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There are comeback wins. There are bullpen meltdowns. There are games that turn sideways, then upside down, then somehow become something else entirely.

And then there was Tuesday night at Nationals Park.

The Phillies spent most of the night looking as if they were dragging Monday’s offensive silence into another long evening against Washington. They trailed by five runs. They lost a lead almost as soon as they found it. They were down to their final out in the ninth inning, staring at a two-run deficit, with the bottom of the order having already made two quick outs.

Then baseball did what baseball does.

It got weird.

The Phillies scored eight runs with two outs in the ninth inning, turning a 8-6 deficit into a 14-9 win over the Nationals, a game that tied the four-game series and pushed them to 43-36 on the season. They finished with 17 hits, no errors and one of their more improbable wins of the year.

The ninth began quietly enough. Washington reliever Brad Lord struck out Edmundo Sosa. He struck out Justin Crawford. The Nationals were one out away.

Then Trea Turner singled. Brandon Marsh followed with a two-run homer to right, a 400-foot swing that tied the game. Bryce Harper singled. Pinch-hitter Derek Hill singled. Bryson Stott then drove a three-run homer to right, giving the Phillies an 11-8 lead. By the time the inning ended, Sosa had added a two-run double, Turner had added an RBI single, and the Phillies had sent 13 men to the plate.

It was the kind of inning that made everything before it feel like a setup.

For four innings, the Phillies had almost nothing. Washington built a 5-0 lead against Jesús Luzardo, scoring once in the second and four times in the fourth. Jacob Young’s double-play grounder brought in Dylan Crews in the second. In the fourth, Nasim Nuñez singled home two runs, then José Tena followed with another two-run single.

Luzardo’s line was strange, because it looked both dominant and damaged. He allowed five runs on six hits and three walks over 6 2/3 innings, but also struck out 13, matching his career high. That is not a normal pitching line. It was part swing-and-miss showcase, part traffic jam, part survival act.

The Phillies finally stirred in the fifth. Stott singled, stole second and scored when Sosa launched a 406-foot homer to center. It mattered beyond the two runs because Sosa was in the lineup only after Kyle Schwarber was scratched with lower back tightness. On a night without Schwarber’s usual power presence, Sosa became one of the central figures of the game. He finished with five RBIs.

Sosa drove in another run in the seventh on a fielder’s choice, cutting Washington’s lead to 5-3. Then, in the eighth, the Phillies briefly looked as if they had stolen the game early.

Marsh doubled to right and reached third on an error by James Wood. Alec Bohm walked. Stott was hit by a pitch. J.T. Realmuto then doubled to right, clearing the bases and giving the Phillies a 6-5 lead. It was the kind of swing that usually becomes the top of a game story.

For about five minutes, it was.

Orion Kerkering entered for the bottom of the eighth and immediately gave the lead back. He walked Luis García Jr., hit Crews with a pitch, then gave up a 410-foot three-run homer to Jorbit Vivas. Just like that, Washington led, 8-6. Kerkering still wound up as the winning pitcher, which tells you almost everything about the absurdity of this game.

But the Phillies did not disappear. They answered with their loudest inning of the night, and maybe one of their loudest innings of the season.

Marsh finished 3-for-6 with the tying homer. Stott went 3-for-4, scored four runs, stole a base and delivered the go-ahead homer. Sosa went 2-for-5 with the homer, double and five RBIs. Turner had two hits and drove in the final Phillies run.

The Nationals added one last run in the ninth on García’s solo homer off Colten Shugart, but by then the game had already belonged to the Phillies’ ninth inning.

This was not clean. It was not comfortable. It was not the type of win that erases every concern about the bullpen, the rotation or the way the Phillies fell behind in the first place.

But it was a win with a pulse.

And after being held down Monday night, after falling behind by five Tuesday, after losing an eighth-inning lead in a matter of three batters, the Phillies still walked out of Nationals Park with the kind of victory that can change the tone of a series.

Not because they played perfect baseball.

Because they refused to let a messy game stay lost.

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