Skid continues as Nats fall to Phillies in 10th

Seven pitchers took the mound for the Nationals in their 6-5, 10-inning loss to the Phillies on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park. The box score says Sean Doolittle was charged with the loss for giving up the game-winning sacrifice fly to Alec Bohm. Will Harris, who faced four batters in the eighth, thought differently.

“Me not doing my job tonight, I think, is the difference in the game,” Harris said. “The guys that came in before me and after me all threw the ball very well. In one-run games, usually one inning is the difference, and I think that was the difference today.”

• Box score

Wander Suero, Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey had pitched 3 2/3 combined scoreless innings in relief of Aníbal Sánchez, putting Michael A. Taylor in position to hit a tiebreaking home run with two outs in the seventh and give the Nationals a 5-4 lead.

Taylor entered the game in the fifth inning as a replacement for Adam Eaton, who jammed his knee on a sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning while serving as the Nats' leadoff hitter for the first time this season.

Facing his first batter, Harris deflected a grounder from Didi Gregorius off his knee to second base, and Gregorius reached on an infield single -- the first Phillies runner to reach base since the fifth inning after the bullpen struck out the side in the sixth and seventh.

Harris got Jean Segura to fly out to center field, but he missed his mark in attempting to get Jay Bruce to ground into a double play in the next at-bat, and he walked Bruce on five pitches to put runners on first and second.

Bohm then singled on an 80.2 mph curveball to load the bases, signaling the end of Harris' outing after 14 pitches. Daniel Hudson replaced Harris and got Andrew McCutchen to ground into a forceout at shortstop, but it drove in Gregorius for the game-tying run.

The game was decided in the bottom of the 10th, when Doolittle intentionally loaded the bases after a leadoff sac bunt moved automatic runner J.T. Realmuto to third, and Bohm sent a sacrifice fly into center field. Victor Robles' throw was unable to catch Realmuto, who scored the game-winning run and handed the Nats their sixth straight loss.

“The walk to Bruce was obviously the difference in the inning, I feel like,” said Harris, who was charged with one run on two hits in one-third of an inning. “Just didn’t have a good feel. It seems like a couple of good outings and then kind of take a step or two back, so trying to figure it out tomorrow.”

The Nationals signed Harris, 36, this winter to enhance the back end of their bullpen. He was coming off a 2019 season in which he led all American League relievers with a 1.50 ERA as a member of the Astros, and he has a proven track record over his nine-year career.

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This season, Harris battled a groin injury and has struggled to establish consistency. Following Thursday's game, Harris is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA over 8 2/3 innings in 10 appearances. But there's still baseball left to be played, and Harris takes a professional approach to each outing. With over 400 innings of experience, he is trying to get his first season with the Nationals on track, one batter at a time.

“I think you can be overwhelmed if you look at a big picture all the time,” he said. “I think it’s better to take the small, incremental battles. Especially as a reliever, that’s usually how I like to do it. For me, tomorrow, it’s just a matter of trying to be better than what I was today -- and I just wasn’t very good today.”