Goodbye … buy? National 3, Phillies 1 / Phillies 11, National 8

Damn, JT and Brad.

I started writing this recap in the fourth inning of Game 2, assuming the Phillies were going to be swept away by the Nationals in Thursday’s doubles schedule. And why wouldn’t I think so? After being stopped by Max Scherzer in the first game, their relieving team put them in a 7-0 hole early in the second, and the team seemed to start selling coins to other contenders as well.

But no, thanks to the heroism of JT Realmuto and Brad Miller, they pulled off not one, but two comebacks in Game 2, recovering a split the same day, forcing me to essentially rewrite this thing. On the flip side, their big hits might have kept the Phillies’ hopes of contention alive and spurred their GM to find reinforcements in the commercial market. (For real this time!)

In Game 1, Max Scherzer said goodbye to the National League East by stopping the Phillies one last time. I don’t understand why the Nats even let him pitch given they announced he was traded to the Padres shortly after the game ended. I guess beating the Phillies was so important to them.

The only run the Phillies got was a home run by JT Realmuto. Zack Wheeler started well in opposition, but he had to be close to perfect. When he served a two-run homerun to Yan Gomes in the seventh, it was about the ball game.

For Game 2, the Phillies opted to postpone Vince Velasquez’s departure to Friday and cover all seven innings with relief pitchers. It turned out to be a very bad idea.

Christopher Sanchez was the first Phillies pitcher to come out, and he couldn’t even come out in the first inning. Five hitters in the game, the Phillies faced a three-point deficit. By the time the third inning was over, the Phillies had gone through three pitchers and were leading 7-0.

Sadly, early deficits are familiar territory for the Phillies these days, so maybe hitters feel more comfortable starting in a hole.

Rhys Hoskins threw them off with a home run in the third. In the fourth, Andrew McCutchen and Alec Bohm hit back-to-back home runs.

Another run produced by McCutchen gave them another run in fifth, but they were still down by three before seventh. But without having recently moved closer to Brad Hand (although the Phillies had already come back against him earlier this week), the Nats were unable to finish them off. A combination of five goals and singles got the Phillies running and charged up the bases for Realmuto.

Without a fortuitous jump on the knockdown, the Phillies would have gained in regulation. Alas, they went to extra innings, which Ryan Zimmerman quickly untied. (It was a good day for the Phillies’ longtime enemies.)

But the Phillies weren’t short of returns, even though it looked like they should have been. At the bottom of the frame, the Phillies had the pitcher’s spot in third, and no positional player available to strike for him. (Please read tomorrow’s series preview for my thoughts on this.) Realizing that, the Nats opted to walk Jean Segura and try their luck against Aaron Nola. Naturally, Nola traced a march to charge the bases.

While it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Phillies squandered this gift, Brad Miller apparently had had enough of this game.

A pitcher drawing a step setting up a clutch grand slam? I don’t know if I’ve seen this before!

Thursday’s games showed the Phillies are in desperate need of pitching help, and they need it sooner rather than later. Clutch grand slams and seven-innings comebacks are thrilling every now and then, but for a team with hopes of making the playoffs, it shouldn’t be necessary all the time.