Phillies snap losing streak, escape the NL East basement with a 4-2 win over the Washington Nationals
J.T. Realmuto hit his first homer since April as the bullpen shut down the Nationals' offense.
WASHINGTON — For much of this season, it’s felt like the Phillies aren’t in sync. When their pitching shines, their offense struggles. When their offense shines, their pitching struggles. And of course, there’s always a possibility that their defense will cost them.
After a five-game losing streak, one that dropped them into a tie with the Nats for last place in the NL East, they certainly needed a win. But Saturday’s 4-2 victory was a clean win. The Phillies (26-32) didn’t commit any errors. They got contributions throughout the lineup. Seven of their nine starters got at least one hit, including two who needed one.
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Josh Harrison entered Saturday’s game batting .186 through 59 at-bats. He hasn’t gotten much playing time this season, but he’s always liked Nationals Park and proved it by going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Trea Turner, who is getting consistent playing time but hasn’t found consistency at the plate, went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI double that gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the third.
The bullpen held it down, even after facing some adversity. Matt Strahm opened the game and gave the Phillies two scoreless innings, striking out one and sending down six Nationals in order. Andrew Vasquez pitched a scoreless inning after Strahm, allowing one hit and one walk with one strikeout.
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Dylan Covey, who was moved to the bullpen after his disastrous start on May 28 in Atlanta, found himself in trouble yet again. By the end of his two innings, the Phillies’ lead was gone after he allowed two runs — on a single by Keibert Ruiz and double play by CJ Abrams in the fourth — on four hits.
But the bullpen didn’t allow a run after that. Yunior Marte entered for Covey in the sixth and allowed just one walk. Gregory Soto followed Marte and allowed just one hit in the seventh, and Seranthony Domínguez relieved Soto in the eighth and did the same.
Craig Kimbrel induced a flyout, hit a batter, induced a forceout, and struck out Abrams to end the game.
“The biggest thing was that everyone came in and threw strikes,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “It felt like we got a lot of first-pitch outs. A lot of 0-1 counts, a lot of 0-2 counts. Guys just came in and pounded the strike zone. Even the inning when they scored runs, it was early contact; it was pretty weak contact for the most part. Guys just trusted their stuff and attacked the zone.”
Marte in particular has looked impressive lately. After making the Phillies’ opening day roster, expectations were high for the hard-throwing righty. But he struggled with his command, allowing 10 runs and six walks in five innings from his first outing on April 1 to May 2, his last outing before he was optioned to triple-A.
Manager Rob Thomson sent him to the minors with a message.
“If you throw strikes, you’re going to get hitters out,” he said. “Because it’s a 98 mph, bowling-ball sinker, and it’s a really good slider. You’ve just got to be able to get it in the zone.”
Since Marte was called back up on May 20, he has done that. He’s allowed two walks and no runs over his last seven outings.
“He’s got really good stuff,” Realmuto said of Marte. “I think we all saw it during spring training. For him I think it’s just confidence. Trusting his stuff and getting ahead of hitters. It’s not easy — he’s got 98 with a plus slider and not a lot of guys in the game have that.
“So when he’s attacking the zone and getting ahead of guys and keeping them on the defensive and being able to expand later in the count, that’s when he’s really good. The only time he gets in trouble is when he’s behind in the count and has to throw the ball on the big parts of the plate.”
Their offense bounced back, too. Realmuto, who has been slumping lately, went 2-for-4 with a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth inning. It was his first home run since April 30, and his first multi-hit game since May 17.
He said he had been working in the cage with hitting coach Kevin Long before the game. They focused on cleaning up his bat path, and getting his timing right. That work seemed to paid off.
“We were working on staying short and staying tight to the ball,” Realmuto said. “I’ve been fouling off a lot of good pitches to hit and popping them up because I’ve been losing my barrel a little bit earlier and not staying on top of the ball. For me, it works better when I’m thinking direct and think on top of the ball, and that keeps my barrel up. Because I’m more of a line-drive hitter, so when I lose my barrel, it goes up instead of line drives.”
The Phillies need to build some positive momentum, and perhaps this is the way. By playing clean baseball. By going back to basics. Saturday’s win was not as exciting as a walk-off. But more often than not, those wins get the job done.
“I thought it was a well played game by us all around,” Thomson said. “I thought we pitched well, played defense, and we swung the bats pretty good. [Kyle] Schwarber hit the ball hard. J.T. had a nice day. [Bryce] Harper had a good day. It was good.”