The Washington Nationals suffered a tough loss against the Miami Marlins on Friday night, as their most recent losing streak continued in unceremonious fashion. It was rough from the beginning, as Mitchell Parker gave up a homer to the second batter of the game, and the Nationals never could come back and take the lead.
Despite a late comeback effort following a long rain delay that saw the Nationals score 7 combined runs in the 7th and 8th innings, they ended up falling to the Marlins by a score of 11-9, and their record dropped to 30-39. The offense has absolutely sputtered recently, and hopefully things can improve there very soon before the calls for personnel changes to be made grow louder.
With the Nationals and Marlins scheduled to play early on Saturday following their late night game on Friday, it will be interesting to see if the bats can remain alive, or if they will continue to look putrid as they have the entire month of June. One thing is for certain, and that is that the team will be without lefty reliever Andrew Chafin, who is headed to the 15-day Injured List with a right hamstring strain.
Chafin's injury is just another string of bad luck for a team that has seen many pitchers be snakebitten by the injury bug in 2025. Whether it is guys like DJ Herz, Josiah Gray, Orlando Ribalta, Derek Law, Mason Thompson, or even more, the team has been forced to make it work without several key arms at their disposal, and now is no different.
As the corresponding move to take the roster spot of Chafin, the Nationals recalled righty reliever Ryan Loutos, who was just claimed off waivers a few days ago from the Los Angeles Dodgers. While Davey Martinez will now be swapping out a lefty for a righty, the reality is that the Nationals just need healthy arms that are capable of getting 3 outs.
Whether Loutos can do it at the big league level remains to be seen, as he has only worked a handful of games in the majors between his time with the Cardinals and Dodgers. His numbers at AAA this season have been very solid, with a 2.75 ERA in just 16 games, and also has 16 strikeouts to boot. He is only 26-years-old, so perhaps the Nationals will be able to look back and say they found themselves a hidden gem in Loutos.
What do you think of the latest Nationals roster move? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.