WASHINGTON _ When this week began, Jeanmar Gomez was still the Phillies' closer. He was humbled Sunday, demoted Monday, but thrust Friday into a difficult situation. He pushed a 3-2 Phillies loss to the Nationals into extra innings with a scoreless ninth. But, in the 10th, Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman awaited him.
Gomez threw five pitches. The game ended with Harper belly flopping across home plate and stopping at Gomez's feet. The deposed closer lost another one when Murphy slashed a game-winning double to left.
The Phillies lost with their new closer, Joaquin Benoit, unused in the bullpen. Edubray Ramos, a trusted late-inning reliever, blew a lead started by Aaron Nola.
Gomez has pitched five times in 2017. He has permitted runs in four of those games. His ERA is 11.81.
The Phillies have played 10 games. Only one of their starting pitchers, Jerad Eickhoff, has thrown a pitch in the seventh inning of a game. That, at times, has exposed the soft underbelly of the Phillies' bullpen. Like every manager, Pete Mackanin wants to deploy his best relievers when the Phillies have a lead.
He had that chance Friday, even with Nola's early exit. Pat Neshek paced near the door to the bullpen in left field, and when the final out in the top of the sixth inning was recorded, he sprinted onto the grass. Nola had fired 90 pitches with command that improved in the later innings, but the Phillies believe their fortified bullpen can shorten most games in which they capture an early lead.
Neshek pitched around a walk in the sixth. He ceded to Ramos, pitching for the first time since his fateful fastball that sailed over Asdrubal Cabrera's head and ignited the Mets, and he could not hold it.
Ramos walked pinch-hitter Chris Heisey on six pitches. Heisey advanced to second when Cameron Rupp could not catch a Ramos fastball. Then, Anthony Rendon cracked a first-pitch Ramos fastball that struck the out-of-town scoreboard on the right-field wall. It tied the game.
Nola, despite lasting just five innings, generated more optimism. He has navigated a talented Nationals lineup twice in the last week. Of the 33 outs he's recorded this season, 26 of them have come on either a strikeout or a groundout. That is a portrait of success for a pitcher like Nola.
He was victimized Friday by a Jayson Werth swinging bunt. That put runners on the corners with one out in the second inning. Washington catcher Matt Wieters bounced a single up the middle to score one run. Nola held the Nationals to only that by coaxing a strikeout and a groundout.
The 23-year-old right-hander, at times, appeared dominant. He threw Harper a 95-mph fastball on the outer edge of home plate for a called strike three to end the first inning. Harper crouched in the batter's box and removed his helmet in disgust.
But Nola needed 22 pitches in each the second and third inning to retire the Nationals. He was more economical in the fourth and fifth innings. Nola threw two-thirds of his pitches for strikes.
That will please the Phillies, who have harbored doubt about Nola's right elbow, but it did not translate to the standings.
