Nats storm back, only to give it back to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals established over the weekend their ability to shake off early troubles against a tough division rival, keep the game within striking distance and then win the late innings to emerge on top.

So when they found themselves in a familiar position tonight against the Phillies, it was fair to wonder if they might be able to recapture the magic they just discovered against the Mets.

Guess what? They did with a stunning top-of-the-ninth rally. Only to then let it all slip away with an even more stunning, bottom-of-the-ninth meltdown.

Despite getting a three-run homer from Nathaniel Lowe with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth to take their first lead of the night, the Nationals wound up getting walked off by the Phillies 7-6 when Kyle Finnegan gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning, including the game-winner on a wild pitch.

“I feel like I let one get away from us there,” said Finnegan, who was charged with his second straight blown save after opening the season a perfect 9-for-9. “We had a great chance to steal a really important game for us, the first game of the series against a good team. The boys battled the entire game, a late comeback. It’s a game that we should’ve won, and I didn’t do my job tonight.”

A bonkers ballgame that made the weekend’s two walk-off wins over New York look pedestrian in comparison saw these two teams trade blows over the final two innings via a combination of clutch hitting, poor defense and ultimately poor pitching from the two worst bullpens in baseball to date.

“That’s the roller coaster that we sign up for,” Lowe said. “Elation, really happy to get some runs across when we needed them. And then obviously you want a chance to make a play there, and we didn’t make plays in the bottom of the ninth.”

Down 3-0 after MacKenzie Gore surrendered two early homers, the Nationals hung around enough against Zack Wheeler to get back to within one run entering the eighth, then put themselves in prime position to fully take control of the game when they loaded the bases against José Alvarado. But simply needing someone to make contact, they watched as Josh Bell, Dylan Crews and Alex Call all struck out, leaving the tying run stranded at third.

“Alvarado, who’s got great stuff, you’ve got to go up there and really try to be aggressive,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We got bases loaded from him. We got a couple opportunities there, but he’s good. He’s had a tremendous year so far. You’ve got to try to get him early.”

Jose A. Ferrer then made a mess of the bottom of the eighth, allowing a leadoff single, then an RBI double before uncorking a wild pitch to turn a 3-2 game into a 5-2 game.

But the Nationals weren’t done. Far from it. CJ Abrams delivered his fourth hit of the night to get the bottom-of-the-ninth rally jumpstarted, then scored moments later on James Wood’s 108.9 mph laser of an RBI double. Trea Turner’s second misplay at shortstop in as many innings allowed Amed Rosario to reach safely and brought the go-ahead run to the plate.

Lowe would fall behind in the count 1-2 to Phillies closer du jour Orion Kerkering, but then find a way to make major contact on a 1-2 sweeper down around his ankles, launching the ball into the right field stands for the go-ahead, three-run homer that left the Citizens Bank crowd of 38,387 in stunned silence.

“I was just trying to hit it fair, and not necessarily even hit it hard,” Lowe said. “Just give it a chance to find some grass and ideally tie it up there. I felt like I got beat all night, but I got an opportunity to do something, and thankfully I did.”

Having warmed up in a hurry just in case his services were needed, Finnegan trotted in from the bullpen looking to close out what would’ve been his team’s most-inspiring win of the young season. But the 33-year-old closer, who admittedly had flirted with disaster through several of his previous nine saves, immediately got himself in trouble and finally paid the price for it.

Alec Bohm opened the rally by fighting off an up-and-in, 0-2 fastball for a leadoff single. Finnegan then issued a full-count walk to Bryson Stott, his last two fastballs missing way high and away.

“I thought I did a decent job of attacking Bohm,” he said. “That was a good piece of hitting. I executed what I tried to do, and he beat me there. But the walk is inexcusable. Letting two guys on to start the inning, letting the go-ahead run get on.”

A fly ball to center allowed the tying run to advance to third, and then Stott stole second base to put himself in scoring position as the winning run, a costly sequence. And yet, Finnegan nearly escaped the jam with help from his rookie right fielder. When Johan Rojas lofted a fly ball to medium-deep right, Dylan Crews positioned himself perfectly under the ball, made the catch and then fired a two-hop strike that beat Bohm to the plate. That second hop, though, skipped past Keibert Ruiz, who could only beat himself up afterward given the significance of the missed opportunity to win the game right there with a play at the plate.

“I think that was a good throw,” Ruiz said. “I tried to catch it maybe too fast, tried to get to the ball and not wait for the ball. That was my mistake. I take charge of that. I don’t want to make any excuses. I need to do a better job.”

The game now tied and the winning run now on third, Finnegan fell behind 2-0 to Turner, then bounced a splitter low and away, the ball easily scooting past Ruiz as Stott raced home and was greeted by a sea of teammates.

“I put Keibert in a really tough spot there, bouncing the splitter in there,” Finnegan said. “He did everything he could to stop it. It just bounced away.”

All this came at the end of another pitchers’ duel between Gore and Wheeler in a rematch of their Opening Day gem.

Gore got himself in early trouble allowing a first-inning homer to Kyle Schwarber and a third-inning homer to No. 9 batter Rojas. But the Nationals ace continued his most encouraging trend of the season and found a way to keep the damage there, ultimately emerging with his fifth quality start in seven outings.

“Obviously, the homers are going to drive me crazy,” he said. “But I thought we threw the ball well.”

Because Gore was able to minimize the damage, his Nationals teammates had a reasonable chance to rally their way back into the game. They did very little through five scoreless innings against Wheeler, stranding the bases loaded in the third but failing to put any more runners in scoring position. But then they started finding their rhythm as the night progressed.

Luis García Jr. opened the top of the sixth with a fantastic 10-pitch at-bat, driving Wheeler’s final offering deep to right-center and into the home bullpen for his second homer of the season.

Wheeler was one pitch away from ending his night on a high note, but then Jacob Young had other ideas. The Nats’ No. 9 batter was able to send a soft liner into right-center with two outs in the seventh, then hustled his way to a double ahead of Bryce Harper’s late throw. Out went Wheeler, and in came Matt Strahm to face CJ Abrams, who made the lefty and Phillies manager Rob Thomson pay for the decision by ripping an RBI double to right that cut the deficit to one run.

Little did anyone realize how much was still to come over the final two innings of another bonkers ballgame, one that left the visitors hurting but also encouraged by the manner in which they’ve played their toughest division rivals over the last week.

“Look, we expect to win every day,” Gore said. “We’re not winning as much as we would like to win right now. But when you lose close games, you understand you’re not far away from winning. There’s no: ‘Hey, we’re playing close against good teams!’ You either win or you don’t.”