It's safe to say the Washington Nationals are happy to see the Philadelphia Phillies leave town.
For a third straight night at Nationals Park, the Phillies scored a late comeback, beating the Nationals 10-5 and spoiling the party for the home crowd. Bryce Harper played hero by hitting the go-ahead homer as part of a five-run ninth inning.
BRYCE HARPER FOR THE LEAD 🔔
— MLB (@MLB) June 26, 2026
The @Phillies strike AGAIN in the 9th inning! pic.twitter.com/kEFeFdTRvz
Harper's blast came after similar go-ahead round-trippers in the ninth from Bryson Stott on Tuesday and Derek Hill on Wednesday. It's the first time in baseball history that a team has hit go-ahead homers in the ninth inning of three consecutive games, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
On Thursday, Philadelphia erased a 5-0 deficit by scoring two in the sixth and three in the seventh. Harper's homer off Gus Varland opened the floodgates: J.T. Realmuto extended the Phillies' lead with an RBI double four batters later, and then Hill ripped his second long ball in as many days to ice the game.
On Tuesday, the Phillies scored eight runs in the ninth after entering the final inning down by two to beat the Nats 14-9. Wednesday's miracle saw the Phils enter the ninth down 4-3 before Hill hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer to give his club a 5-4 victory.
The latest win lifted the Phillies to 36-17 since interim manager Don Mattingly replaced Rob Thomson on April 28. At 45-36 overall, Philadelphia now sits second in the NL East, four games behind the Atlanta Braves.
Washington, meanwhile, has now lost three straight and dropped back to .500 after briefly grabbing hold of a wild-card spot last week.
The Nats optioned Varland, who surrendered all five Phillies runs in the ninth, to Triple-A after Thursday's loss, according to Mark Zuckerman of NatsJournal.com.
