Harang's effort wasted as Phillies drop series finale to Nationals, 4-1

Even in defeat, Aaron Harang looks good.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez was better on Sunday, helping lead his team to a 4-1 victory in the series finale in Washington.

Despite working out of trouble all afternoon to help keep his team in the game, the 14-year vet saw his record fall to 4-4 on the season and his career low ERA rise to 1.93. Heading into action Sunday, he was in rare company among other Phillies pitchers:

Throughout his career, the 37-year-old righty has spent a lot of time pitching with runners on base -- he has a 1.405 WHIP* since the start of the 2008 season. Heading into the series finale against the Nationals, his 2015 WHIP was a minuscule 0.978, almost a point and a half better than his career best of 1.144 in 2007, when he finished fourth in Cy Young voting.

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*(Walks + Hits) / Innings Pitched

Clearly, he isn't allowing as many runners this year, but when he does, Harang is unfazed. He has become adept at working around them over his career. For a perfect example of this ability -- one that has helped make Harang so effective this season -- look no further than his performance Sunday.

After allowing a leadoff double to Denard Span in the first, the Phillies starter had already put himself in a tough spot. Later in the inning, Bryce Harper hit Harang in the leg with a comeback liner, putting runners on the corners. However, the Nats would fail to score. Here's a look at how the inning unfolded:

FIRST INNING

• Span doubles off the wall in center field.

Then Harang gets the next two batters to ground out, one of the things that has made him so effective with runners on base.

• Ian Desmond grounds out to shortstop Freddy Galvis. One out, runner on second.
• Yunel Escobar grounds out to third baseman Maikel Franco. Two outs, runner on second.
• Bryce Harper singles on line drive to Franco (off Harang). Two outs, runners on first and third.

Harang appeared fine after taking the liner off his thigh.

• Ryan Zimmerman strikes out swinging on three pitches. Inning over.

Then in the second, Harang allowed another baserunner, this time a bunt single by No. 8 hitter Danny Espinosa. But just like in the first inning, the Nats failed to get on the board, thanks to a two-out pop out from opposing pitcher Gio Gonzalez.

The trouble was far from over for the Phillies pitcher though. As Washington would threaten again in the third inning, only to be shut down again. Here's how the third inning -- which again began at the top of the Nationals order -- played out:

THIRD INNING

• Span lines out to center fielder Odubel Herrera. One out, no runners on.
• Desmond singles on a line drive to right field. One out, runner on first.
• Escobar flies out to Herrera in center. Two outs, runner on first.
• Harper walks. Two outs, runners on first and second.
• Zimmerman grounds out to Harang. Inning over.

So far, so good for Harang, but all those base runners would catch up with him in the bottom of the fourth, as he finally surrendered a run.  In the top half of the frame, the Phillies took the lead on an RBI single from Francoeur, plating Galvis, who reached on an infield single three batters earlier.

That lead would quickly be erased -- that seems to be happening more and more often to the Phillies recently -- before Harang could even get another out. But even when he lets up a run, the savvy veteran is able to prevent the floodgates from opening, which could have certainly happened in the fourth. Here's a look:

FOURTH INNING

• Clint Robinson doubles to right field. 
• Jose Lobaton singles on a ground ball to center field. Robinson scores. No outs, runner on first.
• Espinosa walks. No outs, runners on first and second.

This is where it really starting looking dicey for Harang. Luckily for him -- and perhaps you need some luck to have a career year at age 37 -- the pitchers spot was due up next. Nevertheless, a coaching visit was in order to talk strategy. 

And as expected, Gonzalez gave the Phillies an out in order to advance the runners.

• Gonzalez sacrifice bunts. One outs, runners on second and third.

Again, Harang was in some real trouble here. And that he was able to keep the Nats to one run in this inning really highlights why he has been so effective this season.

• Span grounds out softly to Harang. Two outs, runners on second and third. to right field. 

Not only was he able to get a ground ball, but because it was so softly hit back to him, he was able to check the runner, Lobaton, at third and prevent him from scoring.

• Desmond grounds out to Darin Ruf at first base. Inning over.

Harang allowed another leadoff hit in the fifth inning, a triple by Escobar. He would score off a Harper ground ball to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead, their first of the game.

Sure, the Phillies were trailing 2-1 at this point, but Washington could have easily had four or five runs had Harang not been able to work out of a few jams. And then, finally, in the sixth inning, he had his first clean inning of the game, albeit against the Nats' seventh, eighth and ninth hitters. He would finish the inning -- and game -- with 95 pitches, as he would be lifted for a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh.

Harang, who picked up a loss, finished with the following line, which is impressive considering he was not at his best and was facing a lineup that leads the National League in runs per game at 4.84 through 43 games this season.

As far as this writer is concerned, Harang did his job and did it well. He wasn't his sharpest. The lineup behind him was nothing to write home about with Utley and Howard, two of the Phillies hottest hitters, getting the day off. However that's not surprising in a day game after a night game.

Playing the odds

It was interesting to see Howard and Utley in the lineup on Thursday when the Phillies closed out their four-game series in Colorado with an afternoon getaway game.

However, that wasn't the case Sunday in D.C.

Both hitters, who have a combined average of .389 since May 14, were off, presumably to get some rest. However, it was an easy call for manager Ryne Sandberg, as neither has great numbers against Gio Gonzalez, whereas some of their replacement have historically had great success off the Nats starter.

Here's a look at Howard and Utley's numbers compared to some of the other Phillies who were in the lineup:

The plan didn't seem to work out for Sandberg, but if nothing else, Howard and Utley will be rested for Monday's matinee in New York.

Power outage

The Phillies have had quite a turnaround when it comes to getting extra base hits. 

They had just three Sunday against the Nats, all doubles, coming off the bats of Cameron Rupp, Ruf and Grady Sizemore.

Phillies batters also struck out 11 times in the game.

Galvis slumping, Francoeur surging

In the seven games since his batting average hit .355 on May 15 against the Diamondbacks, Freddy Galvis has just four* hits in 31 at-bats, good for a .129 average. 

*He was 1-for-4 Sunday.

The recent slump has caused his season average to drop 46 points to .309 on the season.

Meanwhile, Jeff Francoeur has been putting in work this month. Take a look at his numbers heading into Sunday:

And Frenchy only added to that in the loss to the Nationals, going 2-for-3 with an RBI, upping his average this month to .405. He also has nine RBI in his 35 ABs this month.

Stuck in the middle

Odubel Herrera found himself the victim of a rare 9-6 force out at second base.

A blooper off the bat of Cameron Rupp landed in front of Nats right fielder Bryce Harper, who played it off the bounce and came up firing to catch Herrera at second. Sure, Herrera had to wait momentarily to see if Harper was going to catch the ball or not, but he should have been in better position when Harper fielded the ball.

Check out the video, here.