Ugly start in D.C. dooms last-place Phillies: 'This is a really humbling game' originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
WASHINGTON -- Even on a night when they made their biggest comeback of the season, the Phillies were unable to snap their latest lengthy losing streak, dropping a fifth straight game, 8-7, to the Nationals.
They were down six runs before the second inning was over, a shock to the system on a night when ace Zack Wheeler was on the mound. Wheeler was coming off eight scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts in Atlanta against the most powerful offense in the league but couldn't find his command against the team with the fewest homers and lowest slugging percentage in the NL.
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He was hurt big-time by his outfield defense. The Phillies let three catchable balls drop in for hits in the first two innings and two of them were one-out doubles that changed the trajectory of Wheeler's night and the game overall.
The Phillies are 25-32, as far under .500 as they've been since Rob Thomson's first night as manager last season. They are tied with the Nationals for last in the NL East. They're 11-22 on the road, better than only the Athletics and Rockies.
"This game is a really humbling game," said Nick Castellanos, who had his best night in a Phillies uniform with four hits and two home runs. "It forever owes you nothing. It doesn't matter how hard you worked the year previous or what you had in the past. You have to come and earn your meal every single night. I think it's just a reminder."
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The Nationals don't hit for much power but make a ton of contact. The Phillies' issues in the field began immediately. Kyle Schwarber took a poor route and was unable to catch a line drive by Jeimer Candelario in the first inning. Brandon Marsh broke in rather than back on a liner right at him, which sailed over his head for a CJ Abrams double in the second. A soft blooper also fell a foot or so in front of Castellanos in the first inning.
Those three plays cost Wheeler runs and perhaps a few dozen pitches. He labored through the first two innings on 61 pitches and his night might have ended after five outs had he not retired Corey Dickerson to end a high-stress second. That said, it wasn't all bad luck. Wheeler allowed his share of solid contact, as well.
"That cost us, cost Wheeler some pitches, but I was happy that they came back and kept fighting," Thomson said. "It looked like Schwarbs kind of took a banana route on that, and Marsh -- line drives right at you in center field are tough because it's kind of right at you and hard to judge. He came in a couple of steps and then tried to track it back and didn't get there."
Wheeler's short start was the last thing the Phillies needed with a bullpen game coming Saturday. He lasted just 3⅔ innings. Left-hander Matt Strahm will start the middle game and Thomson said he can go two-plus innings. Ranger Suarez starts Sunday.
"I probably pushed Wheels a little bit longer than I wanted to," Thomson said. "He was at 60-some pitches after two innings. That's a heavy workload. But because of the bullpen day, he said he was fine, he wanted to give us as much as he possibly could and he did that. That was big of him."
The Phillies' offense finally showed up after mustering three runs in a three-game sweep at Citi Field. They came back from down six Friday to tie the game at 7-7 in the eighth inning but were unable to pick up the one more hit they needed.
Castellanos had a whale of a night -- 4-for-5 with a solo homer to right-center, a two-run homer to left-center, a two-run single and a ninth-inning double that put the tying run in scoring position with one out. He went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice fly Thursday. He's looked like Nick Castellanos this season.
Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto, two of the most skilled all-around players in baseball, have been a different story. Their underperformance continued. They both popped out to end the game with a man on second base. Realmuto went 0-for-5 with four groundouts to the left side and the game-ending pop-up to first base. He continues to expand the strike zone. He is 3-for-43 in his last 14 games, hitting .070 without an RBI. He'd hit .386 the prior three weeks. He's been streaky at the plate since arriving in Philadelphia and this has been his coldest period in those five seasons.
The Phillies have lost five in a row for the third time since May 1.
"We need to be more consistent, that’s it," Bryce Harper said. "It’s not good to go through streaks like this when you’re trying to be a winning ball club. Just need to be better.”
Thomson shook up the lineup Friday night. Schwarber led off, Bryson Stott hit second and Harper hit third, three consecutive lefties. The Nationals have no left-handers in the bullpen which made the idea appealing. The 1-2 of Stott and Turner also just hasn't worked out. When Schwarber led Friday's game off with a single and Stott followed with a walk, it was only the second time in the Phillies' last 41 games that their first two hitters reached base in the first inning.
The Nationals' lack of a lefty reliever nearly tilted the game when the top of the Phillies' order was due up, trailing by one in the top of the eighth. Schwarber hit a potential double-play ball back up the middle but second baseman Luis Garcia's throw to first was wide, allowing Marsh to score the tying run. The Phils had their shots.
"There were definitely a lot of positives as a group, showing some fight when it would have been really, really easy to lay down and allow the way the game started to be the way it finished," Castellanos said. "Obviously, we didn't come through and we walk away with a loss, which is not ideal, it's frustrating."
Connor Brogdon took the L by walking nine-hole hitter Alex Call with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, throwing a wild pitch and giving up the game-winning single to Lane Thomas.
"This one is on me, really," Wheeler said. "I think tonight showed who we are. Guys battled back, we just couldn't finish it out. We know who we have in this room and what we have to do. It starts with us starting pitchers. Keep runs off the board early, keep the momentum on our side. I think that's the big key for us."
The Phils are guaranteed a losing road trip and look to salvage a piece of it by winning two in a row this weekend. Lefty Mackenzie Gore, the Nationals' best starting pitcher, is on the mound Saturday.
