WASHINGTON — Kyle Schwarber and Derek Hill were down in the batting cages together underneath Nationals Park when the ninth inning began.
Schwarber had been on the bench for the last two days with tightness in his lower back, but he started to feel like himself again by the seventh inning on Wednesday night. He let interim manager Don Mattingly know he was available to pinch-hit if needed.
The Phillies, trailing the Nationals by one run, hoped they would have an occasion to use him. And when right-handed pitcher Orlando Ribalta came out for the ninth, Schwarber knew they would.
He stepped into the box with two outs, representing the Phillies’ last chance. The Nationals convened on the mound to discuss how to approach him.
“You’re just trying to stay within yourself, stay in the zone, and just trying to find a way on base,” Schwarber said.
It took 10 pitches, but Schwarber got there. He fell behind 1-2, and then fouled off four pitches and held off on three more to draw a walk.
And when the Nationals brought in lefty Richard Lovelady, it was Hill’s turn. The outfielder, who the Phillies acquired earlier this month, delivered a pinch-hit, go-ahead two-run homer for a 5-4 win over Washington.
“I’m just trying to go up there and just execute the plan that the hitting department has laid out for us,” Hill told the Phillies radio broadcasters. “And, obviously, tonight they gave us a pretty dang good one.”
In both at-bats, the Phillies were down to their last strike. And neither Schwarber nor Hill had an automated ball-strike challenge to fall back on, as the Phillies burned both by the fifth inning.
Hill, who left the clubhouse before reporters entered postgame, has plenty of experience coming off the bench in his six-year career. This season, he has 17 pinch-hit plate appearances between the Phillies and the White Sox.
But for an everyday player like Schwarber, it’s a much rarer occurrence. Schwarber has 61 career pinch-hit plate appearances, his last coming in 2024.
“It’s never easy,” Schwarber said. “It’s the hardest thing to do in the game, I think, is being a pinch-hitter and having to go up there and taking an at-bat.”
Schwarber watched the Phillies’ furious ninth-inning comeback on Tuesday night inside the visitors’ clubhouse. Due to his back tightness, he’d been unable to contribute as the Phillies went down to their final strike of the game and then rallied back to score eight runs.
As it unfolded, Schwarber had to keep himself from jumping up and down in excitement.
“It’s been a couple of crazy nights here,” said Mattingly.
On Wednesday, the Phillies once again fell behind early. The Nationals built a 2-0 lead on solo home runs off Aaron Nola in the first and second innings. Washington stacked eight lefties — including two switch-hitters — in its lineup. But by the time the Phillies offense jumped ahead in the fourth, Nola appeared to find a rhythm.
“I just tried to keep the guys in the game as long as I could,” he said.
He got ahead in the count more often, throwing first-pitch strikes 62% of the time. Nola successfully shut down Nationals star James Wood in all three of his plate appearances against him, striking him out in the third inning with a knuckle curve. It was one of five strikeouts Nola recorded over five innings.
“He’s the kind of guy I’ve learned to appreciate more and more, just the way he continues to fight, continues to make pitches,” Mattingly said. “He may bend a little bit, but he just doesn’t give in and stop pitching.”
The Phillies punched back, capitalizing on two singles, a double, a fielding error, and a sacrifice fly to score three runs and take the lead in the fourth. Alec Bohm, who ultimately reached first base on the error, fouled a ball off his foot in his at-bat and appeared to be in some pain. He played through it and remained in the game, but Mattingly said afterward that Bohm will get X-rays to ensure there isn’t a break.
Some managerial maneuvering backfired on Mattingly in the sixth as the Nationals jumped back in front. When Curtis Mead stepped up to pinch-hit against Phillies lefty Kyle Backhus, Mattingly countered by bringing in Jonathan Bowlan. As a righty, Bowlan had the advantageous matchup on paper against Mead, a right-handed hitter.
But Bowlan served up a first-pitch sweeper to Mead, who blasted it over Brandon Marsh’s head and into the left field seats for a two-run homer.
Things worked out, however, after a similar countermove in the ninth. After Schwarber’s walk, the Nationals brought in the left-handed Lovelady to face Justin Crawford, prompting Mattingly to call on Hill.
“He’s been making some really good adjustments since he’s gotten to us,” Schwarber said of Hill. “He works extremely hard, and he fits right in with our group. And to see him go out there and have that big swing, put us ahead, it’s really cool.”
Mattingly also used Garrett Stubbs as a pinch-runner for Schwarber, and Stubbs remained in the game to play third base for the bottom of the ninth.
He was not tested defensively, though, because Jhoan Duran struck out the side to earn the save and seal the Phillies’ second straight ninth-inning comeback.
“It’s them understanding that this game’s never over,” Mattingly said. “ … I think that’s important for our club to know that we can score a lot, we can score a little, we can score in different ways. I think these wins are very important.”
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