Phillies clinch series victory over Nationals
Final Score: Phillies 3, Nationals 0
A Wednesday night pitcher’s duel in South Philly ended in yet another Phillies victory over the Washington Nationals. It’s the Phillies’ third consecutive victory and fifth against the Nationals this season. The team had only five wins against Washington in all of 2019.
Zack Wheeler threw 6 2/3 shutout innings, good for his fifth quality start of the season. Nationals ace Max Scherzer allowed three runs, including a solo shot from Jay Bruce in the sixth in what was an average outing.
Newly acquired reliever David Phelps made his Phillies debut in relief of Wheeler. He pitched a clean 1 1/3 innings. Brandon Workman earned the save for the Phillies.
Top Plays
- One of the hottest hitters in MLB, Trea Turner, worked a six-pitch at-bat against Wheeler with Victor Robles on first. On the sixth pitch, he hit a 105.8-mph ground ball to Jean Segura at second, who made an excellent diving play for the second out. That set up a situation in which the Phillies could intentionally walk Juan Soto and go after Howie Kendrick, who grounded to Neil Walker at first base for the final out of the top of the third.
- Neil Walker came into the game 7-for-32 lifetime against Scherzer. While starting for Rhys Hoskins at first, Walker singled in his first two-bats. The second single brought home Realmuto and Segura and gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the fourth. He ended the night going 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
- Alec Bohm made one of the more impressive plays of his young career at third base. With Luis García up, Bohm played slightly in. He dove for the ball towards second and came up just in time to get the runner out at first. García retrieved back to the dugout and gave Bohm a thumbs up.
- Jay Bruce went the opposite way with his sixth home run of the season in the sixth. It was his third career home run off Scherzer.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
Max Scherzer: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 108 pitches
Mad Max had his best outing of the season his last time out against the Boston Red Sox. He was fairly dominant in some stretches of tonight’s game, but he ran into a hot lineup that made the most of their opportunities. Scherzer expressed frustration in the dugout when manager Dave Martinez informed him that he would not be going back out for the seventh inning.
Zack Wheeler: 6 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 109 pitches
Wheeler has not had a single bad outing in a Phillies uniform. He followed up Nola’s excellent performance with one of his own, throwing 6 2/3 shutout innings. The two aces have combined to throw 14 2/3 shutout innings this week against Washington.
Phillies Nuggets Player of the Game: Zack Wheeler
Wheeler relied heavily on his fastball tonight, which topped out at a whopping 99-mph. Both his slider and curveball generated disgusting whiffs and he still managed to pitch to contact despite having the strikeout stuff working for him. It’s safe to say Wheeler is in top form, which is excellent news for the Phillies.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Thursday, September 3 vs. the Washington Nationals at 4:05 pm
- Citizens Bank Park
- NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Sportsradio 94 WIP
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