'Really no excuses': CS in 9th costs Phils

Travis Jankowski expected something else to happen.

He stood at second base with no outs in the ninth inning in Friday night’s 2-1 loss to the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. He represented the tying run as a pinch-runner after Rhys Hoskins doubled off the right-field wall, energizing a modest crowd of 15,030 fans on the first night the Bank was open to 100 percent capacity since the end of the 2019 season.

• Box score

But then Jankowski thought Daniel Hudson’s 2-2 slider in the dirt to J.T. Realmuto might ricochet away from Nationals catcher Alex Avila. Jankowski broke to third, but the ball hopped into Avila’s glove instead. Jankowski suddenly found himself in no-man’s land, standing between second and third.

He had nowhere to run as Avila ran toward him with the ball in his right hand. Avila eventually tagged him out.

“Really no excuses,” Jankowski said. “Just a bad read.”

“You have to be careful,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “A lot of times it’s not the thought process that’s bad -- you’re looking for balls in the dirt to move up -- it’s the read, right? He didn’t see it get away from him. He was probably too aggressive and that’s what cost him. He knows he’s in there to score a run and do those things, and sometimes you can just be a little too aggressive.”

Jankowski graduated from Lancaster Catholic High School in 2009. He grew up a Phillies fan. This was his first game as a member of the Phillies at the Bank.

“I had much higher hopes,” he said.

It was the theme of the day. Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler continues to pitch really, really well despite little run support. He entered the game ranked 56th out of 66 qualified starters in run support average (3.48). It dropped to 3.28 after Friday’s outing.

Wheeler allowed a run in the fourth when Trea Turner walked, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on a two-out flare from Josh Bell to left field. Andrew McCutchen tried to make a play, but he could not make a diving catch. McCutchen typically plays 298 feet from home plate. He was 291 feet on this play, according to Statcast.

“I didn't see the jump and I didn’t see what happened there,” Girardi said. “A lot of times when big guys take a big swing and they don’t hit it far, it’s a tough read.”

Wheeler allowed a solo homer to Juan Soto in the sixth to make it 2-1. It looked like Soto stared at Wheeler a couple times as he rounded the bases. He certainly appeared to look his way and say something after he crossed home plate. Wheeler said he didn’t notice.

“I couldn’t care less,” he said.

So, maybe Soto didn’t stare at Wheeler then? No, Soto said he did.

“I like to be competitive,” Soto said. “I looked at J.T., too. We always talk about -- I told him before the at-bat, I just said, ‘Hey, J.T. two points, Soto zero. So we will see now.’ I think it’s going my way. I ended up losing against J.T., but it feels great. Wheeler, he’s just competitive. We [go] out there, try to do our best. I don’t care if they strike me out, pump, hit their chest, jump, do whatever, do a back flip, whatever, I don’t care.”

Regardless, Soto’s homer proved to be plenty of cushion for Nationals ace Max Scherzer, who allowed one run and struck out nine in 7 2/3 innings.

“You kind of expect it coming in, right?” Wheeler said. “He's been doing well his whole career. You know he's going to pitch well. I have to keep the runs off the board to be able to keep up with him, more than likely. I knew I had to come in and pitch a good game today. I made a couple of mistakes.”

Hoskins’ double could have been a turning point. Soto tried to catch the ball at the wall, but he missed and the ball bounced toward the infield. Hoskins stopped at second base before Soto, who has a strong arm, had the ball in his hand. It’s unclear if he could have gotten to third or not.

But then Jankowski got caught stealing, Realmuto struck out swinging and Brad Miller flied out to end it.

“When you don’t score a lot of runs, every little thing shows up in the box score,” Girardi said. “Every little mistake you make is going to show up.”

It happened to the Phillies again on Friday.