The Phillies had the winning run aboard.
One batter after Trea Turner’s sacrifice fly tied Wednesday’s game back up at 4-4 against the Nationals in the 10th, Bryce Harper worked a four-pitch walk. With Luis Arraez at the plate, Harper attempted to advance to scoring position for the National League batting leader.
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Instead, he was thrown out by Nationals catcher Harry Ford, ending the inning and stifling any potential rally.
With the Phillies running out of arms, Caleb Kilian pitched the 11th inning. He walked a batter and then gave up a triple to center field to CJ Abrams.
Derek Hill made an all-out effort to snag it, but crashed into the fence and the ball bounced away. While two runs scored, Hill remained on the ground. He was examined by trainers and ultimately walked off the field under his own power.
What became a six-run 11th sealed the Phillies’ 10-4 loss to Washington, but most pressing for the club is the status of Hill and starter Andrew Painter, who exited the game after four innings with a strained left hamstring.
Painter appeared to grimace after falling off the mound during his delivery of a 3-2 pitch to Daylen Lile in the first inning. He remained in the game initially, and seemed to settle in until he was lifted for Tim Mayza for the fifth.
The Phillies said Painter will be evaluated further. If he has to miss time, it’s a serious concern for a club without much starting depth. The Phillies did not add rotation help at Monday’s trade deadline, with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski citing Painter’s encouraging outing against the Orioles as one reason why.
“Really, the choice came: do you end up getting a guy that’s a fifth starter that you don’t think is as good as your guy that you have now, and option the guy that you think is a better chance to win to help your depth, or do what we’re doing?” Dombrowski said Monday. “And we figured we do what we are doing.”
While Painter worked on his fastball in Lehigh Valley, the Phillies relied on Alan Rangel and a patchwork of bullpen games to cover the No. 5 spot in the order. It did not work. They have lost 13 consecutive games started by that rotation spot, a streak that includes Painter’s struggles before he was optioned on June 17.
Before he left the game, he had thrown just 63 pitches. He appeared to improve as the game went on. After giving up a run in the first on a hit batter and two singles, Painter held the Nationals off the scoreboard for the next three innings. He sidestepped a walk and another single, while striking out four. He tossed a 1-2-3 fourth inning, using just nine pitches.
Arraez hit his fifth home run of the season in the second to get the Phillies on the board. Justin Crawford drove in another run in the inning with a sacrifice fly to center, which scored Brandon Marsh.
After scoreless innings from Mayza and Orion Kerkering, the Nationals retook the lead against new Phillies reliever Brooks Raley in the seventh inning. He surrendered a 404-foot homer to Brady House, followed by a double and a single to left field that scored another.
The Phillies tied it again in the seventh. Alec Bohm worked a leadoff walk, advanced on a Marsh single, and scored on a single from Bryson Stott. They had the chance to add more, loading the bases against Nationals reliever Tom Cosgrove, but Turner flew out to right field to end the rally.
Jhoan Duran pitched the top of the ninth. He rebounded from consecutive two-out singles — including a comebacker from Abrams that deflected off Duran’s glove — to end the inning with a groundout.
José Alvarado pitched the 10th and after getting the first two outs, he completely lost the strike zone. He threw seven consecutive balls as he walked Andrés Chaparro and then Nasim Nuñez, forcing in a run as the Nationals took a 4-3 lead. The Phillies tied it back up, but had no answer to the Nationals’ six-run outburst in the 11th, going down in order.
No matter what moves the Phillies make before the trade deadline Monday, they will have to fix some of their issues internally. Chief among them: Trea Turner’s defense at shortstop. And that’s where infield coach Bobby Dickerson comes in. Dickerson sat down with “Phillies Extra,” The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to discuss Turner’s struggles, the problems with analytics in measuring defense, his unique coaching style, and more. Watch here.
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