Situation critical with doubleheader loss

WASHINGTON » The Phillies tumbled out of a playoff position, getting swept in a doubleheader by the Washington Nationals when Yadiel Hernández hit a game-ending, two-run homer in eighth inning off Brandon Workman for a 2-1 win in Tuesday night’s second game.

Philadelphia (27-29) lost its fourth game in a row and dropped behind Cincinnati (28-28), Milwaukee (27-27) and San Francisco (26-27) for the National League’s eighth and final playoff berth.

“We’ve dug ourselves a hole and we’ve done that before and we’ve been able to fight out of it,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “Now we have to win games and rely on other (teams).”

The 32-year-old Hernández became the oldest player to hit a walkoff homer for his first big league home run, according to STATS. Hernández defected from Cuba in 2015, signed with Washington the following year and debuted Sept. 10.

“It never crossed my mind that I was going to end the game that way,” Hernández said through a translator. “I obviously thought I was going to hit a home run at some point because part of my game is to hit homers. I have the ability. I just didn’t foresee it happening in that moment where it ended the game on a walk-off home run like that. I’m very emotional and very excited.”

Austin Voth (1-5) pitched a three-hitter to win the opener 5-1.

Defending champion Washington (2332), playing its third doubleheader in five days, kept alive its slim postseason hopes by extending its winning streak to four.