The Washington Nationals suffered their first truly heartbreaking loss of the season. They had a 5-1 lead in the 7th inning, but could not finish off the Phillies. The veteran laden Phillies took advantage of the young Nats issuing walks and making mistakes in the field. Blake Butera’s bunch fought, but they could not finish.
It was a bit of a pitchers duel in the first five innings. The Nats made Cristopher Sanchez work, but did not take advantage of most of their opportunities. You could say the same
thing for the Phillies offense. Cade Cavalli was not at his best the first four innings, but he survived and only allowed one run.
However, Cavalli turned up the heat in his last two frames, retiring the last six hitters he faced. It was a successful outing for Cavalli, and if we were deeper in the season, he probably would have gone out for the seventh. In hindsight, Blake Butera probably should have stuck with his righty instead of going to Andre Granillo.
After manufacturing two runs in the first six innings, the Nats had a big seventh against Brad Keller. It actually started with two quick outs. However, after Daylen Lile got a hustle base hit, the rally was on. The red hot Joey Wiemer got yet another hit and then CJ Abrams delivered with a massive 3 run homer.
At that point, the game seemed out of reach for the Phillies and the home crowd was shocked. However, the wily vets chipped away. It started with a JT Realmuto homer in the 7th. The Nats got out of that inning with just one run though. They still felt in command of the game.
That control began to slip away in the 8th. Bryce Harper homered and then Luis Garcia Jr. was unable to pick the ball on back to back plays at first base. Between Andres Chaparro and Luis Garcia Jr., first base defense has been a big problem for the Nats. Paul Toboni has done a lot of great things, but not picking up a veteran first baseman is a questionable move.
The Nats ended up surviving that inning while keeping things a 3-2 game. However, they used Clayton Beeter to get out of the inning. Beeter came out for the 9th, but he only faced two batters. He allowed a ground out and a single. The Nats ended up pulling him for PJ Poulin.
Blake Butera has pushed most of the right buttons this season, but I think he overmanaged here. I understand the platoon matchup, but Beeter is just a better, more powerful arm than Poulin. The top guys in the Phillies lineup had also seen Poulin yesterday.
Poulin could not stop the bleeding, getting one out, but issuing two walks. That led to another pitching change, with Cole Henry coming in to face Edmundo Sosa. Henry executed very well on his first two pitches, but hung a sweeper on an 0-2 count. Sosa took advantage and drove it into left to tie the game.
After the Nats were unable to score a run in the top of the 10th, the game just felt over. Blake Butera seemed to think so too, as he just kept Henry in the game rather than burning another reliever. The Phillies eventually put the Nats out of their misery with a walkoff single from Justin Crawford.
The Nats fought their tails off this series, but their immaturity and flaws showed. I still come away from this series happy with the effort and the overall performance. However, you can see the flaws in this team. With James Wood just not being the same player since last July, the Nats don’t have a consistent home run threat to either get back in games or put them away.
They also do not have a singular lock down closer like the Phillies do with Jhoan Duran. The Nats have some solid bullpen arms, but none of them are dominant. In many ways the Nats outplayed the Phillies this series. However, the Phillies showed why they have made the playoffs in recent years and the Nats showed why they are a rebuilding team.
