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The Phillies waited 92 minutes for the rain to stop Monday night. Then they waited almost as long for their offense to show up.

It never really did.

After a weekend in which the bats finally looked as if they had rediscovered some rhythm at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies opened a four-game series at Nationals Park by getting handled by left-hander Foster Griffin in a 4-1 loss to Washington. Griffin worked 7 1/3 innings, held the Phillies scoreless for six of them, and made a lineup with Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott and Edmundo Sosa look mostly harmless.

Those five went a combined 0-for-18 with eight strikeouts.

The Phillies did not score until Brandon Marsh homered in the seventh. By then, the night had already settled into one of those games that felt less like an offensive struggle and more like a long, damp exercise in frustration.

But even in a loss like this, the Phillies did find something worth taking with them.

They may have found a fifth starter.

Alan Rangel did not technically start Monday night. Tim Mayza did that, serving as the opener after the rain delay and allowing a run in the first inning. But Rangel was the pitcher the Phillies really wanted to see. Interim manager Don Mattingly said before the game that the 28-year-old right-hander would get the first opportunity to fill the rotation spot left open by Andrew Painter’s demotion.

Rangel’s first audition was encouraging.

He entered in the second inning, gave up a solo homer to Luis García Jr. to the second batter he faced, then spent the rest of his five-inning outing doing exactly what the Phillies needed him to do. He threw strikes. He changed speeds. He worked through traffic. He scattered five hits, struck out for, hit one batter and walked none.

It was not overpowering. Rangel’s fastball sat just under 93 mph, and he leaned heavily on his changeup, throwing it 40 percent of the time among his 72 pitches. His delivery has an unusual over-the-top look, and he slipped off the mound a couple of times, later acknowledging that he may have been trying to do a little too much.

But the bottom line was simple: he kept the Phillies in the game.

That is the job right now. The Phillies do not need Rangel to be a savior. They do not need him to pitch like a top-of-the-rotation arm. They need him to cover innings, attack the strike zone and prevent the fifth spot from becoming a weekly crisis.

For one night, he did that.

Rangel gave the Phillies a reason to keep looking.

The offense did not.

For six innings, Griffin erased them. The Phillies did not create sustained pressure, did not cash in the few chances they had and did not force Washington into much stress. Marsh’s solo homer in the seventh cut the deficit to 2-1, but the momentum lasted only a few minutes.

Seth Johnson replaced Rangel in the bottom of the inning and immediately walked into trouble. James Wood singled, and Curtis Mead followed with a two-run homer that pushed Washington’s lead to 4-1. Mead, of course, is the former Phillies prospect once sent to Tampa Bay in the deal that brought Cristopher Sánchez to Philadelphia.

That swing essentially ended the night. The Phillies never answered.

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Patrick Gordon, Executive Editor

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