WASHINGTON —
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Martinez is 493-609 in eight seasons.
“I played this game a long time,” Martinez said. “Never once have I blamed a coach for anything. We worked our asses off to get better, they gave us information and we used it. These guys understand what the game is, man. I never had a such a group of coaches that work as hard as they do.”
Washington’s offensive issues have been particularly acute this month. The Nationals rank last in the majors in runs (30), walks (23), on-base percentage (.267) and slugging percentage (.304) in June and are 29th in both home runs (six) and batting average (.216) over the past two weeks. They have scored more than three runs in a game only twice this month.
The Nationals went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position Saturday, including Amed Rosario’s fly out and James Wood’s popout with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to end the game. The Marlins scored their fourth run when Washington second baseman Luis García Jr. dropped a pop fly with two outs in the eighth inning.
“These coaches, they work their asses off,” Martinez said. “And I know every coaching staff is like that. And the players know. Sometimes you have to put the onus on the players and they have to go out there and they have to play the game and play the game the right way. We can’t hit for them, we can’t catch the ball for them, we can’t pitch for them, we can’t throw strikes for them. They’ve got to do that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
