending double play. Austin Barnes grounded into another one in the seventh.
Corbin's night ended there, opening the door for the Dodgers to prey on Washington's dreadful bullpen. An opportunity arose against Kyle Barraclough in the eighth. Singles by Turner and Cody Bellinger put two on with one out for Alex Verdugo.
But the excitable rookie grounded out and the Nationals turned to closer Sean Doolittle, one of the sport's best closers, to face the hot-hitting Max Muncy. Muncy struck out on three pitches.
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