WASHINGTON — The Phillies were down to their very last strike.
In the dugout, Bryson Stott didn’t know it. If he had, it wouldn’t have mattered. Even though it seemed like the Nationals had seized all the momentum with Jorbit Vivas’ go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and even though his spot in the lineup wasn’t due up for seven more batters, Stott was ready.
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He was ready even after Brad Lord recorded back-to-back strikeouts to start the ninth and took Trea Turner to a 1-2 count. Behind home plate, fans started to rise from their seats, anticipating the final out of the game.
But then Turner — who was 0-for-4 on Tuesday night before he stepped into the box — sent a single to left-center field. And after Brandon Marsh powered a sweeper clear over the Nationals bullpen in right field for a game-tying homer, the idea that Stott might get another at-bat in the game didn’t seem all that far-fetched anymore.
“I just stay ready,” Stott said. “I think a lot of us are ready, and we know anything like that can happen at any time. … You know who’s hitting in front of you and what they’re capable of.”
Stott watched Marsh’s at-bat on an iPad in the dugout, and when it was his turn — after Bryce Harper and Derek Hill kept the line moving with singles — he repeated the feat. He sent a homer of his own to the second deck in right field, which just stayed inside the foul pole. The two homers highlighted an eight-run ninth inning that put the Phillies on top for the 14-9 win over Washington.
“That was pretty epic,” Marsh said. “From everybody.”
Ten consecutive Phillies reached base in the ninth, all with two outs. They racked up five singles, two walks, a double from Edmundo Sosa, and the two homers. Before the Nationals ended the rally, Turner came back up to the plate and delivered his second single of both the game and inning to score their eighth run of the inning.
The Phillies mounted the comeback — in a game they had once trailed 5-0, then led 6-5, then trailed 8-6 — without major league home run leader Kyle Schwarber, who was scratched a few minutes before first pitch with low back tightness.
Interim manager Don Mattingly said Schwarber’s back tightened up about seven minutes before the game started and he was unable to swing. Mattingly added that Schwarber’s back was already feeling better postgame.
“It sounds like this has kind of happened before,” Mattingly said. “I think Kyle’s probably smart enough to know to take care of it, stop right away, and don’t try to keep going.”
Sosa found out minutes before the game that he was replacing Schwarber in the lineup at designated hitter. But he filled in well, recording five RBIs. Along with his two-run double in the ninth inning, he hit a two-run homer in the fifth and an RBI groundout in the seventh as the Phillies chipped away at Washington’s early lead.
“I told myself, let’s have fun tonight,” Sosa said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello.
Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo watched the ninth inning unfold from the visitors’ clubhouse at Nationals Park with a group of teammates who had also already exited the game.
“We all had the same reaction after every home run, so it was great,” Luzardo said.
Luzardo tied a career-high with 13 strikeouts, but he was also charged with five earned runs as he grinded through 6⅔ innings.
For the most part, though, Luzardo got the contact he wanted. Four runs scored on him in the fourth inning on five singles and a walk, but four of those hits were ground balls and the other was a broken-bat bloop.
After that inning, Luzardo retired seven consecutive Nationals until he issued a leadoff walk in the seventh. Jonathan Bowlan inherited two runners, but struck out Curtis Mead to strand them.
“They weren’t really hitting him hard around the field,” Mattingly said. “Just kept giving up hits, some tough plays, and just hanging in there, giving us a chance, I thought was huge.”
The Phillies took their first lead of the game in the eighth. The Nationals brought in lefty Richard Lovelady to face Marsh, but he made them regret it with a double to the wall, and advanced to third on a fielding error.
Alec Bohm worked a walk, was replaced by a pinch-running Garrett Stubbs, and Stott was hit by a pitch to load the bases for J.T. Realmuto. The catcher delivered a three-run double that popped out of a diving James Wood’s glove in right field, putting the Phillies ahead, 6-5.
“It’s a special, special group that we have, and we just got to keep feeding off each other like we did tonight,” Marsh said.
Their momentum was temporarily stifled, however, when Orion Kerkering came out for the bottom of the eighth and struggled with command. He issued a five-pitch walk, hit a batter, and then hung a sweeper to Vivas, who capitalized with a three-run homer.
Kerkering managed to limit the damage there, bouncing back somewhat with two strikeouts and a line-out.
“And then,” Mattingly said, “We’re able to do our little bit of magic there.”
Father’s Day will hit a little differently this year for Don and Preston Mattingly. After years of working in baseball for different teams, often on opposite sides of the country, they are together with the Phillies as the first father-and-son manager-and-GM combination ever. Preston Mattingly joins Phillies Extra to discuss working with his dad, as well as the Phillies’ decision to demote Andrew Painter to the minors and their preparations for the trade deadline. Watch here.
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