Phillies’ offense hit a season-high eight doubles to beat Nationals 7-3
They collected 16 hits in total on a night that pitching ace Cristopher Sánchez didn’t look as sharp as usual.
Second base at Citizens Bank Park saw a lot of foot traffic on Thursday evening.
The Phillies hit eight doubles in their 7-3 win over the Nationals, setting a new season-high. They have won their second consecutive series since getting swept by the Marlins last week.
Seven of those doubles came against Washington starter Miles Mikolas, who the Phillies knocked around for six runs on 12 hits. By the end of the third inning, the only Phillies in the starting lineup without a double were Kyle Schwarber and Justin Crawford.
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Even if they didn’t join the double party, they both contributed RBI singles. Crawford drove in J.T. Realmuto in the second inning, while Schwarber scored Bryson Stott in the sixth after snapping an 0-for-20 skid earlier in the game.
The Phillies’ early lead could have been bigger, but both Luis Arraez and Crawford were waved home on aggressive sends from third that backfired, as each were thrown out at the plate.
Starter Cristopher Sánchez didn’t look as sharp as usual. He gave up six hits, including a solo homer to Andrew Pickney for his first major league hit, and walked two. Sánchez allowed baserunners in every inning he pitched except for the first.
He wasn’t missing many bats with his sinker, which only generated one swing-and-miss on 23 swings. But Sánchez still struck out six, five of which came on his changeup.
He escaped a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout and a groundout to end the fifth. But some long at-bats and long innings had driven his pitch count up, and his night ended there at 98 pitches.
It was not an ideal situation for a club that used eight bullpen arms in their extra-innings loss the night before, but the offense had provided enough of a cushion. Orion Kerkering, José Alvarado, Jonathan Bowlan, and Jhoan Duran made back-to-back appearances.
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A run scored on Kerkering in the sixth after he gave up a triple to Jacob Young and a single to Keibert Ruiz. He battled back with consecutive strikeouts to strand runners on the corners.
The Phillies played some solid defense, too. The new-look infield turned a double play to help out Sánchez in the fourth. Over at third base, Stott caught a foul pop-up just before his momentum took him a few steps into the Nationals’ dugout.
In the ninth inning, Bryan De La Cruz entered the game in right field as a defensive substitution for Bryce Harper, and made a sliding grab on a line drive.
No matter what moves the Phillies make before the trade deadline Monday, they will have to fix some of their issues internally. Chief among them: Trea Turner's defense at shortstop. And that's where infield coach Bobby Dickerson comes in. Dickerson sat down with "Phillies Extra," The Inquirer's baseball podcast, to discuss Turner's struggles, the problems with analytics in measuring defense, his unique coaching style, and more. Watch here.
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