Instant Analysis: Phillies 3, Nats 2

The Nationals' unconventional pitching plan mostly did its part, but the lineup couldn't do enough against Philly rookie Andrew Painter

Photo by Saúl Martinez / NATS JOURNAL

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals had no answers for Andrew Painter in his first career start. The Phillies had just enough power in their bats to get to Zack Littell in his first bulk outing for his new team. The result: A tight loss for the visitors in the middle game of this series.

Utilizing an opener for only the second time in club history – Matt Grace did it in front of Joe Ross against the Dodgers in 2019 – the Nationals watched as left-hander PJ Poulin successfully retired the top of the Phillies lineup on nine pitches in the first before handing it over to Littell. The veteran right-hander, who is still building up his arm after signing late in spring training, was able to throw 75 pitches over five innings but couldn’t avoid a couple of big blasts. Both Kyle Schwarber and Adolis García hit solo homers, the only real damage off Littell during a perfectly satisfactory bulk outing.

That, unfortunately, paled in comparison to Painter’s much-ballyhooed, major-league debut. The Phillies’ top pitching prospect lived up to his billing, tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball, striking out eight while walking only one. The Nats did start to make some noise against the Philly bullpen, scoring one run a piece in the sixth and seventh thanks to some aggressive baserunning. But they couldn’t push across the tying run and thus were left to suffer the loss in their first truly close game of the young season.

HITTING LOWLIGHT: It’s safe to say at this point James Wood is searching at the plate. Though he’s had a couple of big moments through five games – an opposite-field homer in Chicago, a 106.9-mph double tonight – most of his at-bats have included some combination of taking pitches over the plate and whiffing at others outside the zone. His front shoulder is regularly flying open, leaving him vulnerable to pitches on the outer and lower edges. He looks, to be honest, a lot like the guy who struggled so much after the All-Star break last season. Wood did put a good swing on Jhoan Duran’s final pitch of the ninth, driving the ball deep to left … just not quite deep enough to tie the game.

PITCHING HIGHLIGHT: The Nationals signed Littell for a guaranteed $7 million because they’re counting on him to provide quality innings and experience for a rotation lacking in both areas. And over the long run, the hope is that he will do that. But they understand he wasn’t really ready after an abbreviated spring, so that’s why they used the opener tonight. Even so, Littell still managed to churn out five innings on 75 pitches, not bad under the circumstances. The problem: He’s prone to the home run ball, and the Phillies have a bunch of guys who hit the ball hard in the air. So it was that he was done in by Schwarber and García. They were solo homers, so they weren’t too damaging. But they did leave Littell in line for the loss when he departed after the sixth.

NOTABLE: Blake Butera wants to trust his guys to make wise decisions about when to challenge ball-strike calls, but we saw tonight he may have to rein them in a bit. Keibert Ruiz incorrectly challenged a pitch from behind the plate during the Phillies’ first at-bat of the bottom of the second. Then Luis García Jr. incorrectly challenged a call from the plate with two out and nobody on in the top of the third. Thus were the Nationals out of ABS challenges in only 2 1/2 innings. Had those been situations of real consequence, you could make the case for tapping the helmet. But neither was, and so those felt like particularly wasted challenges. All the more so when Joey Wiemer couldn’t challenge an obviously bad call in the top of the ninth of a one-run game.

UP NEXT: The series concludes Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. with a matchup of Opening Day starters. Cade Cavalli is on the mound for the Nats, facing left-hander Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies. TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM