Phillies

Rob Thomson Ejected, Phillies Fall to Nationals in Embarrassing Fashion

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Mar 30th, 2026 · 10:17 PM EDT

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If you thought the first series of the regular season was bad for the Phillies, how about a 13-2 loss on a Monday night to the Washington Nationals?

The Nationals batted around in the 1st inning, scoring four runs. The inning consisted of bad Brandon Marsh jumps in centerfield, a questionable throw to home plate instead of first base from Edmundo Sosa, and Rob Thomson being ejected.

Joey Wiemer, who came into tonight 6 for 6 on the year, grounded into the final out of the inning, at least that’s what everyone thought at the time. Both the Phillies and Nationals did not know if Wiemer was out or safe at first. Drew Millas was running on contact with two outs, and he rounded third and headed home with a clear intent to score. After Taijuan Walker caught what everyone thought was the final out of the inning, he threw the ball to Rafael Marchan, who tagged out Millas in the middle of third and home.

The umpires reviewed the call at first base and deemed that Wiemer was safe. They then sent Millas back to third base after being tagged out by Marchan. Thomson was livid, and was tossed just a few seconds after walking onto the field for arguing a reviewed call.

Rob Thomson gets ejected for the first time this season. pic.twitter.com/rVkcBwzteG

— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) March 30, 2026

Those 4 minutes described the entire night for the Phillies.

It was another no-show for the Phillies offense early-on. The Nationals had 9 hits in the first three innings. James Wood, the Nationals leadoff hitter, batted three times in the first three frames. When Wood came to the plate for his third at-bat, Rafael Marchan, the Phillies’ #9 hitter on Monday night, had yet to take an at-bat. The Phillies logged just two hits in the first four innings, and both were singles.

Taijuan Walker wasn’t tonight. He pitches over the plate. But what was weird about his night is the Nationals’ lack of hitting his pitches hard. Through the first four innings, no National, out of their nine early hits, had hit a ball over 91.3 mph off of Walker. It was bloop singles and misplays on defense that lead to a disastrous night. Walker’s night ended in the 5th inning. He went four and two thirds on Monday night, allowing 10 hits, seven runs (six earned), walked three, and struck out just two batters.

The offense found a little bit of life in the 5th inning. Brandon Marsh singled off of Griffin, the lefty, and Rafael Marchan followed it up with a 2-run homer to cut the deficit to five. Trea Turner ripped a double down the line, Kyle Schwarber was hit by a pitch, and Bryce Harper hit a ball into the second deck in right field, but it was just foul. Harper ripped a ball up the middle, but a good play by CJ Abrams ended the inning.

Monday night was one to forget for everybody on the Phillies, but especially Edmundo Sosa. The decision to throw home rather than going to first base cost the Phillies a disastrous first inning. He then made his first error of the season in the 6th inning on a botched routine ground ball to second. For an above-average defender like Sosa, this performance was the definition of a “flush-it” game.

Dylan Moore came into pitch in the middle of the ninth inning. That pretty much says everything you need to know about the rest of the game.

After the game, Rob Thomson gave a long explanation on what he saw, and what he argued, in the 1st inning when he was ejected.

“I don’t get an explanation (from New York, who makes the call). But my view on that is…the third base coach is waving him. He doesn’t stop until he gets about halfway or three quarters of the way by that advertising logo on the baseline, and then he goes past the advertisement. So there was clearly an intent to score. Tai did the right thing. We tell them to keep playing. Umpires tell us to keep playing. You touch the base, call him out, he still throws the ball to the plate, he’s going to be out no matter what. So I guess my question would be, if Tai doesn’t throw the ball to the plate, and the runner keeps running and touches home plate, and they go to review and he’s safe, does he score?”

“There was a clear intent to score…Tai did the right thing”

Rob Thomson with a long answer on the play that he argued and was ejected over in the 1st inning pic.twitter.com/ojSNIkL17n

— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) March 31, 2026

The bottom of the Phillies lineup has been somewhat of a lone bright spot to start the season. When that happens, you know the top of the order is struggling. Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper are a combined 6 for 50 (.120) to start the season. No matter what the bottom of the lineup does, you won’t win many games with that lack of production anchoring the top of your lineup.

Tuesday is a big one for the Phillies. They need the bats to wake up for their rookie sensation Andrew Painter. After years of waiting for the 22-year-old, he’s set to make his Major League debut at 6:40 PM on Tuesday night. Painter said pregame that he’ll have 30-40 people in attendance to watch his debut, including family, friends, former coaches, and more.