Nationals' Historic, Gut-Wrenching Loss Against Phillies Highlights Biggest Weakness

This was a brutal loss for the Washington Nationals.

Washington Nationals pitcher Brad Lord | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals were one strike away from completing a wild come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Phillies that would have ensured at least a series split against their division rival. And with Brad Lord holding the ball, it almost seemed like a certainty that was going to happen.

Coming into Tuesday's contest, the right-hander owned an ERA of 2.29. He had been the best reliever for the Nationals with his ability to pitch long outings and also shut the door in high-leverage situations. It seemed like he was on the verge of doing that again in what was his third save opportunity of the year.

But things went completely off the rails in the top of the ninth inning.

Lord struck out the first two batters he faced. He then gave up a single on a 2-2 count that brought the tying run to the plate. Phillies batter Brandon Marsh then hit a game-tying two-run homer that stunned everyone in attendance. After that, Philadelphia scored six more runs during that frame and became the first team since 1988 to score eight runs with two outs in the ninth and win after trailing.

Bullpen Will Continue To Be Issue for Nationals

Washington Nationals catcher Drew Millas speaks with pitcher Brad Lord | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

The concern for Washington is that this blowup highlighted the biggest weakness on their roster. Their pitching staff is being pushed to the brink, as no relief staff in baseball has thrown more innings so far this year. That is a huge issue since that unit has a cumulative ERA of 4.93, which puts them at No. 27 in the majors.

What's even more concerning is the fact that things could spiral further out of control in the coming months. Following a performance in May where the Nationals' bullpen posted an ERA of 4.22, they are now above the 5.00 mark as a unit in June. And not a single full-time reliever on this roster -- outside of PJ Poulin, who has opened more games than he's entered in relief -- has an ERA number that's below 4.50 this month.

The bullpen is a clear weakness. That's something that was known coming into the year. However, they are not getting a ton of help from the starting staff, as Miles Mikolas and Zack Littel have either had an opener pitch in front of them or manager Blake Butera has brought in a long relievers behind them. Add in the fact that Cade Cavalli, Jake Irvin and Andrew Alvarez have all had early hooks for different reasons at times this season, and that puts a lot of stress on an already-weak bullpen unit.

Overall, this is a recipe for disaster. And with things set up the way they are, there are likely going to be more meltdowns over the course of this campaign as the Nationals try to stay in the playoff mix.

Nobody needed this gut-wrenching loss to know that was the case after what was on display earlier this season, but it's clear that Washington has a major issue. And if they don't get it fixed in a hurry, they're going to go nowhere fast.