Big innings doom Parker as Nats are routed by Phillies (updated)

PHILADELPHIA – Mitchell Parker has been the Nationals’ biggest surprise this season. Entering the year, he was a middle-of-the-pack prospect who was called upon to make his major league debut three weeks into the season.

And here he is in mid-August with the second-best ERA in the Nats rotation. That was, however, until tonight.

Parker entered his 22nd major league start with a 3.83 ERA after allowing just two earned runs (four total) in 17 ⅓ innings over his last three starts. But he had yet to face the dangerous bats in the Phillies lineup during his rookie campaign.

The results in the first matchup weren’t pretty as the young left-hander was knocked around over three-plus innings and the Nats defense played sloppy in an eventual 13-3 rout at the hands of a division rival.

"As we talked about earlier today," manager Davey Martinez said after the loss, "two things that can't happen: We can't give away outs and we can't make pitching mistakes. Today, we did both.”

Parker’s success this year has mainly come from his ability to keep the ball in the yard and not hand out free passes, both of which he struggled to do in his minor league career. He entered tonight’s start allowing only 1.1 home runs and 2.3 walks per nine innings. But both of those issues came back to haunt him in the first inning tonight.

After getting leadoff man Kyle Schwarber to pop out to start the bottom of the first, Parker allowed the next six batters to reach, scoring four runs. Trea Turner and Bryce Harper hit back-to-back singles to set up Alec Bohm’s three-run home run. Then Nick Castellanos went back-to-back to give the Phillies a very quick 4-0 lead and send the crowd of 43,722 into a frenzy.

“Obviously, we know the guys that they have, know what they can do," Parker said. "But I mean, end of the day, attack and try to limit the damage, which sometimes is a little hard to do.”

Both home run balls were elevated in the zone for the Phillies sluggers to hit. And after a four-pitch walk to J.T. Realmuto, catcher Keibert Ruiz and pitching coach Jim Hickey immediately came out to settle down the young starter.

“Keep competing. Keep making pitches," Ruiz said of his message to his pitcher. "Just saying, just relax a little bit. That was a good first evening for them, but we just got to keep it going.”

“The breaking balls. His missed location, mostly breaking balls, they were all up," Martinez said. "He threw a couple fastballs up there by design. That really didn't (matter). It was the breaking balls he couldn't get down.”

Parker would retire eight of the next nine batters he faced, but ran into even more trouble in the fourth. The first five batters all reached and eventually scored thanks to some poor execution by Parker and sloppy defense behind him.

Martinez came out to get Parker after Harper singled to right to push Turner from second to third. But Alex Call wasn’t quick enough to catch the hustling Harper rounding toward second, and when Andrés Chaparro caught the throw from the outfield and threw to second, Turner scrambled home as Harper slid in safely.

“Some days you get beat," Parker said. "I feel today, I just got beat. Everything felt good, but they’re a great team and they did everything right today.”

Eduardo Salazar entered from the bullpen and allowed the inherited runner to score, finally closing Parker’s ugly line. The left-hander was charged with 10 hits, nine runs, two walks, six strikeouts and the two homers on 72 pitches, 48 strikes, in three innings plus five batters, his ERA inflating to 4.44.

“We're going to build off of it," Parker said. "It's not the end of the world. It stings, it sucks, but gotta build off of it.”

Meanwhile, Zack Wheeler had no such issues. The veteran right-hander held the Nats lineup scoreless through the first four innings, with the only baserunner to reach being Luis García Jr. after a double in the second was dropped by Johan Rojas in center field.

But he was denied a shutout bid by Ruiz, who golfed a low curveball into the right field seats for his 10th homer of the season. And then James Wood would drive in a second run off Wheeler in the sixth, although it was unearned after Realmuto was charged with an error for dropping a routine popup behind the plate.

Nevertheless, Wheeler finished six strong innings with three hits, two runs (one earned), no walks, six strikeouts and a hit-batter on 96 pitches, 66 strikes. He painted the corners against batters on both sides of the plate, again showing off his stuff as one of the best pitchers in the league.

“He's a No. 1 one guy. He's really good," Martinez said. "So to come back against that guy, it's tough. It really is. He's really good.”

Ruiz homered again in the seventh off reliever Orion Kerkering, his third-career multi-homer game becoming a small bright spot on an otherwise miserable night. But Tanner Rainey gave the run right back after the stretch, his second inning of the night, on a solo homer to rookie Weston Wilson, who would end up hitting for the cycle on the night.

“Both mechanical and mental," Ruiz said of his second-half adjustments at the plate. "Trying to put a good swing on it and trusting myself. And keep playing hard every day.”

Another run scored on Jacob Young’s error while dropping a hard-hit ball by Harper. That came one inning after the National League Gold Glove Award favorite in center field made another amazing catch up against the wall to rob Bohm of extra bases on a ball that had an expected batting average of .680.

In his second big league appearance, Orlando Ribalta gave up two runs in the eighth, including the double to give Wilson the cycle.

The Nationals proved this week the gap between them and the Orioles is shrinking. Parker has proven this season he’s a solid rotation piece for the future. And this is only one game of four this weekend. But the shock of this loss proves the Nats still have ground to make up in their own division.

There are three games left to prove otherwise. Might as well start tomorrow.

“Obviously, they are a really good team," Ruiz said. "They put great at-bats and put a good swing on a couple of pitches. And they beat us tonight. We just gotta come back tomorrow and keep playing hard.”

“This one I'm going to flush," Martinez said. "Come back tomorrow and be ready to play tomorrow.”