Phillies take two of three from their DC punching bags to round out April on a positive note
The Phillies would head home after a fruitful weekend in Chicago to face the team that is the only reason they have a record over .500 over the past three seasons, the Washington Nationals. The Phillies hoped to continue that Tuesday night, and to start, they did. In the first inning, Trea Turner would single, and later in the inning, Kyle Schwarber would hit what looked like a fly out to left centerfield, but on this warm evening carried six rows deep in the outfield to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. The Phillies would tag another run in the third inning when Johan Rojas, making up for an abysmal play in centerfield in the top half that led to a CJ Abrams triple and Zach Wheeler having to throw fifteen more pitches, would hit an absolute bomb to make it 3-0. Wheeler would torch Washington all night as the Nats’ hitters would be largely feckless through six innings, scraping one run while striking out six. In the seventh, Wheeler would start the inning with a groundout before obtaining his seventh strikeout. After a Jacob Young double, though, Wheeler would be relieved by Matt Strahm. The lefty would immediately allow CJ Abrams to rip a double to right field, which made the game 3-2 as we moved to the bottom of the seventh.
The eighth would see José Alvarado, and with it a riveting inning. Amed Rosario would lead off with a single that would immediately be followed by a Keibert Ruiz single that moved Rosario to third. The next batter, Nathan Lowe, would ground to Trea Turner, who would somehow manage to not get anyone out after running towards second base, but not tagging the bag and then throwing home before Rosario committed to running home. No runs were scored, but also no outs were recorded. We had bases loaded with nobody out. Alvarado would then lock in by striking out Phillies killer Josh Bell, Dylan Crews, and Alex Call in what was easily the most electric moment of the evening. The Phillies would add on in the eighth as Rojas would start the inning with a single and would quickly score on a Trea Turner fly ball to right that kept carrying until it was misplayed by Dylan Crews at the wall, which turned into a double. Bryce Harper would also single on a bunt that brought Turner to third base, and he would almost instantly score on a wild pitch. The Phillies would lead the game 5-2 and head to the ninth.
What followed was one of the worst half innings of the year as they turned the ball over to Orion Kerkering. Things would start fine as Jacob Young would strike out swinging, but CJ Abrams would follow that up with a single. James Wood would then hit a line drive out to centerfield, However, it was not an out as Johan Rojas would take a horrific route to the ball and miss it as his inability to play centerfield of late was on full display, 5-3. Kerkering would then get Amed Rosario to ground out to short, but Turner would botch the throw to first. With that, Kerkering had gotten the third out of the inning, but the defense made sure only one out had been recorded. Kerkering would battle back, though, striking out Keibert Ruiz for the fourth out of the inning. Things seemed to finally be in control as Nathaniel Lowe was down to his final strike, but he pounced on a hittable pitch, and as it crossed over the right field fence, the Nationals would take the 6-5 lead thanks to the Phillies’ defense. Depending on your definition of the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies would either battle back or be outdone by the Nationals. Alec Bohm would lead off with a single, which would swiftly be followed by a Bryson Stott pinch-hit walk. Max Kepler would then hit a ball to centerfield that sure was a walk-off home run, but somehow died on the warning track. Alec Bohm would slowly meander to third base (foreshadowing). That would bring Rojas to the plate, who would battle as Stott stole second base. Rojas would hit a fly ball to right field that should have been able to score any able-bodied athlete from third, but Alec Bohm would be the one at third. Bohm would meander home and would be dead to rights at the plate, but the Nats catcher, Keibert Ruiz, would botch the catch, and Bohm would be safe, 6-6. With Trea Turner now at the plate and the winning run 90 feet away, Ruiz would follow that up with a passed ball that was somehow ruled a wild pitch as Stott would come screaming home and the Phillies would win their first walk-off game of the year 7-6.
On Wednesday night, the Phillies would score the same number of runs (7), but in a much less chaotic fashion. They would get three in the first inning on a classic Kyle Schwarber display of power. Schwarber would get fooled on a breaking ball and seemingly flail his bat at a ball, but instead of a weak fly out to right field, but since it was Kyle Schwarber, the ball ricocheted off the advertising screen on the second deck facade for a three-run bomb, 3-0. The Nationals would add one in the third on a Nathaniel Lowe double, but the Phillies would respond in the fourth when Stott would drive in JT to make it 4-1. Christopher Sánchez would bounce back from his forearm strain and, while not looking 100%, was competent going five innings, allowing two runs, and striking out six. The Phillies would shockingly continue to add on throughout the game. A Nick Castellanos single that scored Bryce Harper in the fifth made it 5-2, and in the sixth, Max Kepler, who had hit two almost homeruns in the past two days, finally hit one that went over the fence to make it 6-2. In the eighth inning, JT would throw the final punch as he would hit a solo shot to make it 7-2. José Ruiz, Tanner Banks, and Carlos Hernández would combine for four perfect innings from the pen, and the Phillies would win game two of the series.
Thursday night would be a no-show for the Phillies. They had taken the first two games of this series and jumped out first to a 1-0 lead in the game when Alec Bohm singled in Max Kepler in the bottom of the fifth. That would be it for the Fightins, though, as they would only manage one more run when Nick Castellanos drove in Trea Turner. The scrappy Nationals would creep across just enough runs off of Taijuan Walker to get themselves the sweep saver. They would get all four off of Walker in the sixth as the Phillies’ fifth starter could only go 5.2 innings. Walker continues to be an unexpected yet welcome contributor to this squad. The team was largely lifeless in a game they should have won, but it is hard to argue with winning two of the three. While low leverage, the bullpen was again competent, and the offense still had a fair amount of baserunners as they got on base eleven times.
This series ran the gamut for why this Phillies team is both good and bad. We saw horrific defense on display at multiple points, specifically in crucial situations. We also saw some issues with the bullpen, and at times, we saw the offense go lifeless for an extended period. It is nice to have a practice dummy like the Washington Nationals in your division, as they have been a great right team for the Phillies for the better part of a decade at this point. The Phillies will have another real challenge this weekend as the very good Arizona Diamondbacks come to town. It will be interesting to see if the Phillies play up to their competition like they did against the Dodgers or if they look like they don’t belong on the same field like they did against the Mets. A series victory against the Diamondbacks would go a long way in rallying the psyche of the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans.