Jonathan Papelbon blew a save in his return to Philadelphia, but still got the win

Jonathan Papelbon blew a save in his return to Philadelphia, but still got the win
Jonathan Papelbon (AP Photo)

The way the Washington Nationals’ second half is unfolding, what took place Monday night was bound to happen.

Jonathan Papelbon returned to Philadelphia for the first time since being traded from the Phillies to the Nationals in late July.

[Play a Daily Fantasy contest for cash today!]

Since joining the Nats, Papelbon had picked up six saves in six oppportunities and he was a perfect 17-for-17 in 2015 with the Phillies. You can be sure he wanted nothing more than to record his next save against his former team, especially after questioning his ex-teammates’ competitive spirit in a pregame conversation.

After Jayson Werth hit a solo shot in the top of the 10th to put Washington up 7-6, Papelbon entered the game in the bottom half of the inning to close the game out. Papelbon promptly gave up a game-tying home run to light-hitting infielder Freddy Galvis, and while he escaped further damage in the inning, the Galvis jack was enough for him to suffer his first blown save of the season.

Fortunately for Papelbon, the Nationals scored again in the 11th and Doug Fister did what Papelbon was supposed to do, earning the save as Washington won 8-7. Of course, since Papelbon was the pitcher of record, he earned a win despite having failed to hold the one-run lead he was handed in the 10th. A pitcher’s win-loss record sure is a valuable metric though, right!?

[Watch this: Fan tries to rip a foul ball out of Adrian Gonzalez’ glove]

In the big picture, the Nationals’ playoff hopes are toast even after Monday’s win. They come into Tuesday’s games 9 1/2 games back of the Mets in the NL East and are also 9 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot with 19 games remaining.

That’s certainly not how it was expected to play out for the team pegged as the World Series favorite in the National League, and Papelbon blowing a save against the Phillies is pretty representative of how things are going in Washington these days.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: