The Washington Nationals held a players-only meeting after their fifth consecutive loss on Wednesday.

They have lost 17 of their last 22 games and have fallen below .500 for the first time this late in the year since being 60-61 on Aug. 21, 2015.

"We're a good team, and we're going to go out there and compete with anybody," Bryce Harper said.

"We just have to keep grinding and keep doing our thing and good things will happen. We've never been in this position before, and I think it's an exciting time for us. In years past, we've won the division by a lot of games. We're able to be behind right now and I'm excited to get there and test it."

The meeting was called by a handful of veterans and Max Scherzer made a speech that occasionally got loud.

"I think anytime Max holds the meeting or holds court, there's going to be some yelling," Adam Eaton said. "In baseball, you don't have that type of intensity all the time, so it's a little different. I think guys gravitate toward that. I think everybody has a kind of intensity bone in their body, and sometimes things need to be said in that fashion."

Washington is seven games back in the National League East and 5.5 games back of the first Wild Card.