Phillies blow a late lead, but Trea Turner’s walk-off secures a win over the Nationals

Trea Turner sat on Wednesday against the Miami Marlins to take a breather during one of the biggest slumps of his career. Two days later, he played the hero in the ninth inning against the Washington Nationals.

Turner came to the plate with the bases loaded and the game tied, 2-2. The first pitch from Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan was a splitter high and out of the zone, and Turner chased it — something he’d been struggling with during his slump.

But after that, Turner settled in, holding off on two balls and fouling off three splitters before he got a pitch to hit: a slider up in the zone. And hit it he did, knocking a single into left field to secure a 3-2 walk-off win against his former team.

“I feel like I’m doing things right,” Turner said. “That’s kind of how I look at the past month, and then the past two days, is just doing things right. You’re not always going to have success or hits, or this and that, but swinging on the pitches you should, taking pitches, fouling off tough pitches, and getting to one in the middle of the zone and then putting it in play and hitting it hard, I think that’s what I’ve done the last two games.”

Turner spent his day off watching film of his old at-bats and taking “a million swings,” he said.

It’s been working. Even before his big moment in the ninth, Turner already had a solid night on offense, with a double and a pair of singles. In the two games since he sat, Turner is 7-for-10 at the plate.

“I’m kind of a feeling guy when I’m standing in the box,” he said. “And I feel like, ‘Oh, I can do this, I can do that,’ and I’m seeing the ball. ... Once I feel it, I feel like I can compete and do a lot of things, and I searched for it on that off day, and kind of feel like I got there.”

Turner’s heroics became necessary after the Phillies coughed up a 2-0 lead in the ninth. After a solid outing by starter Aaron Nola, who pitched 6⅔ shutout innings, the bullpen avoided any major scares until Carlos Estévez took over and allowed two earned runs.

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The Phillies had their chances to put up another lopsided score earlier in the game. They left 11 men on base. They made some hard contact off Nationals starter Patrick Corbin, though a few balls were hit straight at the Washington defense.

Nick Castellanos put them on the board in the third, lacing a two-out single through a gap in the left side to score Turner. Castellanos then stole second, then scored on a single from J.T. Realmuto. The Phillies stole all three bases they attempted on Corbin and Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz.

Nola scattered seven hits, two walks, and a hit batter. He allowed at least one batter to reach base each inning but escaped unscathed each time.

“His curveballs were really good, and he threw it behind in the count to get back into counts,” said manager Rob Thomson. “He was landing it. I thought his command was really good. I thought he pitched great.”

With two runners on in the fourth inning, Bryson Stott made a diving stop up the middle to get a force out at second and save a run. Realmuto also erased a pair of baserunners by catching two Nationals stealing second.

“I knew the Nationals were gonna come out swinging and battling like they usually do,” Nola said. “They fouled a bunch of good pitches off. They worked counts. They got some some pesky guys that are hitting baseballs, and they can run a little bit too. But J.T. made some incredible throws and some great tags, to get those guys out at second, but overall, I felt pretty good.”

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After allowing the Nationals to tie the game in the ninth, Estévez responded with two straight strikeouts to end the inning.

Brandon Marsh led the ninth off with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Cal Stevenson moved him to third with a bunt single, and the Nationals intentionally walked Kyle Schwarber after falling behind in the count to bring Turner to the plate.

“To have them tie up the game and then obviously not quit and keep grinding and win it, I think was good,” Turner said. “The ways we’re winning are, I think, us. We were doing it a lot early in the season, and now that’s kind of back.”