Washington Nationals drop eighth-straight, 2-1 Philadelphia Phillies in extras in D.C.

SaturGrayday:

Josiah Gray’s last scheduled start was wiped out by a last-minute rain delay, and he ended up getting pushed back to this afternoon after he warmed up last Monday, and sat around for 90 minutes before they were able to play.

His last time out on the mound, the 24-year-old tossed five scoreless on 101 pitches in a 2-1 loss to the Miami Marlins, in which he gave up six hits and struck out six batters.

“Josiah was — he did great. I know the pitch count got up there, he got out of some high-leverage situations, and he was good for five innings, really good. Just had 100 pitches,” manager Davey Martinez said after the outing which left Gray with a 4.33 ERA, a 5.43 FIP, and a .230/.325/.461 line against in 12 starts and 62 ¹⁄₃ IP.

Today in D.C., Gray tossed four scoreless to start, on 69 pitches, working his way out of a bases-loaded, 2-out jam in the first, retiring the side in order in the second and third, and stranding a 2-out error by Luis García (No. 5, 4th throwing error) in the fourth.

A 25-pitch fifth in which he worked around a two-out walk to Kyle Schwarber left Gray at 94 pitches overall, and he worked around a 2-out K/wild pitch on which a runner reached, and a walk in a 23-pitch sixth which left him at 117 total.

Josiah Gray’s Line: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 Ks, 117 P, 66 Ks, 8/4 GO/FO.

Nola vs the Nationals:

After earning a W in his first start of the season, Aaron Nola went winless for his next eight outings, posting a 3.69 ERA, a 3.48 FIP, and a .224/.279/.400 line against in 46 ¹⁄₃ IP in that stretch, but coming into this afternoon’s game, the 29-year-old right-hander, who snapped his winless streak four starts back, was unbeaten in four turns in the Philly rotation, with a 2.45 ERA, a 1.94 FIP, and a .194/.209/.296 line against in 29 ¹⁄₃ IP in those outings.

Nola worked around a one-out single by Juan Soto in the first, a two-out hit by Keibert Ruiz in the second, and he retired the Nationals in order in the third, completing three scoreless on 43 pitches, with three strikeouts.

Nola’s nine-pitch, 1-2-3 fifth left him at just 60 pitches total, with five Ks from the 16 batters he’d faced, and he worked around a leadoff single by Luis García and an intentional walk to Juan Soto for his sixth scoreless frame.

Josh Bell singled to lead off the Nationals’ seventh, but he was stranded at first base three outs as Nola completed his seventh scoreless inning of work at pitches overall.

Returning to the mound at 88 pitches overall in the eighth, Nola retired the side in order on 18 pitches, leaving him at [checks math] 106 total in eight scoreless frames.

Aaron Nola’s Line: 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 Ks, 106 P, 71 S, 8/4 GO/FO.

Bullpen Action:

Erasmo Ramírez came on for the Nationals in the top of the seventh inning and retired the first batter he faced, but Phillies’ third baseman Yairo Muñoz took a first-pitch cutter over the middle of the plate out to left for a solo homer and the first run of the game for either club, 1-0 Phillies. No. 2 for Muñoz. 394-foot shot.

Ramírez returned to the mound in the top of the eighth and got an inning-ending double play out of Odubel Herrera after giving up a one-out walk to J.T. Realmuto.

Reed Garrett got the top of the ninth for the Nationals, and he worked around a leadoff single by Alex Bohm for a scoreless frame, with help from a caught stealing at second.

Brad Hand came on for the save opportunity in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the left-hander walked Juan Soto to start the inning, and two outs later, gave up a game-tying, RBI single to right by pinch hitter Lane Thomas, who went with a 2-2 slider and hit it the other way to drive Soto in, 1-1.

This one went to extras. Garrett returned to the mound in the top of the tenth, and gave up a leadoff single to center by Rhys Hoskins which scored the Phillies’ ghost runner, 2-1. Kyle Schwarber stepped in next and walked, and Didi Gregorius singled to load them up for Nick Castellanos. That was it for Garrett.

Andres Machado took over with the bases loaded with Phillies and got three outs without any more runs coming in.

Seranthony Dominguez got the bottom of the tenth for the Phils, and stranded the Nats’ free runner to end it.

Final Score:

Nationals now 23-46