PHILADELPHIA _ As the Phillies tested a rookie's limits, a smattering of cheers spread across the smallest crowd of the season at Citizens Bank Park. Jake Thompson lugged a 9.78 ERA into Monday night's 4-0 loss to the first-place Nationals. There he stood, one pitch from completing seven innings.
Washington rookie Trea Turner fouled a fastball and a change-up. Thompson gained much-needed confidence deeper into the night. So he had enough conviction to throw a full-count slider for his 111th pitch. It froze Turner.
Cameron Rupp signaled "thumbs up" with his right hand as he caught strike three with his left. Thompson yelled. He had struck out the side to conclude the longest _ and most rewarding _ start of his nascent major-league career. Ever since his shaky debut Aug. 6 in San Diego, the 22-year-old right-hander has appeared unsettled.
He found some peace Monday.
The Phillies lost. And, still, it felt like something was accomplished in front of 16,056 fans because Thompson discovered success after four nightmarish starts to begin his career.
It marked progress, although Thompson owed much of it to luck. Washington hit him hard all night; a stiff summer wind prevented some deep flies from traveling over the wall. The Nationals dinged Thompson for two runs in a 13-minute first inning, including a Jayson Werth homer on Thompson's seventh pitch of the night.
But Thompson recovered. He employed a different delivery at the suggestion of pitching coach Bob McClure. It was a more simplified version that eliminated his pronounced windup, a sort of modified stretch. Thompson, who walked 13 in his first four starts, issued just one walk Monday.
He is known as a ground-ball pitcher. That was not how he succeeded Monday. Washington made seven outs in the air, with five on the ground. Thompson did not record a strikeout until the seventh inning. He lowered his ERA to 7.86.
Anthony Rendon ended the sixth with a 390-foot out to center that may have cleared the wall on most nights. Thompson pounded his right fist into his glove. But, at 85 pitches, the Phillies decided to extend him. They want to learn about their young pitchers, and that requires putting them in difficult situations.
Phillies manager Pete Mackanin, along with others inside the clubhouse, had urged Thompson to relax. When asked before the game about what had bothered Thompson _ nerves, command, mechanics _ Mackanin said: "I think it's a combination of everything."
There is a different kind of anxiety in the majors.
"When you get here, there is nowhere else to go," Mackanin said. "That has to enter into it. I know I was scared to death when I was 21 and first time in the big leagues. It took me a while to get through it. He might say he's fine and confident and not nervous, but ... he's a liar."
The manager smiled.
"It takes a while to settle in," he said.
That, Phillies officials have said, is the goal of this season. For one night, Thompson at least looked like he belonged.
