The Fightins: Phillies score eight runs with two outs in the ninth, turn 8-6 deficit to 14-9 win vs Nationals

The Phillies trailed 8-6 with two outs in the top of the ninth at Nationals Park on Tuesday night and then scored eight runs to win 14-9 because this team has apparently decided that playing nine full innings of competitive baseball is optional as long as they save the fireworks for the final three outs.

Brandon Marsh tied it with a two-run homer, Harper and Derek Hill singled back-to-back, Stott hooked a three-run shot that barely stayed inside the right-field foul pole in a moment that had Mattingly comparing the swing to Barry Bonds, Sosa doubled off the top of the center-field wall, and Turner capped the whole thing with an RBI single for his second hit of the inning because even Trea Turner decided to show up when the Phillies needed every single person in the lineup to contribute something in a ninth inning that will be talked about for the rest of the season.

Brandon Marsh – RING IT

BIG TIME BIG DAWG

🗳️ https://t.co/cdVTjmanhF pic.twitter.com/TDumesAxch

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 24, 2026

Bryson Stott – RING IT

Stott it RIGHT NOW

🗳️ https://t.co/cdVTjmanhF pic.twitter.com/4tGQUGQ5XJ

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 24, 2026

Eight runs with two outs in the ninth is tied for the fifth-most runs scored in that situation since 1920 with 10 consecutive baserunners reaching after the second out, and the whole thing happened in a game where the Phillies had already dug out of a five-run hole earlier in the night, taken the lead in the eighth on a Realmuto bases-clearing double, and then watched Kerkering give it right back on a three-run homer from Jorbit Vivas who had one homer on the entire season before choosing that exact moment to have the biggest swing of his career.

Mattingly called the Vivas homer a “gut punch” and it should have been the kind of moment that ends a game and sends a team home frustrated, but the Phillies responded to getting punched in the gut by scoring eight runs in the ninth because apparently getting punched in the gut just makes them angry.

This Game Had No Business Ending the Way It Did

Let me walk through the full insanity of Tuesday night because the box score alone doesn’t capture how many times this game swung in different directions before the ninth-inning explosion made everything that came before it look like a prelude.

Schwarber was scratched from the lineup minutes before first pitch with low back tightness, which meant the Phillies lost their best power hitter before the game even started. Luzardo, who came in with the fourth-lowest road ERA among qualified pitchers at 1.55, gave up five earned runs thanks to a messy fourth inning where Turner rushed a throw that pulled Harper off first base, a wild pitch moved the runner over, and a series of singles and walks let Washington build a five-run lead that felt like it might be insurmountable given the Phillies’ struggles against left-handed pitching all season.

And yet Luzardo was simultaneously dominant and disastrous at the same time because he struck out a career-high 13 batters while giving up those five earned runs without allowing a single extra-base hit, making him the first pitcher since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913 to record 13 or more strikeouts, allow five or more earned runs, and not surrender an extra-base hit.

His sweeper was nearly untouchable with the Nationals swinging at it 20 times and missing 13 of those swings, which means the stuff was electric all night even when the results on the scoreboard said otherwise. The final line of 6 2/3 innings, five earned runs, three walks, and 13 strikeouts is one of the strangest pitching lines you’ll ever see and it perfectly captured a night that made no sense from start to finish.

The Comeback Started With Sosa Filling In for Schwarber

Schwarber’s late scratch forced Sosa into the DH spot and Sosa responded with a two-run homer in the fifth that cut into Washington’s lead and kickstarted the Phillies’ comeback. Mattingly said afterward that Sosa’s homer “got us started and got the ball rolling” because Luzardo was throwing zeros at that point and the lineup just needed someone to crack the door open before the middle of the order could kick it down.

The Phillies added a run in the seventh and then put together a two-out rally in the eighth that ended with Realmuto’s bases-clearing double, which was trapped by Nationals right fielder James Wood and scored three runs to give the Phillies their first lead of the night. The ballpark went quiet, the Phillies dugout was alive, and it felt like the comeback was complete.

Then Kerkering walked the first hitter in the bottom of the eighth, hit the second one, and Jorbit Vivas, a guy who came into the game with one homer on the entire season, sent a hanging sweeper to dead center for a three-run blast that gave Washington the lead right back at 8-6.

