After taking a 3-game series in Washington D.C. earlier in April, the Phillies welcomed the Nationals to Citizens Bank Park for the first time this season.
Wheels Up
Zack Wheeler took the mound for the Phillies, looking to rebound after giving up 6 runs against the Marlins in his last outing. He looked sharp in the 1st inning, using only 10 pitches. He sat down Joey Meneses looking for his first strikeout of the night.
Jake Irvin got the start for the Nationals. He ran into trouble in the first, allowing a single to JT Realmuto. After Bryce Harper popped out, Alec Bohm continued being an RBI machine. He squeezed his MLB-leading 18th double just down the line to give the Phils the early lead.
The Nationals tied things up in the second. Ildemaro Vargas worked a walk against Wheeler and with 2 outs, Keibert Ruiz doubled just out of the reach of a diving Johan Rojas. Wheeler added 2 more strikeouts in the inning.
Phillies Push Back
That didn’t discourage the Phillies offense. Brandon Marsh led off the inning with a full-count walk. Edmundo Sosa followed up with a single up the middle. With Kyle Schwarber up, Irvin threw a wild pitch that scored Marsh and moved Sosa to 3rd. Schwarber drove Sosa in on a groundout to 1st.
Wheeler threw his 2nd 1-2-3 inning of the day in the 3rd, responding well to the 3-1 lead. He added his 4th K of the day when he got CJ Abrams looking to lead off the inning.
Even with 2 outs, the Phillies offense still managed to do damage. Irvin got the 1st 2 outs in the inning but Bryson Stott continued his hot streak, bunting for a base hit. After Irvin hit Castellanos, Marsh drove in Stott with a double, pushing the score to 4-1.
Wheeler struck out Joey Gallo for the 2nd time in the 4th and allowed just a walk. In the 5th, the Nationals found some 2-out, 2-strike magic with back-to-back doubles from CJ Abrams and Eddie Rosario. Nick Castellanos just missed an inning-ending catch against Abrams.
Settling In
The 6th inning was less stressful for Wheeler. He recorded his 3rd 1-2-3 inning and stuck out Joey Gallo again for his 6th strikeout.
Jacob Barnes relieved Irvin in the bottom of the 6th. Barnes came out dealing, retiring the Phillies in order. Barnes did more of the same in the bottom of the 7th. He kept the Phillies off the basepaths again, 1-2-3.
Zack Wheeler came out for the 7th inning and finished with 100 pitches. He returned for the start of the 8th inning to face Victor Robles. He rebounded nicely from the game against Miami, going 7.1 innings, striking out 6, and allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits. He walked 3. His velocity saw a noticeable tick up.
Shutting the Door
“I think we had a thin pen tonight so [I] probably would’ve stopped him right there but he said he was fine,” said manager Rob Thomson on the decision to bring Wheeler back out for the 8th.
Jose Alvarado was called upon to face the lefties at the top of Washington’s order. He induced back-to-back pop-ups to end the inning.
Jordan Weems would be the next man out of the pen for the Nationals. He continued mowing the Phillies down with a clean inning. The Nationals’ pitchers retired the last 16 Phillies they faced.
Jeff Hoffman entered to try and close things out. After inducing a pop-up to himself, he allowed a double to Joey Gallo. Another pop-up and a flyout later, the Phillies secured their 32nd win of the season.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
