WASHINGTON — Every time the Phillies seemed like they generated any sort of spark against Foster Griffin and the Nationals, it was quickly snuffed out.
When Rafael Marchán singled to lead off the third inning, the next three batters hit into outs. When Derek Hill successfully legged out a double to lead off the fifth, the Phillies failed to advance him past third. And when the Nationals committed two throwing errors, the offense didn’t capitalize.
Even when Brandon Marsh homered off Griffin in the seventh — snapping an individual 0-for-14 skid against left-handed pitchers — to finally put the Phillies on the board, the rest of the offense didn’t ignite.
The next two batters struck out swinging to end the inning, accounting for two of 12 total strikeouts the Phillies recorded in the 4-1 rain-delayed loss to the Nationals on Monday.
“Just the mix and match for us, we didn’t seem to do enough with him,” interim manager Don Mattingly said of Griffin. “Got ahead in the count, two strikes, variety of basically breaking balls for the lefties. Kept our righties off-balance for the most part. Just kept pitching.”
First pitch was delayed for 1 hour and 32 minutes due to weather, but after that the Nationals didn’t waste any time. They jumped out early against Tim Mayza, who opened the game for Alan Rangel. James Wood ambushed the lefty for a leadoff double in the first inning, and was driven home by a Dylan Crews single.
Luis Garcia Jr. homered off Rangel after he took over in the second, but that was the only earned run he allowed over five total innings. He allowed five hits, struck out four, and walked zero.
“That was good to see,” Mattingly said. “He had a little bit of traffic, but he seemed to work out of it, and it didn’t rattle him at all. Kept throwing strikes, so we like that.”
Rangel was called up ahead of Monday’s game, and Mattingly said the Phillies expect to use him going forward in the fifth starter spot that was vacated last week when Andrew Painter was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley.
“First of all, I’m very thankful, and I want to thank the team for giving me this opportunity, thankful to God for being here, and I’ll just focus on pitching the way I’ve been pitching now,” Rangel said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “And focus on keeping it going from tonight.”
Three of Rangel’s four strikeouts came on his changeup. Pitchers generally prefer to keep their off-speed offerings down in the zone to limit hard contact, but Rangel sometimes likes to throw an elevated changeup.
In the fourth, Wood chased a changeup high and inside for an inning-ending strikeout.
“Just wanted to show the pitch at that same eye level for the hitter,” Rangel said. “So if I did that in the same spot [as a fastball], with the difference in the pitch shape and the way it moves, I think that would create a little bit of a difference from when I threw both pitches.”
Marsh was hitless in his first two at-bats against Griffin. The outfielder has been the Phillies’ most consistent hitter this year, but has cooled off a little over the past few days.
So, between innings, Bryce Harper approached him. He put his hands on Marsh’s shoulders and gave him a pep talk.
“That’s just him being the leader he is,” Marsh said. “He could see that I may have been overthinking a little bit up there, so he just came and put his arms on me, and put his hands on me, and just told me, ‘Stop thinking so much and go be you.’ So super thankful for that. He definitely brought me back here, and just got me out of my own head, and got me back on track a little bit.”
The next inning, Marsh got a curveball over the middle of the plate and launched it into the Nationals’ bullpen in right field for his 10th home run of the season.
“Moments like that are special, and stuff that I won’t forget,” Marsh said. “So he’s just talking to me from experience, is what he was saying, and just being the leader that he is, and it was a special moment.”
Marsh’s homer in the seventh cut the deficit to 2-1, but the Nationals responded right back. Curtis Mead — a former Phillies prospect whom they traded to the Rays in 2019 for Cristopher Sánchez — hit a two-run homer off Seth Johnson in the bottom of the inning. In total, Washington racked up 12 hits.
And when Griffin exited after 7⅓ innings, the Phillies offense didn’t fare any better against Washington’s bullpen.
Harper hit a leadoff single off Clayton Beeter in the ninth inning, but once again nothing sparked. Alec Bohm immediately grounded into a double play and Justin Crawford struck out to end the game.
