Unearned: Nationals 4, Phillies 2

A defensive meltdown led to three unearned runs in an inning.

The Phillies defense imploded in the sixth and ruined Taijuan Walker’s start as the Nationals scored three of their four runs as unearned to avoid a sweep with a 4-2 win. Bryce Harper whiffed on a line drive for a three-base error that gave Washington the lead and Rafael Marchán’s passed ball and poor throw on a double steal led to two more Nationals runs. Meanwhile, the Phillies offense could only muster two runs off of Nats’ starter Brad Lord and the Washington bullpen despite having nine hits and two walks.

Life happens fast

In what could be his last start for a while, Taijuan Walker pitched extremely well through the first five innings. He made a fantastic play to get the first out of the game, a diving glove flip to get CJ Abrams at first base where Harper bare handed the throw.

Walker allowed a walk in the second inning and then retired the next ten batters he faced until the sixth inning. That’s when he allowed a leadoff double to Abrams before James Wood hit a 103 MPH liner right off of Walker’s hip. He recovered to throw to first for the out, but the comebacker did seem to knock Walker off of his rhythm. He then allowed Nathaniel Lowe to tie the game on a single before Keibert Ruiz hit the line drive that would turn into Harper’s three base error to give the Nats a 2-1 lead.

Luis Garcia Jr. followed with another single to make it 3-1 before stealing second base. Walker than got Josh Bell to lineout before Marchán’s passed ball on what would’ve been strike three allowed Dylan Crews to draw a walk. That would end Walker’s night, but his line wasn’t yet finished, as Marchán’s throw towards second when Crews tried to get into a rundown skipped in the dirt and past Trea Turner into center field. That allowed Garcia to “steal” home and charged Walker with another unearned run.

Orion Kerkering was able to get a strikeout to end the inning and close Walker’s line at 5.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K on 85 pitches. It’s unclear if he will make another start as Ranger Suárez is set to rejoin the rotation this weekend.

Off the hook

The Phillies offense didn’t get much going off of Lord until the fifth inning. Max Kepler hit a one out double and scored on an RBI single from Alec Bohm for the game’s first run. Johan Rojas then worked a walk to put two on with one out, but Marchán grounded into a force out and Bryson Stott struck out to end the inning.

The next big threat didn’t come until the sixth, when Turner and Harper led off the inning with singles to put men on first and second with no outs in a 4-1 game. That finally knocked Lord out of the game and brought in Jose Ferrer to face Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber hit a ball that went off of Ferrer who recovered to throw him out at first, but the runners both moved into scoring position. Nick Castellanos hit another comebacker to Ferrer, but this one bounced high in the air and no one covered first base, allowing a run to score and Castellanos to reach base safely.

But that would be the last run the Phillies scored on the night, as Ferrer then retired Kepler and Bohm with strikeouts before pitching another clean inning of relief in the seventh. The Phillies got two on with one out in the eighth, but Jorge López got Castellanos to ground into the inning ending double play. Rojas hit an ill-advised two out triple in the ninth, but Marchán flew out to center on the first pitch he saw from Kyle Finnegan to end the game. The Phillies in total went 2-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners.

Tomorrow’s matchup

Jesús Luzardo (3-0, 1.73 ERA) takes the mound as the Diamondbacks come to town for a weekend series. Arizona will send Merrill Kelly (3-1, 4.41) to the mound to oppose him. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45.