One night after the Nationals hit four home runs against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, their bats were silenced by a standout pitching performance from right-hander Aaron Nola in Washington's 6-0 loss on Tuesday.

“Some days you run into a buzzsaw,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “Nola was good.”

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A scoreless pitchers’ duel between southpaw Patrick Corbin and Nola seemed like it could have gone either way through four scoreless innings. Both appeared in control of their respective starts, keeping the opposing bats at bay.

“He kept us in the ballgame,” Martinez said of Corbin. “That’s all you can ask for from these guys.”

It stayed that way until the fifth inning, when the Phillies began to chip away at Corbin. The left-hander allowed a solo home run to Alec Bohm to put the Nats behind, 1-0. Two outs and three batters later, Corbin gave up a single to Rhys Hoskins, followed by a walk to Bryce Harper and an RBI single to J.T. Realmuto.

“It’s a tough lineup over there,” Corbin said. “I tried not to make any mistakes there. The home run was a breaking ball that wasn’t located very well and he put a good swing on it. Other than that, I felt all right. The pitch count got up a little higher than I’d like [and] I didn’t finish guys today, so that’s another thing.”

Corbin exited the game after the fifth with that 2-0 deficit. He allowed two runs on five hits and three walks, while striking out two and throwing 92 pitches (55 for strikes). Reliever Kyle Finnegan surrendered four runs in the sixth inning, while Nola continued to cruise.

The Phillies' ace struck out nine while allowing just two hits over eight scoreless innings as the Nats fell to 12-21.

“This is the best I think I’ve seen Nola throw, really,” Martinez said. “He threw the ball really well, so I tip my cap to him.” 

Nola was also able to do what opposing pitchers have been attempting, albeit unsuccessfully, for much of the past three weeks -- he stifled the red-hot Trea Turner, whose hitting streak ended at 16 games. Turner entered the game with a Major League-high .377 batting average, but he went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He grounded into a forceout to end the eighth, which also marked the end of Nola's outing.

Following Turner in the lineup, Juan Soto -- who belted two homers on Monday -- was 0-for-2 against Nola (and finished 0-for-3 overall). He grounded out twice and drew one walk. It was just the second time this season that neither Soto nor Turner recorded a hit. The other such game was an 11-0 loss to the Orioles on Aug. 7.

“Those two guys are amazing when you watch them play,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said of Soto and Turner. “[Nola] made pitches all night."

The Nationals will get a chance at redemption on Wednesday when they send ace Max Scherzer (3-1, 3.86 ERA) to the mound against fellow right-hander Zack Wheeler (3-0, 2.58 ERA). Martinez is urging his team to play “clean baseball” and put pressure on the Phillies by scoring early -- a mission they were not able to accomplish Tuesday night against a locked-in opposing pitcher. 

“I’ve got confidence in the way our guys swing the bat that we can put an inning or two together at any given moment,” Martinez said. “It didn’t happen tonight. Kudos to Nola, he pitched well.”