Washington reaches season’s midpoint above .500, but the bullpen once more can’t close the deal.
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Here the Washington Nationals were for the second night in a row, holding on to a lead with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth inning.
And here they were Wednesday, for the second night in a row, with a bullpen that couldn’t finish. Derek Hill hit a two-run home run as the Phillies won, 5-4, taking what should have been a feel-good, bounce-back win for the Nationals and turning it into more heartbreak.
Tuesday’s 14-9 loss, in which the bullpen blew an 8-6 lead, was the most frustrating loss Manager Blake Butera said he had ever been a part of. So to have the same tale play out the next night? That was “another one” in the now growing category, he said.
“We have to find a way to get the last out of the ninth,” Butera said. “Whatever it is, mental, physical, somebody has to get the last out.”
This wasn’t how a team playing above expectations was supposed to celebrate reaching the midway point of the season. Even with the loss, they are 41-40, the first time they’ve been above .500 this late in the season since their World Series-winning campaign in 2019. There are reasons to be hopeful all around, from an offense that’s leading Major League Baseball in runs to an unexpected leading starter in Foster Griffin.
But there are reminders that this team is still rebuilding and has holes to fill. The Nationals were not expected to contend this season, and a bullpen is typically the last place a front office sharpens up when it’s time to compete. Yet the Nationals find themselves in this predicament, with an offense that’s ahead of schedule and a pitching staff that hasn’t been able to keep up.
The result is games like Tuesday and Wednesday’s. Team president Paul Toboni has been working the waivers — he picked up lefty Carson Palmquist, who started on Wednesday, last month, and righty Justin Lawrence on Wednesday. But those are projects, arms that could have potential but need shaping up to handle high-stakes situations.
“We’re throwing everything we have at these guys and giving every guy in the bullpen opportunity to finish the game for us,” Butera said. “We’re going to keep trying to find that guy.”
The Nationals jumped out to the lead once again after Luis García and Jorbit Vivas hit solo home runs in the first and second innings to get the Nationals out to a 2-0 lead.
Palmquist, in his first start for the Nationals, pitched 3 1/3 innings, giving up one run on two hits. He was followed by Miles Mikolas, who gave up two runs in the fourth inning but made it through the next 2 1/3 innings without allowing another run.
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The offense, as it has for most of the season, rallied. In the sixth inning, pinch hitter Curtis Mead hit a two-run home run to put the Nationals back on top, 4-3.
PJ Poulin got the Nationals to the ninth, and Orlando Ribalta got the first two outs of the last inning. But Ribalta, just like the Nationals’ staff on Tuesday, couldn’t put hitters away to get the win.
The Phillies sent out Kyle Schwarber as a pinch hitter, and the Nationals opted not to intentionally walk him. It was never a discussion, Butera said, because doing so would have brought the winning run to the plate.
But that happened anyway, because, despite a 10-pitch battle, Ribalta walked Schwarber. Butera turned to Richard Lovelady to see if he could get the final out, the skipper liking the matchup against Hill.
Five pitches later, Hill homered on a four-seam fastball that Lovelady said he wished he had elevated more. The two-run home run gave the Phillies the 5-4 lead, and the Nationals went down in order against Jhoan Duran in the bottom of the ninth.
“It sucks,” Lovelady said. “Losing last night’s game and being the reason for tonight’s game, especially the heck of a job by the guys before us, getting us all the way to the ninth inning, it’s the worst feeling.”
Earlier this season, after a similar bullpen demise in San Francisco, Butera gave a postgame speech. He felt the clubhouse needed to be fired back up.
He didn’t do so Tuesday, instead deciding, after surveying the scene, to let the clubhouse sulk. The Nationals played with energy for the first eight innings, but the night ended again with heartbreak.
But they know what they are capable of, and they’ve shown that in the first half of the season. All they can do, for the second day in a row, is flush it and try again.
“We have to keep going,” Butera said. “I thought there was energy, I thought we played well, just have to get that last out.”
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