Admittedly, it feels somewhat melodramatic to call the 25th game of a professional baseball season a must-win, but with the Phillies entering the night at 10-14, and with Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer awaiting them over the next two nights, their 25th game felt like a must-win.

Good thing they won it, then.

Jake Arrieta bounced back from a pair of lackluster starts to toss five effective and efficient innings, but his night ended following an extended rain delay that began in the top of the sixth. Joe Girardi said Arrieta could have returned with a shorter delay, but once it climbed past 45 minutes, that was the end of his night.

“Obviously, we wouldn’t have had a rain delay, he was still going out there,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because we could have used some more length from him, but I thought this was some of the best stuff that he had since this year has started.”

That left the Phillies relievers with the task of protecting a three-run lead and taking down 12 outs to do it.

*Gulp.*

For once, there would be no high-wire act, nor was a miraculous play needed to secure the win.

The drama never occurred, thanks in part to a combined effort of four competent innings from the combination of Heath Hembree, Tommy Hunter, Hector Neris, Adam Morgan, and Blake Parker, though Neris, with the help of some bad luck, made things weird for a moment in the eighth.

After the game, Girardi was asked if this performance was a sign that things were starting to turn for his beleaguered bullpen.

“When you make additions and guys start to get on a roll, I think it can turn quickly, and you just have to build off it,” Girardi said. “When you use four or five relievers, not everyone is always going to have a great night, but I thought all the guys really threw the ball well tonight, even Hector. I mean, a jam shot, I think he gave up, and a ground ball hit. I thought his stuff was better today, and I thought one of them was a strikeout. So, I thought he was better today, so that’s great to see.”

Tommy Hunter, who touched 94 mph, was sharp during a scoreless 1 1/3 IP. After the game, Hunter gave an honest response to a question about the intense criticism the bullpen has faced:

Hell yeah, it pisses you off.

I know, everybody will be quick to point out the bullpen’s performance pisses them off, and that’s totally understandable, but I respect the candid nature of his response. Here is some more of what Hunter had to say, just before he ended the session by flexing his biceps and disappearing from the Zoom call:

He did flex on the way out, too. True story.

Look, these guys are human, and they’re out there trying to make it happen. That being said, the group has been bad. Really bad. Historically bad. And when such poor performance happens for an extended period of time, this is the deal. This is how things work.

Anyway, the Phillies’ offense helped out the struggling unit by creating some additional breathing room in the late innings. 

Unlike in their recent excruciating losses, the lineup was able to keep the pressure coming on Tuesday night.

Following a bunt single to open the seventh inning, Roman Quinn swiped second base and moved to third on a wild pitch.

With one out, Quinn broke for home on contact against a drawn-in infield when Andrew McCutchen grounded sharply to shortstop. Turner fielded the ball cleanly and made a decent throw to the plate. None of it mattered.

The Phillies would tack on another run in the eighth with an Alec Bohm RBI single and two more in the ninth on a two-run single by Jean Segura that sealed the win.

Now, let’s get into some observations from the Phillies’ 8-3 win over the Nationals on a night in which Washington’s social media team went with this pregame tweet:

Slow Start Propels Win?

Things got off to an inauspicious start despite the Phillies’ first-inning success this season. They entered the night having scored 24 runs scored in the first inning, which was five runs better than their next best inning, the sixth. In fact, Phillies hitters came into this one hitting .330 with a .980 OPS in the first.

It appeared they would add to those gaudy totals, but Bryce Harper bounced into a rally-killing double play. J.T. Realmuto would follow with a flyout to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the inning, Trea Turner would waste little time getting Washington on the board by launching Jake Arrieta’s third pitch of the night over the right-center field wall for a leadoff homer. As it turns out, that was probably for the best. The Phillies are just 7-10 this season when scoring first but are now 4-4 when their opponent scores first. Go figure.

Scott Kingery Ends A Rough Streak

Scott Kingery would get the Phillies’ offense going in the third with a leadoff double – his first extra-base hit of the season and his first in 81 plate appearances dating back to Sept. 23 of last season.

However, his homerless streak continues. His last home run came on Sept. 10 of last season. That’s a span of 124 plate appearances without going deep.

Baby steps.

A Game of Inches

Andrew McCutchen would follow Scott Kingery’s double with a game-tying single. A few batters later, J.T. Realmuto would deliver the big blow with, well, let’s call it a single-doink three-run homer:

A closer look at the doink:

So close, yet so far.

For his part, Realmuto was surprised that he got enough of it.

“I honestly just thought I got under the ball, I didn’t think I got all of it,” he said. “I was lucky enough that it carried enough and pretty relieved when it went over the fence. I saw it hit the top of the fence, and then I didn’t know if it came back in or went over the fence, so I was ready to keep running to third. But I obviously was fortunate that it went over, so it all worked out.”

Realmuto, in case you weren’t noticing, is having a decent year. He leads all qualified catchers in the following categories: WAR, ISO, SLG%, RBI, HR, XBH. Like I said, decent.

Jake Arrieta’s Abbreviated But Efficient Evening

Arrieta needed just 54 pitches as he coasted through five innings of work. While he recorded only a single strikeout and generated just three whiffs on 20 swings, he induced 10 groundouts and three inning-ending double plays.

We’ll call it the Zack Wheeler Formula™. Joe Girardi liked what he saw from his starter:

“I thought Jake was really good tonight. He gives up the leadoff homer and that was pretty much about all he gave up,” he said. “We turned some nifty double plays behind him, and he kept the ball on the ground, and that’s when Jake’s at his best.”

Also aiding Arrieta was improved command. After walking four hitters in his start last Wednesday in Boston, he surrendered just a single walk to Washington. He also threw more strikes and was more efficient with his pitches. A look:

  • 8/13 vs. Baltimore: 78 pitches, 47 strikes (60.26%), 3.9 pitches per batter faced
  • 8/19 at Boston: 79 pitches, 45 strikes (56.96%), 3.95 pitches per batter faced
  • 8/25 at Washington: 54 pitches, 34 strikes (62.96%), 3.18 pitches per batter faced

The Neris Conversation

You may have caught the spirited conversations that Joe Girardi and Dusty Wathan were having with Hector Neris after the completion of the eighth inning. Girardi said the interaction was nothing more than encouragement.

“We just tell him he threw the ball well. I thought he threw the ball well, so he will build off that, and he will continue to make strides,” Girardi said.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure that was the extent of the conversation, but there you have it.

A Daunting Task Ahead

I mentioned above that Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer will be staring down Phillies hitters for the remainder of this series, and if 2019 is any indication of what’s to come, that does not bode well for the visitors.

The Nationals were 6-1 against the Phillies in games started by Corbin and Scherzer a year ago, and both put up outstanding numbers:

  • Corbin: 2-0, 2.88 ERA, .216 BA, .656 OPS (Nationals went 4-0)
  • Scherzer: 2-1, 2.50 ERA, .229 BA, .685 OPS (Nationals went 2-1)

The Phillies will counter Corbin with Aaron Nola, who had some of the National League’s best numbers prior to his mess of an outing last Friday in which he couldn’t get through the third inning. Spencer Howard will oppose Scherzer and look to build on his encouraging four-plus innings of work against the Blue Jays last Thursday.

Deolis Guerra Is Back…Sort of

The Phillies announced during the rain delay that right-handed reliever Deolis Guerra cleared waivers and was outrighted to Lehigh Valley. It’s not exactly a surprise that another team failed to pick him up.

It would be polite to say that Guerra (1-3, 8.59 ERA) struggled in nine appearances with the Phillies. Opposing batters hit .313 with a 1.014 OPS against him in 7 1/3 IP.