Mattingly called it a “gut punch” and that’s exactly what it was because the Phillies had spent seven innings clawing their way back from a five-run deficit only to give the lead away in the span of three batters on a pitch that Kerkering would love to have back.

Most teams don’t recover from a gut punch like that in the eighth inning of a road game where they’ve already used most of their emotional energy fighting back from a five-run hole. The Phillies scored eight runs in the ninth.

The Ninth Inning Was One of the Most Insane Innings of the Season

Turner kept the game alive with a two-strike single and then Marsh stepped in looking to extend the inning with the mindset of just trying to get on base for Harper. “I was just trying to get on first for Harp, trying to pass the baton,” Marsh said.

Instead he got a pitch that was a little over the plate, put his best swing on it, and tied the game with a two-run homer that was his second in as many nights. The man who leads the majors in batting average delivered the biggest swing of the game when the Phillies needed it the most because that’s what Marsh has been doing all season.

Harper singled behind the homer and Hill followed with another single before Stott came up and hooked a three-run shot that barely stayed fair inside the right-field foul pole to blow the game open.

Mattingly compared the way Stott kept the ball fair to Barry Bonds, which is not a comparison that gets thrown around casually, and watching the ball curve toward the pole on television had everyone holding their breath until it cleared the wall on the fair side and the Phillies had a 14-8 lead that felt like a fever dream after everything that had happened in the previous eight innings.

Sosa doubled off the top of the center-field wall and Turner capped the inning with an RBI single because the Phillies apparently decided that eight runs with two outs in the ninth wasn’t dramatic enough and needed to keep piling on.

The Bryson Stott Revival Tour

The three-run homer was the latest evidence that Stott has figured something out over the last few weeks because he’s slashing .333/.410/.519 over his last 15 games after a stretch earlier in the season where his swing looked lost.

Mattingly said the adjustment has been about getting flatter through the zone and working at lower angles instead of trying to lift everything, which has resulted in Stott hitting balls into the gaps in left-center and right-center with the homers coming naturally as a byproduct of better contact rather than trying to pull everything over the wall.

Stott was also part of the 2022 Phillies team that started slowly, changed managers, and reached the World Series, and he said Tuesday night felt like “déjà vu in a sense” because the trajectory of this season mirrors what happened four years ago when the organization made a managerial change and the team caught fire in the second half. If Stott keeps hitting the way he’s hit over the last 15 games, the Phillies have a legitimate six-through-eight in the lineup that produces instead of creating dead spots, which changes the offensive ceiling of this team dramatically.

Luzardo Watched From the Clubhouse

Luzardo watched the ninth-inning explosion from the clubhouse with four or five teammates who had already showered and were hanging out after his 6 2/3 innings and said they “all had the same reaction after every home run” as the comeback unfolded on the television in front of them.

The image of Luzardo sitting in the clubhouse in street clothes watching his teammates erase a two-run deficit with eight runs in the ninth after he struck out 13 batters and gave up five earned runs in one of the weirdest pitching performances in recent memory is the kind of scene that captures what this team has become under Mattingly, which is a group that genuinely fights for each other regardless of what the scoreboard says.

The Return of The Fightins

That’s the mentality. That’s the culture Mattingly has built since taking over a 9-19 team that had given up on itself. The Phillies trailed by five in the fourth, fought back to take the lead in the eighth, gave it away on a gut-punch three-run homer from a guy with one homer all season, and then responded with eight runs in the ninth with two outs because this group doesn’t accept losing even when every logical reason to accept it has been presented.

Mattingly said the goal is to turn stretches like Tuesday night into a daily standard where the compete level never drops regardless of the score or the situation, and compared the 162-game season to a marathon where the team needs to find its pace and sustain it because the playoff games are the same as the regular-season games with just more buildup around them.

Tuesday demanded that level more than once and the Phillies delivered every single time the moment asked them to. Schwarber’s status for Wednesday is day-to-day with Mattingly saying he’s “already feeling better,” but even without their best power hitter the Phillies found a way to win a game that had no business being a win because this team refuses to die and the ninth inning on Tuesday night at Nationals Park was the most emphatic proof of that all season.

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