Nats crush three solo homers, hand Phillies fourth straight loss

By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly Editor

Final: Nationals 4, Phillies 2 ❖ Attendance: 20,237

PHILADELPHIA —The weather wasn't the most ideal on a cloudy Friday evening, as the Phillies squared off with the Washington Nationals for the start of the third series between the teams this season.

The Phils, who have dropped their last three games going into this contest, were looking to get their 13th win of the season against a team they had semi-success with this season so far. The Nationals, of course, are one of the MLB's hottest teams going into the game, and were going to miss their star right-fielder Bryce Harper on Friday night, who was out with a sore groin injury.

The Phillies sent right-hander Nick Pivetta to the mound, who made his first start at home in his big-league career. Pivetta struggled once again, giving up three solo home runs, including one to Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Pivetta also gave up nine hits to the Nationals batters.

It looked as if Pivetta started to settle in a bit as the game went on, but the Phillies hitting struggled to provide him with any run support, not scoring until the bottom of the seventh, a point where Pivetta was already lifted for Jake Thompson.

Thompson made his first big-league appearance of 2017, after spending the last month with the IronPigs in Triple-A. Thompson is 1-3 with a 6.65 ERA thus far this season with Lehigh Valley. The Phillies called Thompson up today to help out with the shaky bullpen. Thompson looked good in his inning of work, sitting down the Nats 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth inning.

The lack of Phillies hitting against Stephen Strasburg and then against the Washington bullpen proved to be the big reason why the Phillies were unable to come away with the victory.

For the 13th time this season, the Phillies dropped a game by two runs or less. The Phillies will look to have more success against the Nationals tomorrow night at Citizens Bank Park, as Vince Velasquez is scheduled to get the start.

WP: Stephen Strasburg (3-1, 2.66 ERA) ❖ LP: Nick Pivetta (0-2, 5.40 ERA) ❖ SV: Matt Albers (1)

Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next

Game Summary

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
WAS	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	12	0
PHI	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	X	2	8	0

The first part of the game was completely Nationals, as they got the scoring started in the top of the first inning. Anthony Rendon singled a ball sharply to Odubel Herrera, scoring Jayson Werth to give the Nats an early 1-0 lead.

In the top of the second, Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg took a 1-2 pitch and swung for the fences, all the way to center field for a solo home run. The pitcher gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, Nick Pivetta still in for the Phillies, Ryan Zimmerman got a pitch he liked and belted his 12th home run of the season to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

The next batter up, Anthony Rendon, took a pitch and turned it into a deep fly ball to almost the same area as Zimmerman for his fourth homer of the year. The Nationals go back-to-back and take a 4-0 lead over Philadelphia.

It wasn't until the bottom of the seventh inning where the Phillies got on the board for the first time. Aaron Altherr finally got on base for the first time in the game with a single, and Odubel Herrera made sure he got home. Herrera hit a double on a line drive to Michael Taylor, scoring Altherr. The Phils still trailed 4-1.

In the same inning, Tommy Joseph doubled home Herrera to cut the deficit to a 4-2 Nationals lead.

The Phillies got a runner on in the bottom of the ninth inning, and had a few chances to get the runner home, but the Nationals held on for the 4-2 victory. The Phillies have dropped their last four games.

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Starting Pitchers