PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Finnegan stood by his locker, a bit choked up at the thought of all that had just transpired. The Washington Nationals’ 7-6, walk-off loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night did not fall squarely on his shoulders. Nor, frankly, did he deserve the lion’s share of the blame. But he was the man on the mound when it all came crashing down. He was the one who threw the final pitch of the game, a splitter yanked into the left-handed batter’s box that bounced off catcher Keibert Ruiz’s chest and sputtered away, right alongside the Nationals’ aspirations for a third comeback win against a division rival in the past week.

Bryson Stott slid through home plate. Finnegan stumbled over him as he tried to apply a tag that was much too late. Citizens Bank Park and most of its 38,387 inhabitants erupted. And about 30 minutes later, in a very quiet visitor’s clubhouse where the Nationals feel they are oh-so-close to getting over the hump, they were left to wonder about one that got away.

“This one hurts for me a lot,” Finnegan said. “We had some huge moments to get ourselves back into the game. That’s a game that you’ve got to finish out.”

Opportunity knocked again and again for the Nationals. They left the bases loaded in the third. They loaded them back up with no outs in the eighth, then struck out three times. Down to their final strike in the ninth, Nathaniel Lowe tucked a rainbow of a flyball just inside the right field foul pole for a go-ahead, three-run, stadium-silencing homer.

Then came a meltdown in the bottom of the inning. Alec Bohm opened it with an 0-2 single off Finnegan, who then issued a walk to Bryson Stott that he called “inexcusable.” With one out and runners on second and third, Dylan Crews caught a flyball in right field. From 246 feet away, he delivered a rocket on one hop to Ruiz, who tried to apply the tag on Bohm too quickly and missed the ball, tying the score. And then came the wild pitch.

Suddenly, there was plenty to unpack. What separated Washington (13-17) and Philadelphia (16-13)?

A missed tag by Ruiz: “That was a good throw,” Ruiz said. “I tried to catch it maybe too fast, tried to get to the ball and not wait for the ball. That was my mistake. I don’t want to [make] any excuses. I need to do a better job.”

Some big outs with runners on: “We as a unit left a lot of guys out there tonight and could have really given ourselves some breathing room, and we didn’t,” Lowe said. “That’s just part of it. It’s something as a team that we need to improve on. And tomorrow, we’ll bounce back and ideally do a better job of it.”

And a wild pitch: “I put Keibert in a really tough spot there,” Finnegan said. “He did everything he could to stop it. Just bounced away.”

The Nationals have played 12 one-run games, more than any team in baseball. The slim difference between the teams began with a pitchers’ duel between MacKenzie Gore and Zack Wheeler. No pitchers in baseball have more strikeouts. Gore completed six innings to Wheeler’s 6⅔. Gore allowed three runs to Wheeler’s two. Wheeler struck out seven, Gore six. Philadelphia took advantage of Gore’s mistakes. Washington did not take advantage of Wheeler’s.

In the first inning, Gore threw a fastball he wanted to aim higher to fastball-killer Kyle Schwarber, who took it over the left field wall for a two-run blast and a 2-0 Philadelphia edge. Gore left just one changeup up in the zone all night, and Johan Rojas turned on it in the third for a no-doubt 421-foot solo shot and a 3-0 Phillies advantage. Wheeler, meanwhile, had just one shaky inning — he lost his command in the third. CJ Abrams lashed a triple to center that Rojas misread. A walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, but Ruiz swung under a cutter down the middle for strike three.

“Obviously those homers are going to drive me crazy,” Gore said. “But I thought we threw the ball well.”

Chances were abundant during the Nationals’ comeback. Luis García Jr. worked a 10-pitch at-bat before homering to get Washington on the board in the sixth. Jacob Young and Abrams hit back-to-back doubles — Young’s forced Wheeler out of the game — with two outs in the seventh to cut the Nationals’ deficit to 3-2.

In the eighth, with the bases loaded after two singles and a fielder’s choice, Josh Bell chased a José Alvarado cutter inside for strike three before Crews did the same. Pinch hitter Alex Call saw five straight sinkers and worked a 2-2 count. When he swung through an inside cutter, pandemonium arrived. Alvarado and catcher J.T. Realmuto fist-pumped in unison.

It felt over. It seemed over when Jose A. Ferrer allowed two runs in the bottom of the inning. It wasn’t.

“I mean, we could have folded early. We didn’t,” Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said. “We had opportunities early. We couldn’t capitalize, but we faced some pretty good pitching.”

In the ninth, powered by James Wood, Abrams and Amed Rosario, and helped by repeated defensive miscues from Philadelphia, the Nationals brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Lowe took full advantage. He said he was just trying to keep a simple approach and not hit anything too hard. He hit the ball just hard enough. But that swing wasn’t enough.

What does it all mean for Washington?

“We’re not winning as much as we would like to right now — but when you lose close games, you understand you’re not far away from winning,” Gore said. “But there’s no like, ‘Hey, we’re playing close with good teams. You either win or you don’t.’”

Notes: Martinez said it will be about a month before third baseman Paul DeJong (broken nose) can begin baseball activities. Martinez hopes to get him back sometime around the all-star break, but that is a loose timeline. …

Reliever Derek Law (right forearm inflammation) probably will meet the team in Cincinnati for a three-game series that starts Friday. If everything feels right, he will begin throwing. The Nationals will closely monitor how he rebounds physically the day after he throws, given that was the issue in spring training. …

The Nationals released outfielder Stone Garrett, who was at Class AAA Rochester. The 29-year-old had an .827 OPS in 91 games with Washington, most of which came in 2023 before he suffered a serious leg injury that August. He was designated for assignment this spring and was hitting .087 at Rochester. …

Right-hander Cade Cavalli (Tommy John rehab) exited his start with Rochester after two innings and 36 pitches because of fatigue. He lasted five innings and 69 pitches in his previous rehab outing.