Howard homers, but Phils fall to Nats
The Phillies’ offense has been in a bit of a slide over the past couple games, and that continued tonight. Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff shook off a rough first inning to deliver a solid start, but it wasn’t enough as the Phillies (60-72) would end up falling to the Nationals (77-55) by a final of 3-2. Nationals starter Max Scherzer was nothing short of excellent for a large part of tonight’s game. Ryan Howard provided the only offense for the Phillies tonight as his two-run homer in the 7th were all the runs the Phillies could muster against Max Scherzer tonight.
The Nationals jumped out to an early lead in the top of the 1st inning as Bryce Harper doubled home Daniel Murphy to make it 1-0 Nationals early on. Wilson Ramos singled home Harper later in the inning to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead after the 1st inning. Scherzer helped himself out while at the plate with a suicide squeeze in the 4th inning that pushed the Nationals’ lead to 3. Howard’s homer in the bottom of the 7th cut the Nationals’ lead to 3-2, but neither team would go on to score in the rest of the game. Howard’s homer was his 20th of the season, and Howard has now homered 20 times in a season for the 10th time in his big league career. Nationals rookie Trea Turner continues to hit the ball well as he turned in a 2 for 4 performance at the plate, stretching his average to .344 on the year.
Phillies starter Eickhoff worked through a shaky first inning to finish with 6 solid innings. Eickhoff would suffer the loss, however, as he allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in his 6 innings of work. With the loss tonight, Eickhoff falls to 9-13 on the season with a 3.90 ERA. Scherzer flirted with history again tonight as he took a no-hitter into the 6th inning until Freddy Galvis spoiled it with a double. Scherzer still turned out 8 outstanding innings, and he picked up his 15th win of the season in the process. Scherzer allowed just 2 runs, both coming off the two-run home run by Howard, on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 11 in 8 innings. Scherzer improves to 15-7 0n the year with a 2.89 ERA after tonight’s victory. Nationals closer Mark Melancon picked up his 37th save of the season with a shutout 9th inning of relief.
The Phillies will look to avoid being swept by the Nationals tomorrow night at Citizens Bank Park. Phillies starter Adam Morgan (1-8, 6.50 ERA) will take the mound against Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez (9-9, 4.25 ERA) in the series finale. Morgan and the Phillies will look to get out their recent funk and avoid the sweep when they face off against Harper and the Nationals tomorrow night at 7:05.
Photo: East Fallowfield (Flickr.com)
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Categorized:Phillies