Instant Analysis: Phillies 10, Nats 5

The Nationals pitching staff gave up 10 unanswered runs after the fifth inning, completing a miserable three-night stretch

Photo by Billy Sabatini / ALL-PRO REELS

Third verse, same as the second. And first.

The Nationals blew a late lead to the Phillies for the third straight night, giving up the winning runs in the top of the ninth each time. The only difference in this loss? The bullpen had already blown a five-run lead in the sixth and seventh, leaving the game tied before Gus Varland gave up five runs in the ninth to cap off one of the most-demoralizing three-game stretches in club history.

Asked to keep the game tied in the eighth, Varland managed to get three outs thanks to a pair of overturned calls that benefited the Nats. But when his teammates couldn’t take advantage of Daylen Lile’s leadoff double in the bottom of the inning, Varland returned for the top of the ninth and served up homers to Bryce Harper (who flipped off the shirtless “Tarps Off” fans who had serenaded him with a vulgar chant) and Derek Hill, giving the Phillies 10 unanswered runs after the fifth inning.

As they did in every game in this series, the Nationals put themselves in position to win, taking the lead thanks to an opportunistic offense that didn’t care who it was going up against, even a potential Cy Young front-runner. They got to Cristopher Sanchez for four runs in the bottom of the first with a sustained rally ignited by Curtis Mead’s 14th homer of the season and singles by Dylan Crews, Lile and Nasim Nunez. And when Jacob Young delivered a two-out RBI single to score Crews in the third, they had themselves five total runs off Sanchez, whose ERA rose from 1.80 to 2.13 in the process.

Cade Cavalli did his part to take advantage of that 5-0 lead, tossing five scoreless innings to begin his night before surrendering a two-run homer to Brandon Marsh in the sixth. All told, Cavalli departed with a 97-pitch quality start in the books on a night when his team needed exactly that.

But all of this, of course, was just the preamble to the game’s final three innings, which everyone understood all along would decide this contest. The first two deployed members of the Nats bullpen (Mitchell Parker, Clayton Beeter) immediately turned a three-run lead into a tie game via two singles, four walks and a fielder’s choice in the seventh.

HITTING HIGHLIGHT: The four-run rally in the first was yet another reminder that this lineup isn’t going let the previous night’s outcome negatively affect its ability to mash. Who cares if they were facing one of the league’s best in Sanchez? With both power (Mead’s homer) and well-timed hits (Crews, Lile, Nunez), they jumped all over the Phillies ace and tried to set a positive tone for the game. Sure, it would’ve been nice to keep adding on throughout the night and provide an even bigger lead for the bullpen. But you can’t blame the offense for the job it did both tonight and throughout the series.

PITCHING HIGHLIGHT: The Nationals needed a quality and quantity tonight from Cavalli, and they got both. The right-hander had good stuff throughout, with a fastball that averaged 97 mph and topped out at 100 mph, plus a curveball that had the Phillies flummoxed all night. He induced 15 swings and misses, struck out seven and walked only one. Cavalli carried a shutout into the sixth inning, at which point he suffered his only real mistake: a first-pitch changeup to Marsh that was deposited into the right-field stands. At 97 pitches, his night was over at the end of the sixth. But the Nats couldn’t have asked for much more from their No. 1 starter. He put them in a position to win, then could only watch along with everyone else to see if the bullpen could finish the job.

NOTABLE: CJ Abrams has advanced to Phase 2 of the All-Star voting process, now set to go head-to-head with Mookie Betts to become the NL’s starting shortstop next month in Philadelphia. Abrams wound up holding onto his lead all the way through Phase 1, topping Betts, 1,858,531 to 1,762,343.

James Wood, however, did not make it to Phase 2, holding his seventh-place position among NL outfielders with only 1,359,371 votes. Despite superior numbers to the rest of the competition, Wood finished behind Michael Harris II, who received 1,479,135 votes for sixth place. The top five vote-getters: Andy Pages (2,158,664), Brandon Marsh (2,015,932), Ronald Acuna Jr. (1,723,945), Teoscar Hernandez (1,569,932) and Juan Soto (1,538,562).

Phase 2 voting is set to take place Monday through Thursday, with final All-Star rosters (including reserves and pitchers) to be announced July 4.

UP NEXT: It’s Round 2 of the Battle of the Beltways. Having already taken two of three from the Orioles last month in D.C., the Nats now try to win the road portion of the interleague series. Friday’s 7:05 p.m. opener features dueling left-handers: Andrew Alvarez and Trevor Rogers. TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM