PHILADELPHIA — The flags in center field hung limp and lifeless in the heat. The sun-baked crowd — what was left of it — rarely stirred, except to boo Bryce Harper. A 100-degree afternoon in South Philadelphia had sapped the energy of players and spectators in an endurance contest that lasted almost four-and-a-half hours.
Unfortunately for the Nationals, the silence was broken a little after 6 p.m. Sunday as the sound of the ball hitting the bat of pinch-hitter Andrew Knapp echoed through a nearly-empty Citizens Bank Park. Knapp’s homer against reliever Justin Miller gave the Phillies a 4-3 win in 13 innings against the slumping Nationals.
The Phillies won three of four games in the series and are 5-2 against the Nationals since June 22.
“Offensively we have to do more. It’s plain and simple,” said Nationals outfielder Adam Eaton, standing by his locker in a very quiet clubhouse. “We have to get things going. We have to step up and put up crooked numbers. Too many zeroes for a ballclub of this caliber.”
The Nationals were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-17 in the last two games of the series in that department.
Third-place Washington (42-40) has now lost eight of its last nine road games and is six games back of the first-place Atlanta Braves, who won again Sunday, in the National League East division. This from a team that was a World Series favorite and won the division last year by 20 games.
“Hopefully it’s a wakeup call,” said Eaton, who was 2-for-6 in the leadoff spot. “There is no panic.”
Perhaps not, but another wakeup call could come Monday when the Nationals begin a series at home against the Boston Red Sox, who entered Sunday night’s game against the Yankees with 14 more wins than Washington.
The Nationals were down to their last reliever in Miller, whose 35th pitch Sunday was crushed to right field by Knapp on a 3-2 count with one out. That left Washington with a mark of 8-15 in one-run games with just nine wins in the last 26 outings.
“I was fine (physically). I threw a fastball. He put his best swing on it and he won the battle,” Miller said of Knapp. “It is a big league ballgame. You just go out there and try to do your job; just go out there and throw strikes.”
“It’s hot enough that I was pretty much loose as soon as I stepped outside,” said Knapp, whose last walk-off homer came in the minors with Double-A Reading.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez said, perhaps half-seriously, that if the game had gone much longer he may have had to use first baseman Mark Reynolds and his knuckleball on the mound.
Washington starter Gio Gonzalez allowed three runs in five innings and the Nationals bullpen gave up just four hits and one run the rest of the way.
“All I can say is our bullpen was heroic. They stepped up; they got big outs,” Martinez said. “We just have to figure out our offense. It is tough to win games with two, three runs.”
Harper (0-for-4 on Sunday) is hitting .216, second baseman Daniel Murphy (0-for-5) is batting .182 and catcher Pedro Severino (0-for-5) is down to .170.
While the Nationals are among the league leaders in home runs and stolen bases, the ability to hit with runners in scoring position and move runners along has escaped them much of the season.
Murphy grounded out with two runners on base to end the eighth inning.
Michael A. Taylor grounded into a double play to end the ninth.
Harper grounded out to end the 10th with two runners on base.
Speedy Trea Turner was caught stealing to end the top of the 12th inning.
The winning pitcher was former Nationals minor leaguer Nick Pivetta, who started the Friday game here and then pitched one inning Sunday out of the bullpen.
After the game Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo huddled in the manager’s office, perhaps contemplating how to help a tired bullpen with the Red Sox coming to D.C.
The announcement board in the visiting clubhouse after the game informed players that the estimated time of arrival by bus at Nationals Park was 9:40 p.m. Sunday.
The estimation for the rest of the season? That is very much not as precise for the two-time defending division champs, their fate in doubt.
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