Cristopher Sánchez had worked into the seventh inning of a tied game. He had allowed consecutive singles to Harry Ford and Andrew Pinckney, and Nasim Nuñez moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
Sánchez was at 98 pitches.
Don Mattingly came out of the dugout.
That was the fork in the game.
Mattingly went to Bowlan.
Washington had left-handed Daylen Lile available on its bench. Bowlan is a right-hander. Once the Phillies made their move, the Nationals made theirs, sending Lile up to hit for Dylan Crews.
The matchup Mattingly chose ended with a three-run homer to center.
Washington suddenly led 6-3, and the Phillies were headed toward their fourth loss in five games.
That is what makes this loss worth examining beyond Sánchez’s final pitching line.
Sánchez was not especially sharp. He allowed eight hits, two walks and five earned runs over 6⅓ innings. His season ERA climbed to 2.93, and his September has been considerably different from the dominant season that preceded it: Sánchez is 1-2 with a 6.87 ERA in three starts this month.
There was a legitimate case to take the ball from him.
But there also has to be a compelling case for the pitcher getting it.
And that is where Mattingly’s decision deserves scrutiny.
Bowlan entered Tuesday having allowed a run in four consecutive appearances. After Lile’s homer, the streak reached five.
Over those five outings, Bowlan has surrendered five earned runs and seven hits, including three home runs, over 4⅔ innings. That works out to a 9.64 ERA.
Those aren’t numbers pulled from some distant stretch of the season.
They represent Bowlan’s most recent work.
That matters when a manager is deciding who should face the most consequential hitter of a tied game.
The Phillies didn’t necessarily lose because Sánchez was removed at 98 pitches. Starters leave games in that situation all the time, particularly when consecutive hitters have reached and the top of the opposing order is approaching.
The question is why Bowlan was the answer.
Lile was sitting on Washington’s bench. The Nationals could counter. And once Bowlan entered, the Phillies were committed to him under baseball’s three-batter minimum.
The decision therefore wasn’t simply Sánchez or the bullpen.
It was Sánchez versus Bowlan in that particular situation, with Washington still holding another move.
Bowlan recovered after the homer and struck out the next two hitters, finishing the inning without further damage. That only reinforced how narrow the margin was: Philadelphia’s night swung on one matchup and one bullpen choice.
These are exactly the decisions the Phillies will have to get right if they reach October.
Jhoan Duran gives Mattingly a relatively obvious answer at the end of games.
The innings before Duran are far less settled.
There will be postseason games when Zack Wheeler or Sánchez leaves runners on base in the sixth or seventh. There will be nights when the score is tied and the opposing manager has dangerous options available on the bench. There will be moments when traditional inning assignments matter far less than identifying the best pitcher for the next three outs.
Tuesday was one of those moments.
The offense deserves part of the responsibility for the loss. Kyle Schwarber gave Philadelphia a 3-2 lead in the fifth with his major-league-leading 45th home run, and Luis Arraez finished with two doubles, but the Phillies managed only five hits overall and failed to score over the final four innings.
Still, the seventh was where control of the game disappeared.
And with only 11 games remaining in the regular season, the bullpen hierarchy cannot remain a moving target.
Maybe Bowlan rebounds.
Maybe Orion Kerkering becomes more dependable. Maybe José Alvarado assumes more high-leverage work. Maybe Mattingly becomes willing to deploy Duran before the ninth when the biggest moment arrives earlier.
Whatever the solution, Philadelphia needs one.
The Phillies have a rotation built to carry them into October.
What Tuesday exposed again is the uncertainty over what happens when that rotation hands the game over.
Mattingly made that transition with the score tied.
By the time the inning ended, the Phillies were chasing three runs.
That gap between starter and closer is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
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