Bullpen can't finish off sweep, Nats lose 6-5 to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA - Dusty Baker has been forced to mix and match in his bullpen early this season, especially in the last week as his best relievers have landed on the disabled list and other veterans have lost the faith of their manager.

The Nationals were able to get by like this thanks to a lot of offense and some quality relief work from some unexpected sources, but it was probably too much to expect it to continue like this without a blip at some point.

That blip came late this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. Matt Albers served up a three-run homer to Aaron Altherr with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, bringing the Phillies back to life and turning a comfortable lead into a tie game.

Enny Romero somehow escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth, but Blake Treinen couldn't do the same in the 10th. Freddy Galvis' sacrifice fly to center brought home the final run in an agonizing 6-5 loss.

Treinen, who entered with a 9.00 ERA in 14 appearances, got into trouble right away when Odúbel Herrera reached down to poke a 97 mph slider down and away inside the third base line for a leadoff double. After an intentional walk of Altherr, Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez chopped a bunt up in the air and wound up with a single, loading the bases with nobody out.

Treinen struck out Andrés Blanco, but Galvis lofted a fly ball to center field, plenty deep to score Herrera without a throw.

Albers had not allowed any runs in 2017, not in spring training and not in his first 11 1/3 innings with the Nationals. But it took only one pitch - a hanging 87 mph slider - in the bottom of the eighth today to change that storyline. Altherr launched it to left-center, spoiling what had to that point looked like a nice and tidy Nationals victory and series sweep.

Albers returned to the mound for the bottom of the ninth but was pulled after issuing a leadoff walk and misplaying a sacrifice bunt attempt. Romero entered from the bullpen and struck out Andrew Knapp, but Wilmer Difo (who just replaced Daniel Murphy at second base for defensive purposes) couldn't handle Brock Stassi's hot shot, leaving the bases loaded.

Romero got César Hernández to ground to first, with Adam Lind firing a throw to the plate to get the second out. The Nats lefty then got Daniel Nava to fly out to left, sending this game to extra innings.

Jayson Werth was positioned to be the hero for the Nationals, going 4-for-5 with two homers and 11 total bases in merely his latest big offensive performance in the ballpark he once called home. In his last 49 games played in Philadelphia, Werth has 15 homers. The last three multi-homer games of his career have all come against the Phillies.

Werth hit the first of his homers during the game's second at-bat, sending a 2-2 pitch from Jeremy Hellickson to right-center and eliciting the typical response from Phillies fans when he does such things in their ballpark: a resounding chorus of boos.

The boos returned, though more muted, when Werth doubled just inside the third base line in the top of the third, though there were cheers when he ill-advisedly tried to steal third off an unsuspecting Hellickson and was promptly thrown out by 15 feet.

No matter, because Werth had the last laugh. And the Philly fans had more reason to boo. He launched a 3-2 pitch from Hellickson deep to left in the top of the fifth, flipping his bat defiantly toward the Nats dugout as he began his second home run trot of the afternoon.

By the time Werth singled up the middle in the top of the seventh to secure his first four-hit game since 2014, the fans didn't have the heart to break out their best boos.

Anthony Rendon and Lind provided a pair of seventh-inning RBIs to extend the Nationals' lead to 5-2, but that wasn't large enough for this bullpen.

After Tanner Roark went six strong innings, allowing two unearned runs (the byproduct of Trea Turner's first error of the season), Baker turned to Matt Grace to pitch the seventh. The left-hander got through that inning unscathed but departed with two on and two out in the eighth, setting the stage for the critical Albers-Altherr matchup.