WASHINGTON — Two outs into the seventh inning of the opener of a doubleheader Friday, César Hernández surprised the Phillies by bunting for a hit.
Up stepped Juan Soto, representing the tying run.
In other years — heck, last month — that would’ve spelled doom for the Phillies’ bullpen and for Connor Brogdon, in particular. Not this time. Brogdon stared down the Washington Nationals slugger, mixed cutters and change-ups, and won an 11-pitch duel by getting him to fly out to center field.
Six outs later, the Phillies won, too, 5-3, their third victory in a row and 13th in 15 games. If they could pull out the nightcap against the Nationals, behind spot-starting left-hander Bailey Falter, it would clinch another victorious series and mark the first time since 2011 that they won five consecutive series.
The Phillies led 2-0 after the first inning, 4-0 in the third, and 5-1 in the sixth. But lefty Ranger Suárez gave up a two-out, two-run homer to Josh Bell in the sixth inning, and interim manager Rob Thomson had to go to the bullpen earlier than he hoped.
Brogdon settled everything down, at least until closer du jour Brad Hand walked a ninth-inning tightrope by putting two runners on base and bringing the winning run to the plate with one out.
More on that in a bit. Brogdon got four outs and continued his resurgence since returning from a three-week stint back in Triple-A.
The Phillies are widely expected to conduct their annual search for bullpen help before the Aug. 2 trade deadline. One rival talent evaluator said recently that they may need more than one reliever, especially considering that they had to remove struggling Corey Knebel from the closer role this week.
But they will also need internal solutions to emerge, and Brogdon’s hand is raised to the sky. And he has caught Thomson’s attention.
Thomson has used Brogdon in higher-leverage situations since taking over for deposed manager Joe Girardi earlier this month. Brogdon, in turn, is rewarding Thomson’s faith. He has allowed one run in 7 1/3 walk-free innings this month. Since he came back from Triple-A, he has a 1.23 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings.
The difference, it seems, is his confidence in the cutter. Brogdon’s fastball velocity was down in spring training and early in the season. The Phillies thought it likely was a product of the lockout-interrupted offseason and the uncertainty over when spring training would actually begin.
Brogdon has built arm strength as the season has gone on. But he also has leaned more heavily on his cutter and has given up one hit on it this month.
Seranthony Dominguez followed Brogdon into the game and tossed a scoreless eighth inning. Thomson called on Hand for the ninth against the bottom half of the order.
Hand, who flamed out last season with the Nationals, gave up a leadoff single and a one-out walk before getting Lane Thomas to ground out and Hernández on a strikeout.
St. Nick delivers runs
After Nick Castellanos drove in two runs with a pair of hits in Thursday night’s 10-1 rout, Kyle Schwarber was asked if it appears that his fellow slugger is about to get hot after admitting recently that he hasn’t felt comfortable at the plate.
“Yeah,” Schwarber said. “I see the work that he puts in every day. The guy, he’s a pro. He’s a hitter. I’d bet a dollar that you’re not going to see what you saw for the majority of the year.”
Schwarber is making $19 million this year, but don’t mistake his conservative wager for a lack of confidence. Schwarber may even want to double down after Castellanos lined a double to right field in the first inning of the doubleheader to open a 2-0 lead.
Castellanos added a double on a fly ball to right field in the third inning, although it was aided by Soto, who appeared to lose it in the sun. The expected batting average on the ball was .050.
But Castellanos will take it. And entering the nightcap, he was 14 for 38 (.368) in his last 11 games.
