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Nationals right-hander Doug Fister called his Thursday start in Pittsburgh "inexcusable." But it was no worse than some of his others lately.
Fister, who added that his sinker was moving sideways rather than down, needed 99 pitches to get through five innings in which he allowed four runs on nine hits. He walked one and struck out six in lowering his record to 3-6.
His problems began immediately on an RBI triple by Starling Marte in the first and Pedro Alvarez homer in the second. A run-scoring double by Jung Ho Kang in the fifth added to his misery.
Fister, who put up almost identical numbers in his previous outing, has surrendered 28 runs in 43 innings over his last eight starts to send his ERA soaring from 2.87 to 4.50.
