Daylen Lile’s three-run seventh lifts Nationals past Phillies after every early lead disappeared

A game of short-lived leads

Philadelphia opened with the first clean blow. Alec Bohm singled to center to bring home Kyle Schwarber in the first inning, the sort of early run that can settle a lineup. Instead, the inning became the game’s first lesson: Washington was going to answer quickly. Yohandy Morales doubled to center to score Brady House, and Jorbit Vivas followed with a single to left that brought Morales home for a 2-1 Nationals lead before the first inning was done.

That pattern returned in the third. Luis Arraez, one of Philadelphia’s few steady offensive hands all night, doubled to left to score Trea Turner and tie the game at 2-2. Arraez finished 2 for 3 with an RBI and a walk, and on a night when the Phillies managed only five hits, his at-bats stood out because they kept giving the score a chance to move.

Schwarber briefly tilted it back toward Philadelphia in the fifth with a 366-foot homer to right for a 3-2 lead. It lasted only until Washington hit again in the bottom half. Andres Chaparro answered with a 422-foot drive to center, knotting the score at 3-3. Chaparro went 2 for 3, and his home run kept the Nationals from letting the game drift into Philadelphia’s preferred pace.

One swing finally broke the symmetry

The tie held until the seventh, and then Washington found the hit that changed the night from exchange to separation. Daylen Lile came up once and made that plate appearance count, driving a 407-foot homer to center that scored Harry Ford and Andrew Pinckney with him. A 3-3 game was suddenly 6-3, and there was no counterpunch left in the Phillies’ bats.

That inning mattered because Philadelphia had done some things well enough to stay in contact. The Phillies were clean defensively with no errors and turned three double plays, which usually gives a pitching staff a chance to survive traffic. But Washington’s contact was too damaging to dismiss: nine hits, three doubles and two home runs. Cristopher Sanchez worked 6 1/3 innings, struck out five and kept the game manageable for a long stretch, yet the Nationals still got eight hits and five earned runs off him.

Once Washington had the lead, its bullpen made sure the game stopped changing. Jackson Kent lasted five innings and allowed all three Phillies runs, but the four relievers behind him combined for four scoreless innings and only one hit allowed. Yovanny Cruz covered 1 2/3 hitless innings, Richard Lovelady added a scoreless frame, Brad Lord recorded the next out, and Erik Tolman finished the ninth. For a game built on replies, that was the first stretch in which one side truly shut the door.

Our take: the Phillies ran out of lineup, and Washington squeezed more from its chances

Our take: this was not a messy loss for Philadelphia so much as an incomplete one. The Phillies saw 142 pitches and drew three walks, but those extra chances turned into only five hits and three runs, with eight runners left on base. After Schwarber’s fifth-inning homer put them ahead, they did not score again. Against the Nationals bullpen over the final four innings, they produced one hit. That is the part of the box score that lingers more than the final margin.

The holes in the Phillies’ lineup were too wide for a five-hit game. Bryce Harper, Bryan De La Cruz, Bryson Stott, J.T. Realmuto and Derek Hill went a combined 0 for 19. That does not demand a grand theory; it does suggest where improvement has to come from. When Arraez, Schwarber and Bohm account for all the RBIs and four of the five hits, the offense becomes easier to contain once the starter exits. A better late-game result would likely start with more of the order simply extending the attack that already made Kent throw 88 pitches in five innings.

Washington’s takeaway is happier, but not flawless. The Nationals were better at turning contact into runs: six runs from nine hits, five extra-base hits and only six men left on base. Morales’ double tied the game, Vivas’ single gave them the early lead, Chaparro erased the fifth-inning deficit, and Lile delivered the deciding blow. Still, there is one caution inside the win. Kent needed 88 pitches to get through five innings, walked three and allowed Schwarber’s homer, so this kind of victory is easier to repeat if the starter can carry the game deeper. On this night, though, Washington earned the right to celebrate the simple truth of it: when the big swings arrived, they were theirs.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Bohm singled to center, Schwarber scored, Arraez to second.

2. 1st Inning

   Morales doubled to center, House scored.

3. 1st Inning

   Vivas singled to left, Morales scored, Young to second.

4. 3rd Inning

   Arraez doubled to left, Turner scored.

5. 5th Inning

   Schwarber homered to right (366 feet).

6. 5th Inning

   Chaparro homered to center (422 feet).

7. 7th Inning

   Lile homered to center (407 feet), Ford scored and Pinckney scored.