Phillies ninth-inning – Philadelphia rattled Washington’s bullpen again in the ninth, turning two outs and two strikes into a 5-4 comeback win at Nationals Park, with Derek Hill’s walk-off home run capping a gritty Kyle Schwarber pinch-hit at-bat.
Two nights in a row, the script looked the same: the game bleeding out late, the Phillies running out of outs, and the Washington Nationals bullpen tasked with protecting the lead when it mattered most.
Instead, Philadelphia survived — again.
In the top of the ninth at Nationals Park. with nobody on base. two outs. and two strikes. Kyle Schwarber — limited by a back injury that relegated him to a rare pinch-hit appearance — worked a gritty 10-pitch walk with the Phillies trailing in the late inning. The Nationals then turned to Richard Lovelady to secure the final out after manager Blake Butera summoned him to finish the job and ensure Washington’s second straight win.
Lovelady didn’t get it.
Derek Hill, a Phillie for less than two weeks, came off the bench and drove a Lovelady pitch opposite field and over the right field wall for a stunning 5-4 win, turning the final out into the start of celebration.
The turnaround was made more striking by what happened just one night earlier. In a 14-9 Philadelphia win, the Nationals fell apart after a two-out, two-strike Trea Turner single preceded Brandon Marsh’s game-tying two-run homer off Lovelady, igniting an eight-run inning.
The Phillies’ ability to survive the same grim scenario — ninth inning. two outs. two strikes — twice in a row is hard to ignore. In both games, the moment demanded the Nationals bullpen to close, and each time it faltered. For an offense that was already pulling itself together, it wasn’t just the win that mattered. It was the way the team kept finding life when it looked gone.
Manager Don Mattingly, who is 35-17 since taking over a 9-19 team from the fired Rob Thomson, put the focus on what the Phillies are learning in real time. “Wins are important,” Mattingly said. “But it’s not me letting them know. It’s them learning that the game is never over.”
For Washington, the lesson has been painfully consistent: heartbreak in late innings. The Nationals have absorbed multiple gutting losses, including a recent walk-off grand slam by San Francisco’s Bryce Eldridge to complete an eight-run collapse.
Schwarber summed up the feeling after the latest dramatic finish. “A pretty cool two-game sequence,” he said. “Obviously. wins are great. but when you’re able to do it in dramatic fashion — heck. last night. down to two strikes. tonight down to two strikes. you want to ride that momentum. You want to keep feeling good.”.
Philadelphia left Nationals Park with the momentum it wanted — not just a couple of results. but a message carried through the final at-bats: the late inning isn’t automatically a problem to be protected against. For the Phillies, it has become the place where they keep forcing the comeback to happen.
Phillies Nationals Kyle Schwarber Derek Hill Richard Lovelady Blake Butera Don Mattingly MLB ninth inning comeback walk-off home run Orlando Ribalta Trea Turner Brandon Marsh
Bullpen choking again… classic.
So like they had two outs and two strikes and still lost?? That seems impossible. I swear managers always wait too long to pull pitchers.
I didn’t even know Hill was on the Phillies, and then he hits a walk-off?? Kinda wild. Also Schwarber pinch hitting with a back injury sounds like they should’ve just left him alone but whatever worked I guess.
Lovelady sounds like he’s cursed. Two nights in a row the same script and they still threw him out there like nothing. Maybe the Nats are just tanking and pretending it’s “close” until the last second? Idk, but I’m annoyed because that was basically a free out.