By: Matthew Mack
The Phillies continue the opening homestand as they visit the Washington Nationals for a three game series. The Phillies lost two of three against the Rangers. They are looking to bounce back from that series as they face their division rivals
The first game got ugly quick, fast, and in a hurry. The Nationals scored four runs in the first inning to jump ahead of the defending National League East champs. Manager Rob Thomson was quickly ejected after a replay that sent the runner that was going run back to third even though the tag was applied near home plate after a play at first was ruled safe. Though the Phils score two runs in the fifth to make things interesting with a Rafael Marchan two run blast, the Nats were having none of that as they finished off the Phils, 13-2. Tijuan Walker of the Phillies got shelled in his outing. 10 hits, seven runs, six of which was earned in his short 4⅔ innings of work. Jose Alvarado could not even stop the bleeding in his outing as he gave up 4 runs on three hits and a walk. The game was just flat out ugly!
The next night, it was Andrew Painter to take the hill for the Phillies as he would make his anticipated MLB debut. He did not disappoint as he went 5⅓ innings, fanning eight men, while scattering four hits and a walk. Painter just gave up one run in his first outing. As he was doing his thing, Kyle Schwarber and Adolis Garcia slammed solo home runs in the 3rd and 4th innings. In the fifth, Bryce Harper knocked in a run due to an Nats error by first baseman Luis Garcia. In the sixth, Daylen Lyle knocked in a run with a line drive to right. The very next inning, James Wood doubles in a run to close the deficit to one. The Phillies bullpen gave up one run as they took care of business to seal the deal for the win, 3-2. Painter obtained his 1st Major League win of his career and Jhoan Duran got his second save of the year.
Before the Sixers played the Wizards in the Nation’s Capital, the Phillies and the Nats played the rubber match of the series. Christopher Sanchez took the hill versus Cade Cavalli for the Nationals. The Phillies scored first on a Schwarber double to right, scoring Trea Turner. Then, the bats got cold for the Phillies as the Nationals scored five unanswered runs. Joey Wiemer scored on a Drew Millas strikeout. In the 6th, Millas singles in a run, and in the next inning, Abrams drove a three-run homer to put the Nationals up 5-1. The Phillies started to fight back as Realmuto drove a solo bomb over the center field wall to close the gap in the bottom half of the 7th. In the 8th, Harper rocked his first home run of the season into center as well. In the ninth, with the bases loaded, Edmundo Sosa, who pinch hit for Bryson Stott earlier in the game hit a single to left on a full count, scoring two to tie the game. It would go into extra innings as the Phillies rookie center fielder Justin Crawford continued to impress the Phillies Phaithful with a game winning RBI to right to win it 6-5 in 10 innings. Sanchez did well in 5⅓ innings of work along with seven strikeouts while giving up four hits and four walks with just surrendering one run. Much of the bullpen faltered but did not break late into the game with Zach Pop, Jose Alvarado, and Jhoan Duran leading the charge in the win.
The Phillies even their record at 3-3 for the season. Up next is a road trip that will take them to Denver to see the Colorado Rockies for the weekend series. The name of the game here is always to have a strong start coming out of the gate. The name of the game is to take care of business in any part of the season and work out the kinks now versus deep into the season. A small concern is there to be had with the bullpen and the timely hitting in some spots. Remember that this is only April with a lot of season left to go. After all, we just played six games.
