Down to final strike, Phillies erupt with 8-RUN rally to stun Nats

WASHINGTON -- Trailing by two with the bases empty and down to their final strike, the Phillies staged an improbable two-out ninth-inning rally at Nationals Park on Tuesday.

What began innocently enough with a Trea Turner single then saw Brandon Marsh deliver a game-tying two-run homer off Nationals reliever Brad Lord. Three batters later, Bryson Stott launched a three-run homer just inside the foul pole and three batters after that Edmundo Sosa came through with a two-run double.

Turner tacked on an RBI single as the Phillies ultimately scored eight times on eight consecutive hits, en route to a 14-9 win to even the series.

“That was pretty epic,” said Marsh, who homered for the second consecutive game. “We needed everyone today and everyone pulled through. That was big.”

Marsh concedes he had modest expectations when he stepped up in the ninth.

“I was really just trying to get on first for [Bryce Harper],” he said. “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.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Phillies produced the third most two-out runs by any team in a ninth inning in the Expansion Era (1961) and the most ninth-inning two-out runs for any Phillies team in a game in the expansion era.

“This game is crazy when you see stuff like that,” said interim manager Don Mattingly.

The Phillies initially erased a 5-0 deficit when J.T. Realmuto delivered a two-out bases-clearing double in the top of the eighth off Nationals reliever Clayton Beeter to give the Phillies a 6-5 lead. Nationals outfielder James Wood had a piece of Realmuto’s liner to shallow right, but the ball squeezed out, allowing the Phillies to go in front.

The Nationals responded in the last of the eighth with Jorbit Vivas hitting a three-run homer off Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering to give Washington an 8-6 lead.

“It’s a pretty good gut punch at that moment,” Mattingly said. “It was a shocker. [Kerkering] has been throwing the ball so well, but then he bounces back and gets his guys and then we’re able to do a little bit of magic after that.”

Mattingly also lauded starter Jesús Luzardo, whose performance could easily get lost in the shuffle given the late-game fireworks.

Luzardo matched his career high with 13 strikeouts and didn’t allow an extra-base hit across 6 2/3 innings.

The Nationals did much of their damage off Luzardo with a four-run fourth inning that had a death-by-a-thousand cuts feel, with four singles and a walk. Nasim Nuñez and José Tena each delivered two-out two-run singles to give the Nationals a 5-0 lead.

Luzardo cruised from there, striking out the side in the fifth, retiring the side in the sixth and striking out two more -- including Wood with two on -- in the seventh, before giving way to the bullpen.

“Gave up some runs, but they weren’t really hitting him hard,” Mattingly said. “Some tough plays but just hanging in there and giving us a chance was huge.”

Luzardo was among a group of five Phillies watching the ninth inning comeback from the clubhouse.

“For us to grind them out and fight all the way back in the eighth and then do it again in the ninth,” Luzardo said, “it just shows how resilient this team is. There’s no quit. That’s what Donnie really wanted us to do when he came and took over and that’s something we’ve really worn on our shoulders the rest of the way.”

On a night in which Kyle Schwarber was a late scratch with lower back tightness, all nine Phillies in the starting lineup had at least one hit. Sosa found out minutes before first pitch that he’d be stepping in for Schwarber and went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and five RBIs.

Marsh, who snapped a 1-for-18 funk with a solo homer in Monday’s series opener, has since gone 4-for-7 with two homers.

“It’s just a next-man-up mentality,” Marsh said. “Sosa stepped up and had a tremendous game for us. It’s a special group that we have, and we just have to keep feeding off each other like we did tonight.

“I feel like the squad that we have, we’re never out of the fight. We’ve got the staff to keep us in every ball game and the lineup to give us a good chance to win. It’s a pretty good recipe."