Another bullpen meltdown, but another walk-off win

The day began with words of encouragement from the general manager to the embattled bullpen he assembled.

"The bullpen's struggling. There's no other way to put it," Mike Rizzo said. "We need to be more aggressive in the strike zone. We need to follow the game plan. We need to perform like the back of their baseball card says. ... We feel good about the skill set of them. Now we have to put the skill set into the performance and get the guys that we signed to perform like they're supposed to."

The day ended with yet another bullpen meltdown and plenty of questions for Rizzo to ponder. And yet it also ended with yet another dramatic rally from the Nationals to make up for the relief mess and emerge with another walk-off win.

Yes, the Nationals won in spite of themselves again today. After watching their bullpen blow a late lead, they stormed back to beat the Phillies, 9-8, with two runs in the eighth and then Jake Noll's bases-loaded walk in the ninth.

They're now 2-3 on the young season, and both wins have come in walk-off fashion after the bullpen gave up the lead.

Handed a two-run lead in the top of the eighth today, the trio of Tony Sipp, Trevor Rosenthal and Kyle Barraclough - Rizzo's three offseason additions to the relief corps - collectively gave up four runs on three hits and three walks to leave their team in a two-run hole.

The Nationals would rally to tie the game in the bottom of the inning, thanks entirely to a gift from Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who somehow didn't catch a routine throw from his pitcher that would've ended the eighth.

After Sean Doolittle pitched a clean top of the ninth, the heart of the Nats order came up to face David Robertson with a chance to win it. Anthony Rendon started things off with a single up the middle. Juan Soto then drew a walk to go along with his earlier single, double and homer. And when Robertson walked Ryan Zimmerman as well, the stage was set for Noll, the rookie who was a surprise member of the opening day roster but likely destined for a demotion when Howie Kendrick is activated as soon as Thursday.

Noll worked the count full, then took Robertson's 3-2 pitch inside and calmly trotted to first base, where he was mobbed by teammates.

Late rally aside, the bullpen meltdown was every bit as ugly as it sounds. And if something doesn't change soon, disgruntled Nats fans may riot.

In only five games and 16 1/3 innings pitched, the Nationals bullpen has now surrendered 20 earned runs, 26 hits and nine walks. An astounding 14 of those runs have been scored in the eighth inning alone, at least one in each of the team's five games to date.

And all of this happened at the end of a ballgame that saw Nationals starter Aníbal Sánchez leave early with a leg injury, three runners get thrown out on the bases and several more fail to drive home a runner in scoring position.

The scene inside the park wasn't nearly as rabid for this one as it was Tuesday night. A late-arriving crowd of 23,050 treated this like any other April matinee, aside from the token boos directed at Bryce Harper when he came up to bat. The nerves definitely set in, though, as the home team dug itself into a first-inning hole yet again.

The Phillies jumped out to a 2-0 lead, not because they made solid contact off Sánchez, but because they took advantage of two defensive misplays: Wilmer Difo threw wide on a grounder to short, then Sánchez misfired on a pickoff attempt. An intentional walk of Harper set the stage for Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto to each drive in a run.

The Nationals, though, immediately responded with the kind of big offensive inning against an elite starter they very much needed. Rendon homered to left, then after Soto doubled off a changeup, Zimmerman belted another changeup from Aaron Nola deep to left to complete the rally and give the home team a 3-2 lead after one eventful inning.

And they didn't let up. Two innings later, Soto stepped up with two on and one out, and despite falling into an 0-2 hole took advantage of Nola's fastball down the pipe to launch a three-run homer to center that extended the Nationals' lead to 6-2 and sent Nola to the showers early, having surrendered more than four runs for the first time in 39 starts.

That should have left Sánchez in an advantageous position, but the veteran righty had to deal with an unexpected development. After making a quick-reflex snag of a third-inning comebacker, he hobbled around the mound, favoring his right leg, and required a visit from the trainer.

Sánchez stayed in the game but needed another visit after taking a swing in the bottom of the fourth. And when he tried to warm up in the fifth and required yet another visit, Davey Martinez decided to pull the plug.

So the Nationals now needed five innings from a bullpen that had yet to put together a quality performance. They got a scoreless frame from Matt Grace, who had to pitch his way out of a jam. They got two huge scoreless frames from Justin Miller, one of the lone bright spots from this relief corps to date.

But that only got them into the eighth inning. And so far this season, that has spelled disaster.

At least, until the bottom of the ninth, when the lineup gets one last chance to make up for it all.