Thomson leaves Harper on bench in 9th, Phillies unable to complete sweep

Thomson leaves Harper on bench in 9th, Phillies unable to complete sweep originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Alumni Weekend came to a close Sunday with dozens of Phillies legends gathering along the third-base line to help the current team celebrate 20 years of Citizens Bank Park.

The crowd of 40,677 was bumping before Taijuan Walker threw his first pitch, and it looked after the Phillies took another early lead like they’d be able to finish off a four-game weekend sweep of the Nationals, but no such luck.

Walker was bitten by the home-run bug in each of his final two innings, and though the Phillies tied the game by going back-to-back in the bottom of the sixth, Matt Strahm allowed the game-winning run, a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of a 6-4 loss.

The Phillies put the tying run on base to start the bottom of the ninth and had Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto on the bench but manager Rob Thomson chose to stick with Cal Stevenson in the eight-hole. Stevenson hit into a 1-2-3 double play and Garrett Stubbs grounded out to second to end the game.

Thomson does this often when resting a regular. He usually wants to give the player a full day off. He’s done it this season with Trea Turner, Realmuto and Harper, leaving them on the bench in spots when you’d ordinarily expect to see a big bat enter as a pinch-hitter.

Thomson said Sunday that the rationale was getting Harper and Realmuto two full days off their feet before beginning a difficult stretch of 13 games against the Braves, Royals and Astros.

“That’s what I’m thinking about is that this is going to be a tough stretch, no doubt, and we’ve got to be able to handle it,” Thomson said. “We want healthy bodies and rested bodies so we give ourselves every chance to play well.”

Could that mindset of leaning toward rest rather than an advantageous matchup shift at some point for a team that cares infinitely more about October than August or September?

“No doubt,” Thomson said. “It just depends on the day and where we’re at, how many games they’ve played in a row, how their bodies are feeling. There’s a lot of factors in there.”

In his second start back after missing nearly two months with a blister, Walker labored his way through the first three innings but held the Nationals off the board until the fourth, when Keibert Ruiz pulled an 0-2 pitch above his eyes to right field for a two-run homer to tie the game. Only one other pitch in the majors since 2015 that was as high and as far outside to a lefty has been pulled for a home run.

Walker picked up the first two outs of the fifth before Alex Call blasted a solo shot to left. The Nats extended their lead in the sixth off lefty Tanner Banks with a pair of two-out hits.

“I’m still not throwing enough strikes,” Walker said. “Three walks, just way too many pitches for five innings.

“It’s just getting comfortable throwing the splitter a lot more now. I want to throw it down, I want to throw it under the zone, but I just have to trust that the splitter is back and I can throw it up in the zone and get weak contact with it.”

The Phillies’ two struggling lefties, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh, finally came through in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back home runs. They were probably aided by the weather on an afternoon with near 90% humidity, but they’ll take ’em. Aside from that one inning, they’ve combined to hit .152 in August with one home run.

“I just feel like the game can do that for you sometimes,” Marsh said when asked if he’d gotten into his own head during his slump. “Just getting lost in it a little bit. But just dialing back, going back to spring training, going back to the basics.”

Strahm allowed a softly-hit infield single on the first pitch of the eighth inning but the killer was the ensuing walk which put runners on first and second ahead of a bunt single. After a force-out at home, Jacob Young hit a ball to medium-deep right-center to send home the deciding run. Rookie James Wood tacked on with a solo homer off Jeff Hoffman in the eighth.

The Phillies took three of four from the Nationals and went 4-2 this week at home. They fly to Atlanta at 73-51 and will begin a series with the Braves Tuesday no less than seven games up in the NL East.

Several of their key hitters appeared to find something this week. Trea Turner homered Sunday and went 10-for-17 in the Nats series with four extra-base hits and four RBI. Stott hit two balls hard on Sunday and has been making better quality contact over the last week even if the results haven’t followed consistently. Realmuto has a six-game hitting streak.

“We’re playing better baseball, that’s for sure,” Thomson said. “They got their energy back, they’re playing hard and for the most part playing well.”