WASHINGTON _ By day, they forced the issue on the bases and at the plate in a way that only teams with a magically disappearing offense tend to do.
By night, they faced Max Scherzer.
How do you think the Phillies fared on Wednesday?
Eighteen innings in two games spread out over roughly 9 { hours, and the Phillies came away with, well, nothing. They lost, 6-2, in the matinee opener, done in by Bryce Harper's overaggressive baserunning and a couple of late home runs against a rookie lefty/novice reliever who wasn't up to the moment, then fell, 2-0, in the nightcap against dominant Nationals ace Scherzer, broken nose and all.
Make it seven losses in the last nine games for the Phillies, who slid to four games off the pace in the National League East. They're now as close in the standings to the third-place Nationals as they are to the red-hot division-leading Atlanta Braves. At 39-34, they are one game worse than they were through 73 games last season.
"It has been tough," said right-hander Zach Eflin, who received almost as little support in the first game as Jake Arrieta did in the second. "But like I said a few days ago, this is going to happen throughout a season (to) the best teams in the game and the worst teams in the game. It's really about how we bounce back. Nobody is pressing the panic button. We know we're going to be just fine. It's just one of those rough patches.
"It has been tough, but like I said a few days ago at home, this is going to happen throughout a season. The best teams in the game and the worst teams in the game, it's going to happen. Like I said, it's really how we bounce back. Nobody is pressing the panic button. We know we're going to be just fine. It's just one of those rough patches."
But while the depth of the Phillies' pitching staff is being tested to a level that threatens to undermine the season, it has been the offense that has vanished at the worst possible time.
Nobody said facing the Nationals' $350 million duo of Patrick Corbin and Scherzer would be easy. But the Phillies went 10 for 62 with three extra-base hits in the two games, the continuation of an 18-game stretch in which they are batting only .222 (130 for 586) and averaging 3.9 runs per game.
Up and down the lineup, almost nobody is hitting. Jean Segura is 2 for 20 on the road trip; Harper is 2 for 15; Rhys Hoskins 3 for 15. Other than Scott Kingery, the Phillies can't seem to count on anyone for a big hit.
But as much as they were unable to get anything going at the plate, the Phillies were still very much in position to win both games in the late innings, a testament to how well their own starters pitched.
Eflin lamented a leadoff walk that led to a run in the sixth inning of the opener, but he still kept the deficit to 3-1 going into the eighth. That was when rookie lefty Cole Irvin gave up back-to-back home runs to Brian Dozier and Gerardo Parra to put the game away.
In the nightcap, Arrieta turned back the clock to 2015, when a midseason duel with Scherzer would've been must-see baseball. He held the Nationals to two hits through six innings, and if one of them hadn't been Dozier's solo homer on a full-count pitch with two out in the second inning, there would have been no offense at all to speak of.
Arrieta was brilliant, better than he had been since at least an eight-inning, two-run start in Milwaukee on May 25 and maybe all season. He got tons of weak contact, mostly on the ground, which is precisely how he looks when he's at his best.
But Scherzer was dominant. The Phillies did their best to work deep counts and test his stamina. But with his eyes blackened from the ill-fated bunt that struck him in the face in batting practice one day earlier, he navigated through the big-name hitters in the top half of the order and dominated the weaker ones in the bottom half.
Scherzer had thrown 97 pitches when he came out for the seventh inning and gave up a leadoff double to Cesar Hernandez. Still, the Nationals' bullpen barely stirred. Scherzer struck out Brad Miller and Andrew Knapp, then faced got to a 1-1 count against pinch-hitting J.T. Realmuto.
Pitch No. 116 was a 97-mph heater. Swinging strike.
And pitch No. 117? An 86-mph slider that dove downward and tailed away from Realmuto. Another swinging strike. And pandemonium at Nationals Park.
Nobody was surprised, of course. Scherzer has been doing this to the Phillies for more than a decade. In 19 career starts against the Phillies, he's 10-3 with a 2.45 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 124 2/3 innings. Since joining the Nationals, he's 9-2 with a 2.28 ERA in 17 starts against the Phillies. Washington has won 14 of those games.
