Phillies' late-inning bullpen struggles show up in 6-3 loss to the Nationals

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sep 15, 2026

Published in Baseball

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WASHINGTON — Jesús Luzardo spent most of his first night on the injured list seated at the end of a dugout bench, an injured ace unable to pitch due to shoulder stiffness.

Yet, somehow, the Phillies have a bigger problem.

It hardly seems possible given Luzardo’s importance to the entire operation. He’s been the best pitcher in the National League since the middle of May, and now, it’s conceivable he won’t pitch again this season.

But even with Luzardo, there’s the question of how the Phillies get through the late innings of close games. It reared its head again here Tuesday night — and on the very first pitch thrown by a member of the bullpen.

Jonathan Bowlan entered with one out in the seventh inning, and out went a tie game on a three-run pinch-hit homer by the Nationals’ Daylen Lile in a 6-3 Phillies loss in the opener of a two-game series.

The Phillies (83-68) have dropped four of the last five games and were one game out of the top NL wild-card spot, pending the outcome of the Cubs’ game against the Braves at Wrigley Field.

Bowlan inherited a two-on, one-out jam from starter Cristopher Sánchez and continued his late-season fade. He left a change-up over the plate to Lile, who hit the fourth homer in the last seven outings against Bowlan.

Sánchez wasn’t blameless. He was unable to hold 1-0 and 3-2 leads, allowing a game-tying homer to Andrés Chaparro in the fifth inning.

The offense wasn’t absolved either. After taking a 1-0 lead on Alec Bohm’s two-out single in the first inning and a 3-2 edge in the fifth on Kyle Schwarber’s majors-leading 45th homer, the Phillies got only one hit the rest of the game against a Nationals bullpen they bludgeoned during a four-game series in June.

Sánchez allowed back-to-back singles to Harry Ford and Andrew Pinckney to open the seventh inning. Pinckney’s hit dropped in front of Bryce Harper, who was playing deep in right field.

After a sacrifice bunt by Nasim Nuñez put the runners in scoring position, interim manager Don Mattingly called on the bullpen.

Bowlan had a stellar first half and emerged as the setup man in July after Brad Keller was lost to season-ending elbow surgery. The Phillies have noted that Bowlan’s stuff tends to tick down when he pitches on back-to-back days. In this case, he hadn’t pitched since last Friday.

It didn’t matter.

All it took was one pitch.