WASHINGTON -- The Phillies asked Nick Maton?to record the final out in the eighth inning in Game 1 of Saturday¡¯s doubleheader at Nationals Park.

It symbolized why the Phillies¡¯ first trip to the postseason since 2011 is in serious jeopardy.

The Phillies suffered a brutal 13-4 loss to the Nationals at Nationals Park, which dropped them into a tie with Milwaukee for the third NL Wild Card with five games to play. Fortunately for the Phillies, they own a tiebreaker over the Brewers, so Milwaukee needs to finish the season with a better record to knock them from the postseason. But can the Phillies outplay the Brewers the rest of the way?

They have lost 11 of their last 15 games.

¡°Today was a rough day,¡± Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson said. ¡°We¡¯ve just got to go get them the second game, see what we¡¯re made of. All year I¡¯ve said that they¡¯re resilient and they come back and they fight. And they do. Even in the eighth and ninth innings today, they had a lot of energy on the bench. The entire game, really, you¡¯re thinking that they¡¯re going to come back.

¡°I trust them, I have faith in them and I have confidence in them. I believe that we¡¯re going to be all right.¡±

But this is not June with 80 games to play. This is early October with less than a week to play.

The Phillies need to flip a switch.

Kyle Gibson allowed seven runs in six innings. He has a 9.73 ERA in six starts since the beginning of September, which is the Phillies¡¯ fifth-highest ERA in September/October (minimum five starts) since 1901.

¡°It¡¯s been a frustrating month,¡± he said.

Gibson had runners at the corners with two outs in the first inning when he allowed a single to Luis Garc¨ªa to tie the game at 1. He allowed a couple hard-hit singles with two outs in the second. CJ Abrams then hit a slow chopper to second baseman Jean Segura, who was late to the ball.

Abrams beat Segura¡¯s throw to load the bases.

¡°I don¡¯t know whether the runner got in the way of Seggy and changed his direction on the route,¡± Thomson said. ¡°I think maybe he thought the ball was hit a little bit harder than it was. Then the runner is in the way. There¡¯s a lot of things going on. He really should have just run into the runner.¡±

Joey Meneses then rolled a bases-clearing double past third baseman Alec Bohm, who whiffed at the ball. Bohm needed to catch the ball. Or at least knock it down.

¡°Yeah, usually he¡¯s going to make that play,¡± Thomson said. ¡°He got a bad read off it. It was kind of a changeup, hook ball. He just got a late break on it. He should have knocked it down, if he could. That was a big part of the game.¡±

¡°I had a couple chances to limit the damage there after that and I didn¡¯t do it,¡± Gibson said. ¡°Sure, I mean I think everybody involved is frustrated.¡±

The Nationals led, 4-1. Luke Voit then crushed a two-run homer to center to make it 6-1.

The Phillies scored their first run in the first inning on a risky double steal that Bryce Harper initiated from first base.

¡°I mean, I trust them, but we¡¯ll talk about it,¡± Thomson said.

Nick Nelson allowed three runs in the seventh to turn a 7-4 deficit into a 10-4 deficit.

Game over.

It is natural to wonder if the pressure is getting to the Phillies. Late-season fades are nothing new to them. They are a combined 58-84 (.408) the past five Septembers/Octobers. It is the fifth-lowest winning percentage in the Majors in that span.

¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s panic,¡± Thomson said. ¡°They want to win games and get in. That¡¯s not panic, though. I don¡¯t sense panic, I really don¡¯t. I sense a group that really wants to get in the playoffs.¡±

Time is running out.

¡°If we win the games that we¡¯re supposed to win, we control our own destiny,¡± Gibson said.