Washington Nationals obliterate Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 to sweep four-game series – MLB Update
The Washington Nationals annihilated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 on Thursday, September 22 to sweep the four-game series at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Needing four games to create a club record for most wins in a single season, Phillies lost all four games and now have just six games to make an attempt.
The Nationals handed Brad Peacock another start after the rookie impressed in his first start on September 14, pitching five scoreless innings for just two hits. Living to his reputation, Peacock pitched 5.2 faultless innings for just a solitary hit to bag
his second win in as many chances. He saw his ERA improve to 0.75 for the season and surely earned himself a permanent job in the rotation for Washington.
The game against Phillies was considered to be the most stringent test for Peacock, but the 23-year-old made full use of this opportunity to prove his valour against the best in the Majors.
Tyler Clippard has been astrophysical for the Nationals this season and stamped his authority on the mound yet again; pitching a perfect eighth to increase the gulf between both sides after Washington had added four runs at the top of the inning.
Phillies clinched the National League East crown on September 17 but have since wedged to a second-string team, thus failing to bag a single win. Their last win came against the St. Louis Cardinals and Roy Oswalt was central in the triumph. However, after
seeing the entire rotation lose their starts over the last five days, Oswalt added to the misery of the bull-pen when he lost his tenth game on Thursday. This situation has magnified the lack of depth in the offence of Philadelphia, who was once tipped as
favourites for the World Series.
Oswalt pitched seven-plus innings and allowed six runs amid seven hits to see his earned-run average surge to 3.86 for the season.
Roger Bernadina drove in two runs for the Nationals, one each in the third and eighth inning respectively, to allow his team to dominate the game. Ian Desmond scored on both RBIs after having produced an RBI in the third himself.
Michael Morse smashed a three-run home-run in the eighth inning to virtually seal the game for Washington. A late John Mayberry Jr. run in the ninth inning was not enough to guide the Phillies back into contention.
Tags: