Philadelphia Phillies defeat Washington Nationals 5-0 – MLB Update
Roy Oswalt won the 81st game for the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, August 20 as he pitched eight solid innings to beat the Washington Nationals 5-0 at Nationals Park.
This was the second game of Roy Oswalt within 24 hours, making it an arduous task for the Phillies’ starter. But far from showing any fatigue, Oswalt prevailed over the seemingly helpless Washington Nationals’ offence.
"First time I started two games back-to-back," Oswalt joked. "I told them: I keep doing that, they're going to have to pay me more. Worked out pretty well. Warmed up yesterday -- and it was kind of like a bullpen. It carried over to today.”
With Wilson Valdez and Jimmy Rollins driving in two runs respectively, Oswalt got the calls from the excited manager to not allow the Nationals any run. "Shut 'em down. Stopped the momentum right there. Shut 'em down," Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel said.
So potent and efficient was Oswalt that even Rollins had to come up with a compliment. "He was absolutely nasty," Rollins said. "I was excited -- man -- for him -- the way he went out and threw the ball -- vintage Roy."
John Lannan kicked off Saturday’s game with pitching against Jimmy Rollins. The Phillies’ hitters were not able to score any run in the first inning as the Nationals starter tossed some good pitches to make it a shut-out.
Once Roy Oswalt came, he remained equally solid. Disallowing the Nationals’ offence to score, his first inning was a scoreless one with the two hits that he gave up. The game remained without any score up until the fourth inning just when Valdez opened the
account for the Phillies.
Wilson Valdez tripled to right to drive in two runs for the Philadelphia Phillies, giving them a 2-0 lead by the end of fourth. As Oswalt had a remarkably good game, barely did he let the Nationals’ offence get into action.
Once Oswalt pitched the fifth, John Lannan had a big surprise in store. Hunter Pence homered to left to triple the lead for the Philadelphia Phillies while Jimmy Rollins followed with a two-run single to centre, making it 5-0 for the team by the end of the
sixth inning which saw five hits being given up.
In his five innings, Lannan gave up five runs and seven hits, while Oswalt continued to wreck havoc. He pitched right into the eighth, allowing only eight hits and no run, while Michael Stutes came as a closer to wrap up the game with a 5-0 win for the Phillies.
The Phillies put in a tremendous effort as they managed to restrict the National’s offence from scoring and shut them out.
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