Travel-weary Phillies lose series opener against Nationals, 3-2, despite recording 10 hits

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 14, 2025

Published in Baseball

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WASHINGTON — At 8:37 p.m. ET Wednesday, Nick Castellanos flew out to right field to punctuate the Phillies’ 8-0 loss in a rain-delayed series finale against the Reds.

Six hours later, they were still on a runway in Cincinnati.

“I fell asleep on the plane … twice… while we were on the tarmac,” manager Rob Thomson said. “And I thought we had landed in D.C.”

No such luck. The Phillies didn’t touch down until 2 p.m. Thursday — less than five hours before first pitch against the Washington Nationals — and only after a late night scramble for hotel rooms after mechanical problems with their Delta charter turned a 90-minute flight into an all-night odyssey.

And when they finally did arrive at Nationals Park, a late afternoon thunderstorm prevented them from doing much pregame work on the field.

“We should’ve just slept in,” one player cracked.

Say this, though, for the travel-weary Phillies: They didn’t sleepwalk to a 3-2 loss to the last-place Nationals. Rather they got six solid innings from starter Jesús Luzardo and tallied 10 hits, the most they’ve gotten in a game since last Friday night in Texas.

The problem: Only two went for extra bases and one came with a runner in scoring position. And the Phillies (69-52) dropped their third consecutive game.

Luzardo took a 2-1 lead out for the seventh inning, having mostly overpowered the Nationals to that point with a one-two punch of fastball-sweeper. But he loaded the bases on a double sandwiched between two walks before yielding to the bullpen.

Thomson called on Orion Kerkering, who recorded one out before giving up a go-ahead two-run single to José Tena.

The Phillies got a leadoff single from Max Kepler in the ninth inning and moved him to third base as the tying run. But Trea Turner, who reached on three infield singles, struck out on a sinker from Nationals reliever Cole Henry.

Bryson Stott led off the third inning with a double and scored three batters later on a fielder’s choice to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

Luzardo allowed a game-tying solo homer to Paul DeJong in the fourth inning.

But the Phillies regained the lead in the fifth on a two-out infield single by Turner, who scored from first base on Kyle Schwarber’s double off the wall in right-center field.