Phillies pounce on Nationals’ mistakes in series-opening 10-1 rout

WASHINGTON — If you’re feeling a surge of optimism over the Phillies’ chances of finally returning to the playoffs, it’s probably because they’ve reeled off 11 wins in 13 games since firing the manager. Or maybe it’s because they’re averaging 6.4 runs per game in June.

But here’s one more reason to buy Phillies stock: Nearly 20% of their remaining games are against the Washington Nationals.

A revised schedule after the owners’ lockout forced the Phillies to wait 64 games to get a look at what has become of their division rival, and well, they feasted. They scored seven — yes, seven — unearned runs in the third inning Thursday night, and backed by two homers from Babe, uh, Kyle Schwarber and seven easy-breezy innings from Zack Wheeler, they laughed to a 10-1 victory.

“That’s what good teams will do, jumping on mistakes,” Schwarber said. “Especially when you get to the latter part of the year, where it’s crunch time or you’re in the postseason, you have to be able to jump on mistakes. We did it tonight. We put up seven, all with two out. It was really cool to see.”

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Was it really only three seasons ago that the Nationals won the World Series? They will honor Ryan Zimmerman this weekend, and while it figures to be a fitting tribute to a franchise icon, it also will be the latest reminder of how far the mighty have fallen.

The Nationals are 23-43, the worst record in the National League, and on pace for 105 losses. They’re 5-21 against NL East teams. The New York Mets are 8-2 against them; the Atlanta Braves are 4-2; the Miami Marlins are 8-1.

Eighteen of the Phillies’ final 98 games will be against Washington.

Try not to drool.

“They’re struggling a little bit, so we’ve got to take advantage of them and win some ballgames while we’re here,” said Wheeler, who gave up four hits, struck out three, and got 10 groundouts in seven walk-free innings. “The Braves just came in and did the same thing. That’s something that we know in here.”

Credit the Phillies for capitalizing on the Nationals’ mistakes, but man, do the Nationals make a lot of them. César Hernández, a fixture during the Phillies’ rebuilding years and now part of the Nationals’, made a big one, booting No. 9-hitting Yairo Muñoz’s two-out grounder in the third inning.

Instead of being back in the dugout, Nationals starter Patrick Corbin had to face the top of the Phillies’ order. He gave up a two-run homer to Schwarber, a double to Rhys Hoskins, and a walk to Bryce Harper, who went from first to third on Nick Castellanos’ RBI single to left field. J.T. Realmuto followed with an RBI infield single before a two-run double by Didi Gregorius.

And with that, the rout was on.

The Phillies sent 12 batters to the plate, scored seven runs, and made Corbin throw 46 pitches in the fateful third inning. There wasn’t any coming back from that, especially against Wheeler.

With four games in the next three days, including a day-night doubleheader Friday, the Nationals turned to infielder Ehire Adrianza to throw 60 mph sliders in the ninth inning. The Phillies, meanwhile, emptied the bench like it was spring training, giving Hoskins, Castellanos, and Gregorius a couple of innings off.

It isn’t a stretch to say that Schwarber was positioned to land a four-year, $79 million contract in free agency because of what he did last June for the Nationals.

Schwarber was plodding along then, batting .218 with nine homers and a .716 on-base plus slugging last June 11 when manager Dave Martinez elevated him to the leadoff spot for a doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants. Schwarber homered in the first game, the start of a 24-for-73, 16-homer tear in 19 games over the rest of the month.

With the Phillies, Schwarber’s season is following a similar trajectory, including the stellar June.

When the month began, he was hitting .185 with a .721 OPS. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and two homers in the opener against the Nationals, his second trip back to Washington since getting traded last July. Over the last 14 games, he’s 16-for-53 (.302) with seven homers and a .422 on-base percentage.

Call him Mr. June?

“I guess, right?” said Schwarber, tied with the Braves’ Austin Riley and the Mets’ Pete Alonso for the NL lead with 18 homers. “It’s just work. I’m not foreign to starting slow or anything like that. Just got to keep working, got to keep coming up with the consistent work in the cage and trust yourself coming in and being the same guy, and things will happen.”

Perhaps the most notable part of the offensive outburst were two hits from struggling Nick Castellanos. He lined a single to left field to drive in a run in the big third inning, then stroked an RBI double to the gap in left-center in the fourth.

“I bet a dollar that you’re not going to see what you saw for the majority of the year,” Schwarber said of Castellanos, who is batting .258 with a .724 OPS and only 21 extra-base hits, including seven homers. ”Don’t get me wrong: Hitters go through slumps. It just happens. But the way that he works and the way that all of our guys work, we’ll all come out on the other side of it.”

The blowout also provided a soft landing for reliever Michael Kelly to make his major-league debut. He tossed a scoreless eighth inning, allowing one walk.

Muñoz notched his first Phillies hit, a homer in the eighth inning.