Nationals 4, Reds 1

**Stardust** · 04-14-2012, 11:14 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Reds have been making every pitcher they face lately look like Tom Seaver. Saturday, they faced someone who was actually throwing like Tom Seaver.

The results were predictable.

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The Reds fell to Washington Nationals and Edwin Jackson 4-1 Saturday before at crowd of 35,489 at Nationals Park. The Reds have dropped the first three games of the series, scoring a total of four runs.

Jackson only allowed two hits. He walked one and struck out nine. He only needed 92 pitches to throw a complete game. Still, Reds manager Dusty Baker didn't blame hit hitters' approach.

"If you were patient, it was Strike 1," Baker said. "If you were aggressive, a lot of times it was a breaking ball. He was on. When a guy's on, you can come up with all the excuses. . . "

Baker was curious if Jackson was that good or the Reds hitters were that bad. He put the question to home plate umpire Tim Welke.

"He said, 'hey, he's that good,'" Baker said. "He was sharp. Everything looked like a fastball. It would be a breaking ball in the dirt . . . The worst thing you can face is a relaxed pitcher. When you're not scoring runs, they relax. That's what he did."

The Reds are down to a .191 average as a team. Their on-base percentage is .255. They haven't hit a home run six games.

Homer Bailey went six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits Saturday. He walked four and struck out three.

"The walks really hurt us," Bailey said. "They took some really good pitches. They're hot right now. They're on a roll.

The Reds took the early lead. Miguel Cairo doubled in the second. After Chris Heisey was hit by pitch, Drew Stubbs lined one into left to score Cairo. Cairo strained his left hamstring scoring on the play and left the game.

Bailey gave up the lead in the bottom of the inning. He walked Adam LaRoche to start the inning. The Reds nearly turned a double play on a Jayson Werth grounder to short. But Werth beat the throw by a step.

Bailey got Rick Ankiel for the second out. But Jesus Flores singled to get Werth in.

The Nationals took the lead in the third. Bailey walked Danny Espinosa with one out. Ryan Zimmerman reached on a broken-bat infield single. LaRoche doubled to right to get both runners in and make it 3-1.

"We felt like we had a shot," Baker said. "But he didn't put a baserunner on for a long period of time. When you're not scoring runs, that 3-1 looks liked 7-1. Then it got to be 4-1."

Jackson went on serious roll after Stubbs' hit. He had retired 16 in a row going into the eighth. Chris Heisey snapped the string with a four-pitch walk to start the eighth. But Jackson proceeded to strike out Stubbs, Devin Mesoraco and Scott Rolen to strand Heisey.

Jackson worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the job.

The Reds wrap up the series today with 1:35 game.

"We've got to get out of here with one, then have a nice off day and go onto St. Louis," Baker said.http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120...|text|Reds