Washington Nationals parade to 7-5 win over Philadelphia Phillies – MLB Update
The Washington Nationals recorded a comprehensive 7-5 win against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, September 21 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to gain an unassailable three-game lead in the four-game series.
After having dominated the National League throughout the regular season, the Phillies are showing signs of exhaustion. They have dropped six of their last seven games at home and are now on a season-worst five-game losing streak which, for manager Charlie
Manuel, is a situation of serious concern.
The only thing which Manuel had to say after the game was, "We definitely need to have our team ready and I plan on our team being ready."
With Hunter Pence out with a knee injury, the offensive performance of Philadelphia was much worse than the score-line suggests. Phillies’ top three batters, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco failed to produce a single hit in their combined
13 at-bats, reducing chances for Philadelphia to stage a comeback in this crucial encounter. Commenting on this grave situation, Manuel expressed his concern but at the same time, was hopeful of the batters returning to form.
The Nationals initiated the scoring for the game with Wilson Ramos smashing a two-run homer towards right-field in the second inning. The Phillies made an immediate response in the bottom half to level the score, with John Mayberry Jr. and Raul Ibanez adding
a run each for the National League East champions.
Ibanez then crafted a single down left-field to allow Mayberry Jr. another run and give Philadelphia a one-run lead at the end of third inning.
Coming into the game with a double-header sweep on September 20, the Nationals added five-runs over three innings to replicate their form into this game. Danny Espinosa produced a replica of Ramos’ home-run effort in the sixth inning before scoring again
in the eighth to give the visitors a two-run lead over Phillies. Chris Marrero and Rick Ankiel followed with a run apiece in the eight to extend this lead to four-runs.
Mayberry Jr. smashed a two-run homer in the eight to reduce the deficit to just two runs, but Henry Rodriguez tossed a perfect ninth inning to save his first game for the Nationals.
Vance Worley lost his third game of the season for the Phillies to add to the growing bull-pen concerns after Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee lost their respective starts earlier this week.
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