Lord's rare misstep puts Nats on losing end of back-and-forth battle with Phillies

WASHINGTON -- The Nationals had the Phillies right where they wanted them, as an eighth-inning comeback had put them on the brink of winning the first two games of a four-game divisional matchup.

With the lead and their top reliever on the mound, the Nationals had confidence in getting the final three outs.

“[Jorbit] Vivas hits a three-run shot to put us ahead by two, we’re feeling great, of course,” said manager Blake Butera. “And then we have Brad Lord coming out for the ninth, who’s been unbelievable all year long, and felt as good as we could have in that situation.”

Lord felt the same adrenaline rush as he ran out from the bullpen in front of the roaring home crowd that was energized by the back-and-forth battle.

“Going in for a save situation, who wouldn’t be pumped up?” Lord said. “I was fired up and ready to get the job done.”

The Nats had taken an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth on a go-ahead three-run homer by Vivas, who had struggled this season with runners in scoring position.

With the bottom of the Phillies order due up, Lord went to work with a 0.95 ERA and .127 opponents’ batting average over his last eight games. During that stretch, he had earned three wins, two holds and one save.

“He’s been so good for us all year long,” Butera said after the 14-9 loss. “And this was very uncharacteristic.”

The first two at-bats went as the Nats had hoped: strikeouts against Nos. 8 and 9 hitters Edmundo Sosa and Justin Crawford.

Two outs. Two strikes on Trea Turner. Lord delivered a fastball in the zone that Turner connected on for a sharp line-drive to center field, representing the tying run.

“He gets the first two guys out and then gives up the base hit to Turner, and then things just went absolutely sideways there,” Butera said.

Opponents were 1-for-13 against Lord with two outs and one on this season. That is, until Brandon Marsh sailed a Statcast-projected 400-foot game-tying homer out to right field.

“I was really just trying to get on first for [Bryce Harper],” said Marsh. “I was trying to pass the baton. I got a pitch that was a little bit over the plate and tried to put my best swing on it, and it worked out.”

Lord attempted to keep the blown save at bay and give the Nats’ offense the opportunity for a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth. But the Phillies did enough damage to put that goal out of reach.

Lord allowed back-to-back singles to Harper and Derek Hill. On his first pitch to Bryson Stott, the second baseman jumped on a sweeper for a Statcast-projected 403-foot go-ahead three-run blast.

“They just weren’t missing barrels,” said Lord. “They just kept finding hits and finding holes and put some good swings on some balls.”

Lord exited the game with the Nationals trailing 11-8. He was charged with six runs in two-thirds of an inning.

“He’s pretty upset after this one,” said Butera. “My job, our job is to make sure he knows we still believe in him. He’s been a heck of a pitcher for us all year long, and he’s going to get the ball in big spots. This needs to be just one little blip. We can’t let this carry over.”

Paxton Schultz, who was optioned to Triple-A following the game, replaced Lord and allowed another two runs. The Nationals gave up a total of eight runs in the ninth inning for the second time in team history. The first instance was coincidentally against the Phillies at Nationals Park on Sept. 27, 2015.

Vying for a playoff spot this season, each game against an NL opponent is magnified. The Nats are now one game back in the NL Wild Card standings.

“This is a frustrating loss,” said Butera. “That whole clubhouse is pretty fired up right now. We have to take a step back and realize this is a big series. We won yesterday, we should have won today as well. We have two more games, tomorrow and the next day, against these guys. We’ve got to come out ready to go.”