PHILADELPHIA -- The sold-out crowd at Citizens Bank Park roared in anticipation just moments after Harrison Bader struck out to end the eighth inning.
The lights hadn't even been turned off. The flames and tarantulas were nowhere to be found yet. The music hadn't started playing.
But with the Phillies clinging to a one-run lead, they knew it was time for Jhoan Duran. To this point in his brief Phillies tenure, that meant one thing: Game over.
However, that wasn't the case on Friday night against the Nationals.
After Duran made quick work of Luis García Jr. with a three-pitch strikeout, he jumped ahead 0-2 against Dylan Crews. But Duran's next offering -- a 101.9 mph four-seamer -- didn't get off the plate as much as he hoped and Crews grounded it down the right-field line for a one-out double.
Crews scored the tying run one batter later when Daylen Lile lined an RBI single to left-center field and Brandon Marsh's throw to the plate ricocheted off Crews and past catcher J.T. Realmuto. Lile then stole third base and raced home when Realmuto's throw sailed into left field.
The end result was Duran’s first blown save in seven chances in the Phillies' 5-4 loss to the Nats.
"That's the game, you know?" Duran said. "Sometimes, that happens."
It does. Even to the all-time greats, manager Rob Thomson pointed out.
"Mariano [Rivera] had 80 of them," Thomson said, referencing the Hall of Famer. "So it's going to happen every once in a while.”
Plus, it's not like Duran got knocked around. He gave up two hits to five batters. That matched his hit total from his first seven outings combined. Prior to Friday, he hadn't allowed a runner to reach second base, let alone score.
"He still struck out the side," Thomson said. "There are going to be hits in there sometimes."
Even on an off night by his lofty standards, Duran was done in -- at least partially -- by nothing more than bad luck.
"I thought we had a shot [to get Crews] at the plate, it's just the ball hit the runner I think," Thomson said. "Then, they attempt to steal third and J.T. is trying to avoid the bat, and [the ball] goes into left field. It happens."
Marsh's throw indeed bounced off Crews as Realmuto tried to corral the ball and prevent the tying run from scoring.
"I don't know what it hit -- it was either his leg or his back -- but it hit something," Realmuto said. "Then it hit me up in the helmet."
Two pitches later, Lile took off for third base as Realmuto stabbed across his body to snag a curveball well off the plate. He then tried to fire a throw over a ducking Brady House in the right-handed batter's box.
The ball soared past a lunging Alec Bohm at third base, allowing Lile to trot home for the decisive run.
"I probably shouldn't have thrown the ball in hindsight," Realmuto said. "Because it was a curveball away, I didn't really get to set my feet and get around the runner, so I did have to throw it over his head.
"In that situation, it's tough to do, but I probably should have just eaten it, let him have third base and give Duran a chance to strike out the next two guys."
That's exactly what Duran did.
The righty battled back from a 3-1 count to strike out House with a 98.8 mph splitter. Duran then went to another full count against Jacob Young before ultimately striking him out with a 98.7 mph splitter.
"That's just who he is," said Realmuto, who had staked the Phillies to that one-run lead with a go-ahead homer in the seventh -- his third home run in four games. "Even after some things didn't go his way, he still answered the bell and kept the game at one run there for us. He was still his dominant self, it just didn't work out for us tonight."
The Phillies went down in order in the bottom of the ninth to snap their four-game winning streak.
Still, the Phils (74-58) hold a six-game lead over the Mets (68-60) atop the NL East -- and they have all the confidence in the world in their new closer.
One uncharacteristic night aided by a couple of fluky throws isn’t going to change that.
"Right now, I'm good," Duran said when asked how long it takes him to flush a blown save. "Sometimes, we do good. Sometimes, we do bad -- that's the game.
"Tomorrow, I'll be ready for tomorrow. So, it's OK."