Small-ball rally, Sánchez’s complete game lift Phillies to fourth straight win

Locked in a tie game with Nationals starter Mackenzie Gore, the Phillies went ahead by keeping in the yard.

Philadelphia used small ball to its advantage in a four-run sixth-inning rally to take a 5-1 win on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park. Left-hander Cristopher Sánchez threw his second complete game of the season as the Phillies clinched a series victory in their four-game weekend set against Washington with their fourth straight win overall. They’ll go for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon.

Tied 1-1, the Phillies (73-50) strung together six hits — five singles — to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Third baseman Alec Bohm, who extended his on-base streak to 34 games with a 1-for-3 performance with a walk, poked a seeing-eye single past the second baseman and into right field to drive in a run from second base and put the Phillies on top.

Nick Castellanos followed with another single after hitting an RBI double in the fourth. That passed the baton to J.T. Realmuto for an RBI single. Edmundo Sosa and Johan Rojas added run-scoring singles of their own as the Phillies went ahead 5-1.

Sánchez was effective and efficient against Washington (55-69), allowing only two hits and walking no batters. He struck out four and threw just 99 pitches in nine innings. His only blemish was an opposite-field home run by Alex Call in the top of the fourth inning. He didn’t allow another hit until the eighth.

The lefty returned to the mound for the ninth having thrown 86 pitches. He cruised through two batters before the shortstop Turner made an error with two outs. Sánchez quickly recovered to force CJ Abrams to fly out to left field to end the game.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Sunday, Aug. 18 vs. Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park
• 1:35 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
• Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680

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