Critical pitching decision backfires in Nats' 4-2 loss (updated)

PHILADELPHIA - It doesn't happen every single night, but on occasion a major league manager faces a critical pitching decision in the latter innings of a tight ballgame, one that is likely to impact the outcome of the contest.

Sometimes the pitchers involved get the job done and reward the manager for his decision-making process. Sometimes they fail and the manager is left to explain why he did what he did.

Tonight, in the aftermath of an agonizing, 4-2 loss to the Phillies, Davey Martinez had to explain why he did what he did in the critical bottom of the sixth. And the Nationals manager was prepared to give an answer that, while perhaps not satisfying to everyone, did underscore the detail with which he and his staff had prepared a pre-game plan for a situation specifically like this one.

"We liked that matchup," he said.

Martinez actually faced two decisions, with his team leading by a run at the time. First, he had to decide whether to let starter Jeremy Hellickson, enjoying a dominant night on the mound, face Bryce Harper for the third time in the game. Then, after pulling Hellickson in favor of Dan Jennings, he had to decide whether to let his lefty reliever face slugger Rhys Hoskins instead of summoning a right-hander from his bullpen.

Martinez stuck with Jennings. It didn't work out, not even close. Hoskins crushed a three-run homer off a 2-1 slider from the southpaw, giving the Phillies the lead and demoralizing a Nationals dugout that already was kicking off a brutal, 10-game road trip amid turmoil following a significant staff change.

Paul Menhart's first game as a big league pitching coach had been going swimmingly. But it came crashing down with a thud when Hoskins' ball landed in the left field bleachers.

"Sometimes you just tip your hat," catcher Kurt Suzuki said. "It's the big leagues. You have some good hitters out there. You just tip your hat."

Even had they escaped the sixth, the Nationals still faced a difficult challenge pulling off a victory with a piecemeal lineup missing Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner, not to mention a bullpen that has been trying to piece competency together for weeks. But the manner in which this game was decided will leave a decidedly sour taste in everyone's mouth.

After a shaky first inning in which loud contact was the norm, capped by Jean Segura's solo homer, Hellickson quickly locked in and put together his most dominant performance of the young season. Taking advantage of plate umpire Bill Miller's admittedly wide zone, Hellickson recorded nine strikeouts in a span of 13 batters, a remarkable run for the right-hander, who came one strikeout shy of matching his career high.

"I thought everything was pretty good tonight," Hellickson said. "Just getting ahead. When I got ahead, I was making good pitches. And I thought the offspeed was pretty good."

And thanks to Suzuki's solo homer in the top of the sixth, Hellickson was able to take the mound with a 2-1 lead in hand in the bottom of the inning. The trouble: He now was going to face the Phillies lineup for the third time tonight. It's been a danger zone for a while now, and the question was whether Martinez would allow his No. 5 starter to tread into those waters or pull the plug before anything bad could happen.

Martinez chose to pull the plug, summoning Jennings to face Harper with one on and one out. Hellickson, with a pitch count of 79, wasn't fatigued. But Harper, despite his recent 3-for-33 slump, had hit a towering home run off him last month and ripped a double in his previous at-bat tonight.

"He got us through the five innings and pitched well," Martinez said. "I thought at that particular moment, we had the guys who could hold them right there."

Hellickson, who has bitten his tongue on several occasions over the last season-plus when asked about getting pulled with low pitch counts, countered with his first public complaint about the way he's often used.

"There's going to be games where that's probably the right move," the pitcher said. "But the way I was going today, I think that was my inning. I thought I should've got a chance to get out of there. I gave up maybe one hard-hit ball since the first inning. I definitely thought I should've stayed out there."

That one hard-hit ball Hellickson referenced, of course, was Harper's double two innings prior. So Martinez summoned Jennings for the lefty-lefty matchup. It made sense, but Jennings didn't do his part, falling behind in the count 3-0 and eventually walking Harper on five pitches.

"I tip my hat to him," Jennings said of Harper. "He was patient, and once I go 2-0, I thought I made a pitch that was close. But after that, you have to find a way to climb back in the count, and I didn't. That's the guy I have to get right there."

With two on and one out, Hoskins, came to the plate. The right-handed cleanup hitter has reverse splits, but Jennings does not. Righties hit a robust .320 with a .927 OPS in 146 plate appearances against him last season in Milwaukee. So it raised more than a few eyebrows when Martinez left him in to face the slugger instead of bringing in a righty (none of which were warming up at the time).

Martinez, though, had a scouting report that offered a clear plan of attack for this exact situation. Hoskins was 0-for-17 with nine strikeouts in his career against sliders from left-handers.

"And Jennings has got a really good slider," the manager said. "That's the matchup."

The thinking may have made sense, but the execution didn't follow suit. With the count 1-1, Jennings threw a slider. But instead of throwing it in on Hoskins' hands like the scouting report suggested, he left it over the plate and at the knees. Hoskins belted it deep to left, and the crowd of 33,125 roared as he circled the bases on his three-run homer.

"I've either got to be in or out. I can't be over the plate," Jennings said. "It was down, but it wasn't in, it wasn't out. It was just kind of over the plate."

The Phillies now held a 4-2 lead, the Nationals' makeshift lineup was left to try to mount a late rally and their manager was left to explain a decision that didn't come close to working out the way he hoped it would. Even after they mapped out what they felt was a good, solid plan before ever taking the field.

"We talked about it," Martinez said. "And I knew going into the game ... I even wrote it down on paper. And we've done it before with (Matt) Grace, and Grace was successful. With Jennings pitching the way he's been pitching, I thought that was a great matchup."