Nationals collapse in the ninth inning, drop second straight game to Phillies

All Nationals left-hander Richard Lovelady could do was stare at the field after the game. He hadn’t delivered for his team, which for the second night in a row got the Phillies down to their last strike but was unable to put them away.

Lovelady was summoned from the bullpen to record the final out after right-hander Orlando Ribalta walked All-Star slugger Kyle Schwarber.

Lovelady quickly got ahead in the count 1-2 but couldn’t put away pinch hitter Derek Hill. Lovelady left a 92.5 mph four-seam fastball too far up in the strike zone, and Hill crushed a two-run shot to give the Phillies a 5-4 win Wednesday night.

Washington leads the majors with 23 blown saves, seven more than the Tigers. Manager Blake Butera said he didn’t let Ribalta finish the ninth because he was “battling some stuff” and that he had endured a 10-pitch at-bat against Schwarber.

“We got to find a way to get that last out in the ninth,” Butera said. “I mean, whatever it is, mental, physical, somebody’s got to get that last out.”

After losing on a walk-off grand slam against the Giants, there was a sense of shock from the team. It was unfathomable that it lost a game it was leading by eight runs in the eighth inning.

Tuesday night’s loss was frustrating because of the fight the Nationals showed to score three runs in the eighth to regain the lead 8-6 after the bullpen had allowed three runs. It collapsed further in the ninth, allowing eight runs.

Wednesday’s loss was a disappointing gut punch. Executing with two strikes and two outs is the difference from the Nationals being on the verge of a sweep instead of being in danger of a gentleman’s sweep.

The Nationals had the Phillies on their last legs in back-to-back games and walked away with two losses. That alone should show the front office this team needs bullpen help at the trade deadline.

“The last few games have been tough,” Lovelady said. “[The offense] exploding and doing all they can to give us the chance to win a ballgame, and it’s just [us] not doing our part.

The offense did just enough to win Wednesday, and the pitching staff executed well for 8 2/3 innings. Left-hander Carson Palmquist threw 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing one walk with three strikeouts.

Right-hander Miles Mikolas entered in the fourth and threw 3 1/3 innings, allowing two unearned runs on five hits. Left-hander PJ Poulin threw 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, and Ribalta allowed one run in two-thirds of an inning.

But with one swing Hill sent the Nationals (41-40) to another frustrating loss. The offense has been potent, while the bullpen has been ineffective.

“It sucks,” Lovelady said. “Especially after three heck of a jobs by the guys before us getting us all the way to the ninth and not being able to finish, it’s the worst.”

The Nationals took a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning when pinch hitter Curtis Mead hit a two-run bomb, continuing his strong start. But the pitching staff’s woes continue. The series against the Phillies has showed that the margins are slim for the Nationals when they play a team of equal or better talent, and they don’t have enough talent in the bullpen to overcome it.

And that’s the predicament the Nationals face before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The offense has allowed the team to outperform expectations and unexpectedly compete for a wild-card spot in Year 1 of a new regime.

Unless a trade is consummated, this is the bullpen Butera has to work with.

“We’re going to continue to give these guys opportunities,” Butera said. “I mean, we’re throwing everything we have at these guys and giving every guy in the bullpen opportunity to finish the game for us, and we’re going to keep trying to find that guy.”

That All-Stars James Wood and CJ Abrams combined to go 1-for-7 and the offense still poured in five runs is a testament to how deep the lineup is and how surprising contributors (Mead, Luis García Jr.) have developed over the course of the season.

“It didn’t surprise me at all,” Mead said of the team’s resilience through 8 2/3 innings. “One of the cool things about this group so far this year is just how resilient we’ve been [through] countless tough losses, [and] just being able to flush it and be ready the next day.”

Now the bullpen has to have a guy emerge as a dependable reliever late in games. Right-hander Brad Lord is a candidate for that role, but he was shelled in Tuesday’s collapse.

Ribalta does a good job of limiting hard contact and possesses a strong four-seam fastball that can miss bats. But if he’s not 100% then it’s unclear how much the team can push him in those spots.

The answer likely doesn’t exist on the current roster, but the Nationals have to optimize the relievers they have to deliver in pressurized moments.

The Nationals came into this series excited about facing a divisional opponent. They understood the stakes of the series, which makes the late losses hurt more. They’ve shown they can compete with the Phillies. Now they need to show they can beat the Phillies.

“We turn the page [and] come to the ballpark, like [it’s] a 0-0 record,” Lovelady said. “That’s the way we take every game.”

This article has been updated.