Bryce Harper’s heroics send Nationals to third straight loss

The Tarp’s Off crowd is a rowdy bunch.

Whenever Washington’s favorite villain, Bryce Harper, was at the plate, they showered him with obscenities. An “F— Bryce Harper” chant broke out as he stepped up.

But, with the game tied in the ninth inning, Harper did what he’s done often throughout his career and silenced the naysayers.

Harper hammered a 1-0 changeup to left field for a go-ahead, two-run homer. He strutted and roared with the ferocity befitting a perennial All-Star as he rounded the bases and embraced his teammates on his way back to the dugout.

It was the death knell as the Nationals blew a three-run lead in the seventh inning, losing 10-5 to drop the series against the Phillies.

No matter how lethal the Nationals’ offense was, or how stellar right-hander Cade Cavalli was, the game didn’t begin until Cavalli left the mound. Once the unreliable Nationals bullpen took over, all the Phillies had to do was be patient.

The Nationals led 5-0 until the sixth inning, when the Phillies tagged Cavalli for two runs on left fielder Brandon Marsh’s homer. Still, a three-run lead should be sufficient enough for most major league bullpens.

Left-hander Mitchell Parker entered in relief of Cavalli and struck out Wednesday night’s hero, Derek Hill, before allowing back-to-back singles, setting up a showdown with All-Star slugger Kyle Schwarber.

Parker got ahead 0-1 before spraying four balls to load the bases. With Harper at the plate, Parker’s job didn’t get much easier, and the shakiness of the bullpen continued. Parker walked Harper to cut the Nationals’ lead to two and end his day.

But, as we’ve learned over the past three games, the answer to the team’s bullpen woes likely isn’t on the roster. Right-hander Clayton Beeter entered, and the problems persisted.

Beeter has the velocity that most teams covet in high-leverage arms, but he hasn’t shown the ability to throw it in the strike zone. He walked Marsh on four pitches to allow another run — it took Beeter seven pitches to throw his first strike.

Beeter collected himself to induce a forceout that allowed the tying run to score and a groundout to end the inning. But, in just two innings, the Nationals had surrendered a five-run lead.

Manager Blake Butera said after Wednesday’s collapse that, if the team is going to go down, he wants to go down being aggressive. But on Thursday the relievers were passive and it bit them.

Even with the team scoring five runs over the first two innings, there was an air of doubt throughout Nationals Park.

The season is quickly spiraling. After a plucky start, the team needs to stop the bleeding. A .500 record would have been welcome at the start of the season, but with how good the offense is, the bullpen has some soul-searching to do.