Categories: Phillies Nation Perfect Season

Phillies Nation Perfect Season: Utley’s game-saving play ends six-game skid

Every day until Opening Day arrives, Phillies Nation will take a daily look back at a regular season victory from that particular day in history that you can watch in full in lieu of live Phillies baseball. Think of it is as your daily Phillies watch recommendation.

Chase Utley’s game-saving dive led to Phillies to victory against the Nationals on April 18, 2015. (Matthew Straubmuller)

The 2015 Phillies were in the midst of a six-game losing streak as they tried to earn their third victory of the season against the Washington Nationals. Aaron Harang, who came into the game allowing only one earned run in over 12 innings of work, threw six strong against a powerful Nats lineup.

The Phillies took the lead in the seventh thanks to Ben Revere’s hustle on the basepaths but almost gave it back in the bottom half. With two on and two out, Luis Garcia surrendered a sharp ground ball to second off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman. Utley moved a few steps over to his right, dove for the ball and returned to his feet to throw Zimmerman out at first easily to preserve the one-run lead.

Phillies Lineup

Odubel Herrera, center field
Freddy Galvis, shortstop
Chase Utley, second base
Jeff Francoeur, right field
Cody Asche, third base
Darin Ruf, left field
Ryan Howard, first base
Cameron Rupp, catcher
Aaron Harang, pitcher

Nationals Lineup

Michael A. Taylor, center field
Ian Desmond, shortstop
Bryce Harper, right field
Ryan Zimmerman, first base
Clint Robinson, left field
Dan Uggla, second base
Danny Espinosa, third base
José Lobatón, catcher
Jordan Zimmermann, pitcher

You can watch the full game down below or by using this link.

You can also watch it on your Smart TV or streaming device with the YouTube app. Just put in “PHI AT WAS – April 18, 2015” into the search bar and click on the video.