Nats' comeback overshadowed by pitching, defensive woes (updated)

Consider this morning’s series finale on South Capitol Street a play in four acts, the second portion a hope-filled drama, the opening and third ones a full-blown Shakespearean tragedy before the final one left the crowd yearning for more but ultimately unsatisfied.

The encouraging portions came entirely during the third and ninth innings, when the Nationals erased a sizeable deficit and turned what looked like it would be another unsightly blowout in a day game into a suddenly competitive affair.

Alas, that alone wasn’t going to be enough to top the Phillies. An ugly opening to this 11:35 a.m. matinee from Mitchell Parker and the Nats defense, then a slog of a final six innings by the bullpen ultimately equaled an 11-9 loss to the Phillies.

Despite a spirited rally from down 6-0 to tied 6-6 in the third, then Paul DeJong's three-run homer in the ninth to turn 11-6 into 11-9, the Nationals couldn't finish the job. Daylen Lile doubled to bring the tying run to the plate and force Philadelphia closer Jhoan Duran into the game. But Duran won an eight-pitch battle with Dylan Crews, then struck out pinch-hitter James Wood on three pitches to end the game.

"I think it just shows the heart we've got," Crews said. "It takes a lot to come out here and play a really good team like that. We do an excellent job of not giving up, especially in the late innings."

With Parker yanked in the second inning, Miguel Cairo had to cobble together 7 1/3 innings from his already shaky bullpen, and it did not go particularly well. They gave the lead right back in the top of the fourth. PJ Poulin, who retired Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper to begin the inning, gave up a two-out single to Alec Bohm. And with the right-handed portion of the Philadelphia lineup coming to bat, Cairo decided to play the matchup game even at that early juncture.

In came Orlando Ribalta, who immediately surrendered a double to Nick Castellanos, walked Harrison Bader on four pitches, then gave up a two-run single to Weston Wilson, giving the Phillies the lead again.

"It was kind of tough, but (pitching coach Jim) Hickey and I had a game plan," Cairo said of his bullpen management. "I'm glad Cade (Cavalli) gave us seven innings and (Jose A.) Ferrer gave us two (during Saturday's win), so we could be aggressive a little bit more early in the game. It was just playing matchups, and making sure (the top of the Phillies lineup), we could match it up every time in that spot. I was trying to make sure we had the right matchup for those three guys."

Shinnosuke Ogasawara did provide some much needed length with 2 2/3 innings of one-run ball, though the lefty did make one critical mistake when he put an 0-2 fastball on a platter for Castellanos, who crushed it over the left field bullpen. Konnor Pilkington then made a mess of the eighth, giving up two more insurance runs via one single, one walk and two hit batters.

It’s hard to believe this game played out the way it did, considering the way it began. The Nationals dug themselves into an early 6-0 hole with some of their sloppiest baseball yet during a season that has seen its share of sloppiness.

The top of the first alone saw the Nats have an opportunity to record eight outs, five of them of course not getting recorded via a combination of bad defense and bad umpiring. Parker should’ve been out of the inning with a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play, but plate umpire Jacob Metz didn’t give him the 3-2 call on the corner, awarding Bryce Harper a walk and thus negating Drew Millas’ on-time throw to second to get the running Trea Turner.

Moments later, Brady House booted what should’ve been another inning-ending double play on a grounder to third, allowing a run to score. And moments after that, CJ Abrams caught a line drive at short and had an easy throw to double up Alec Bohm at first, only to plunk Bohm in the back with said throw, further extending the inning that wouldn’t end.

"It stinks whenever mistakes like that hurt the team," House said. "But, gotta move on."

It continued into the top of the second, when José Tena couldn’t turn a potential inning-ending 5-4-3 double play and skipped his throw past DeJong (making his first career start at first base) for an inning-extending error. And wouldn’t you know what happened next: Parker gave up four straight hits, two of them RBI singles before Bohm delivered the big blow with a three-run homer.

"That's baseball," Parker said. "Good things happen, bad things happen. That's baseball. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't."

(Tena was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after the game, with the Nationals now deciding which of four other infielders on the 40-man roster to promote: Andrés Chaparro, Nasim Nuñez, Darren Baker or Trey Lipscomb.)

Cairo made the long walk to the mound to pull his starter in the top of the second. Parker certainly deserved better from his defense, but he didn’t exactly do much to pick up his teammates. And he departed with yet another unsuccessful, abbreviated start, his ERA now all the way up to 5.83.

"It hasn't been the best season," he said. "I've got to try to turn it around here the last couple starts."

Frustrating as that was, the Nationals could’ve rolled over and played out the string, asking a couple of long relievers to take it on the chin for the rest of the afternoon. Instead, their lineup stormed right back with a furious rally, which made Cairo have to rethink his pitching plan.

The momentum swing actually occurred not with the Nats at the plate, but in the field. With the Phillies threatening to increase their six-run lead in the top of the third, Crews fired a 95.4 mph strike from right field to the plate to nail Harrison Bader and electrify the crowd and his teammates, who promptly responded with one of their best rallies of the year.

"Any moment, you're just trying to find a spark to get everybody going," Crews said. "Luckily, I was in a position to get the spark going and get the guy out at home to flip over the inning. It could be anybody to bring that spark, and luckily I was there to help with the momentum."

After starting the day 1-for-8 against Aaron Nola, the Nationals flipped the switch and took it to the Phillies right-hander in his return from the injured list. Seven consecutive batters reached base, with singles by Robert Hassell III, Luis García Jr. and Abrams igniting things, DeJong drawing a walk to load the bases, Lile delivering a two-run single, Crews delivering a two-run double and Tena delivering another RBI double to turn a 6-0 deficit into a 6-6 tie ballgame in a manner of minutes.

"I think the second time around (against Nola), it was just about getting him up, getting something to extend on, really," Crews said. "I think we did a great job of that in that inning against him."

All this from a lineup that was without, arguably, its two most productive current hitters in Wood and Josh Bell, each given the early game off in advance of Monday’s off-day.

Encouraging as that was, the six-spot only erased the big early deficit. The Nationals still need more offense to win the game, not to mention near-perfect work from a bullpen that also had to cover 7 1/3 innings. That was far too much to ask for today, even if they did find a way to make it interesting again before day's end.

"We battled back," Cairo said. "Those guys, they were picking each other up, and the bullpen kept us close. It was a long game, for sure. But they were battling."

Note: The Nats claimed right-hander Julian Fernández off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Rochester. The 29-year-old reliever had a 3.05 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 41 1/3 innings at Triple-A Oklahoma City.