This will be difficult to fathom for anyone who watched the Phillies melt like fondue in each of the last two Septembers. But what happened in the third inning of the opening game of Tuesday's doubleheader might have been as bad as it gets for a team that fancies itself a postseason contender.
With their best pitcher on the mound against an opponent that has nothing to play for, after a sloppy performance less than 24 hours earlier, and clinging to a half-game lead for the final wild-card berth in the National League, the Phillies gave up four runs on four hits in a rally punctuated by Bryce Harper kicking a ball around the right-field corner like he spent most of the last decade playing for D.C. United instead of the Washington Nationals.
The outcome: A 5-1 rout by the Nationals that plunged the Phillies' record back under .500 (27-28).
And although every loss counts the same, falling to the Nationals in back-to-back games started by Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola felt more consequential, especially with the bullpen set to start the second game Tuesday followed by Zach Eflin on Wednesday night in Washington and Vince Velasquez on Friday night at Tampa Bay.
"It don't matter who's on the mound. We've still got to go out and compete," Nola said. "I feel like we've been competing. Things haven't been falling our way. We're still taking it game-by-game. I don't think we're out of anything."
Entering the second game of the doubleheader, the Phillies had fallen into a three-way tie for the eighth spot in an eight-team playoff field with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Gabe Kapler-led San Francisco Giants. The Brewers were playing in Cincinnati on Tuesday night, while the Giants were hosting the Colorado Rockies.
The Phillies are 12-13 in September after going 12-16 in the final month last season and 8-20 in 2018. Each year is different. The previous collapses occurred on Kapler's watch. Their struggles this year have coincided with a deluge of injuries and an unforgiving schedule. Tuesday marked the team's fifth doubleheader in 15 days.
But how to explain Harper's defensive lapses? (He oddly didn't coming up throwing to the plate when Juan Soto scored from second base on Asdrubal Cabrera's RBI single in the first inning.)
Equally mystifying: Notching only three hits, including Jean Segura's solo homer, against Nationals starter Austin Voth, who entered the game with a 7.17 ERA.
"We're not pressing," Nola said. "We're still going to go out and compete, go try to take this next game here today."
The Phillies are 5-6 in Nola's starts, 6-4 with Wheeler on the mound. That isn't nearly good enough considering Nola's 3.06 ERA and Wheeler's 2.67 mark.
Nola gave up five runs in a second consecutive start for the first time since his final two starts of last season. This time, though, only three of the runs were earned. After committing three errors behind Wheeler on Monday night, the Phillies didn't do Nola any favors either with a pair of miscues.
Nola scattered six hits, including back-to-back doubles by Andrew Stevenson and Trea Turner, to open that ugly third inning. Brock Holt delivered the biggest blow, an RBI double that went under first baseman Jay Bruce's glove and rattled around the right-field corner, where Harper had difficulty picking it up and throwing it in before a second run was able to score.
The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on another defensive mishap. After Nola recorded two quick outs, 22-year-old rookie left fielder Mickey Moniak twisted himself into a pretzel while backtracking on Soto's two-out fly ball that clanged off his mitt. One batter later, Soto scored when Harper didn't charge Cabrera's single.
It was unclear if Harper was hampered on either play by the stiff lower back that caused him to pull himself out of Sunday's game after seven innings at Citizens Bank Park.
"We have a couple more games left right now, and I've got to be out there. I've got to be playing," Harper said Monday night. "Just got to get out there, got to get it going each day, and try to get it as loose as possible and just get going."
Nola is scheduled to start once more this season, in Sunday's finale at Tampa Bay. The Phillies had hoped to clinch a playoff spot before that, in which case they could rest Nola for Game 1 of a wild-card playoff series.
At this rate, though, there's a better chance that the Phillies will need to win Sunday, which would make it the biggest start of Nola's career.
"Every game from right now to the end of the regular season is huge," Nola said. "Brush this one off and get prepared for my next one. I think that's what we're all going to do."
