WASHINGTON — Here’s how it’s going for the Phillies: In the 157th game of the season, with a playoff berth in sight, against the worst team in baseball, infielder Nick Maton came on to pitch with a nine-run deficit in the eighth inning.
Wild-card fever.
More like a fever dream.
A September slide bled into October on Saturday as the Phillies got trounced, 13-4, by the Washington Nationals in the first game of a doubleheader that again was being threatened by ominous weather. Kyle Gibson gave up seven runs in six innings, but the defense opened the door to a five-run second inning. And once again, the Phillies lacked the offense to come back.
The Phillies fell back into a tie with the Milwaukee Brewers for the last National League wild card. The Brewers were set to play at home Saturday night against the Miami Marlins. The Phillies and Nationals were going to try again to dodge the remnants of Hurricane Ian, play a second game, and avoid having to reconvene here for a makeup game Thursday.
What. A. Mess.
The whole thing felt as precarious as ever, like a teetering Jenga tower, even as the Phillies hold a tiebreaker over the Brewers by virtue of winning the season series. And while a better performance by Gibson or a quicker hook by interim manager Rob Thomson may have helped, those weren’t the sole reasons that the Phillies lost for the sixth time in seven games — and the 11th time in 15 games.
But as Gibson walked back out to the mound for the sixth inning, it was fair at the time to wonder why.
Gibson had given up seven runs, the third time in six starts that he allowed that many. The Phillies trailed by three runs, hardly an insurmountable deficit against the worst-in-baseball Washington Nationals. Every win — heck, every game now — is precious. Another band of rain was on the way, threatening another bid to play a doubleheader.
The moment seemed more urgent than the Phillies’ actions to meet it.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Gibson got through the sixth inning, but Nick Nelson gave up three runs in the seventh. By the eighth, all was lost.
Gibson, to be clear, wasn’t good and hasn’t been for the last month. He elevated a slider to Luke Voit for a two-run homer in the second inning and left a belt-high cutter for Joey Meneses to drive into the right-field seats for a solo shot in the fifth. Gibson has a 9.73 ERA in his last six starts, the fifth-worst September/October era for a Phillies pitcher with at least five starts since 1901.
Considering the stakes, and with nine relievers in the bullpen, Thomson could have lifted Gibson earlier. But the Nationals scored five runs with two out in the second inning to build a 6-1 lead. It happened quickly. And Gibson did retire seven consecutive batters between Voit’s homer and Meneses’.
The second-inning rally never even happens if the Phillies played better defense behind Gibson.
With two on and two out, CJ Abrams hit a slow roller to second base. Jean Segura charged the ball but ran slightly around it, enabling blazing-fast Abrams to beat out a single. Meneses followed with a drive down the third-base line. Alec Bohm went to his backhand but missed the ball, which went for a bases-clearing double.
