Phillies beat Nationals; second game of doubleheader rained out as wild-card lead remains at a half-game

WASHINGTON — As the Phillies’ bus chugged from the airport to the hotel Thursday night, Miami Marlins outfielder Avisaíl García hit a grand slam to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers.

Suddenly, a five-game losing skid seemed less, well, apocalyptic.

“We were all huddled around a phone on the bus,” Rhys Hoskins said Friday. “That was pretty cool to watch. Big Avisaíl García fan after last night.”

García’s homer enabled the Phillies to maintain the slimmest of leads over the Brewers for the last National League wild card. It also brightened their mood just in time for a four-game series against the Washington Nationals, the perfect elixir to stave off a late-season collapse.

And in the opener of a scheduled split-admission, day-night doubleheader — amid the threat of rain showers that ultimately pushed the nightcap to Saturday — Hoskins smashed a first-inning homer and lefty Bailey Falter tossed six scoreless innings to propel the Phillies to a had-to-have-it 5-1 victory. The Brewers also won Friday night, beating the Marlins, 1-0, to keep the Phillies’ hold over the final wild-card spot at a half-game.

» READ MORE: What if the unthinkable happens and the Phillies don’t make the playoffs?

“I think everybody got to take a little bit of a deep breath,” Hoskins said. “[Getting swept in] Chicago was not good, plain and simple. But we know that we’re still in it, we still have a chance. As long as we just continue on focusing on what we have in front of us.”

There’s no better time, then, to face the 102-loss Nationals. All season, they have been the Phillies’ punching bag.

Now, they may turn out to be a life preserver.

After the Phillies’ ninth consecutive victory over their once-mighty rival — and their 14th in 16 games — they waited to see what happened with the Brewers, who faced Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara on Friday night.

The Phillies and Nationals are scheduled to play three games in the next two days. But the forecast is ominous. Unless the teams are able to dodge the downpours, they may need to reconvene here Thursday to finish out the season if the games prove to be determinative.

It isn’t ideal.

And given how badly the Phillies have beaten up the Nationals — and how much they’ve struggled against good teams (the final series of the season is against the American League-leading Houston Astros) — they need every possible chance to stack up wins in Washington.

It may be, then, that the Phillies’ most formidable foe this weekend will be the weather, not the Nationals.

“I’ve heard different stories — it’s going to be light; it’s going to be heavy,” interim manager Rob Thomson said before Friday night’s rainout. “I’ve heard everything. They’re going to try to get them in.”

So, Hoskins’ 30th homer of the season loomed large. The solo shot against Nationals starter Erick Fedde provided a rare lead and kept up the positive vibes that may have began nearly 800 miles away with García’s swing.

» READ MORE: Zack Wheeler’s ‘good rest’ appears to be a shrewd gamble by the Phillies

“It was nice to score a run in the first inning and get ahead,” Thomson said. “It got our energy going a little bit more. We had good energy, but it just kind of pumped everybody up a little bit. It was good.”

The Nationals offered plenty of help, too. They got caught stealing twice in the third inning, with J.T. Realmuto cutting down Victor Robles and Lane Thomas. Rookie shortstop CJ Abrams sailed a throw to first base to open the sixth inning before reliever Jordan Weems balked home a run two batters later to make it 3-0.

Just what the Phillies needed after a rough week in Chicago.

» READ MORE: Are the Phillies really going to blow it?

“It wore on us,” Hoskins said. “Look, we’re competitive. We care. We care probably too much at times. But in this game, you can’t dwell on it for too long. We’re, I guess, a game up now. If we continue to win games, we’re going to be where we want to be.

“All we can do is focus on what we have going on in Washington.”

And to hope the weekend weather cooperates.

When the Phillies added Falter to the starting rotation last month, they asked him mostly to go five or six innings and get through a lineup at least twice.

Once again, he outpaced expectations.

Falter held the Nationals to three hits and two walks to leave his ERA at 3.07 in his last eight starts. More importantly, the Phillies are 6-2 in those games, with three of those victories coming after a loss. Falter helped them snap three-game skids on Aug. 20 and Aug. 31.

» READ MORE: The Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto is dominating the bases unlike any other player in baseball

“I mean, that’s awesome,” Falter said. “Especially after my poor performance last outing, it felt really good to go out there and give the team a chance to win.”

Said Thomson: “You couldn’t ask for more than that. I thought he threw the ball well. He commanded the strike zone, secondary pitches were good. It was really good.”

Rookie shortstop Bryson Stott made three nice plays on grounders up the middle, including with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Stott ranged behind second base to snag César Hernández’s roller and made a strong throw to bail Seranthony Domínguez out of a jam.

“We needed that one,” Thomson said.

While Domínguez wasn’t sharp in a 36-pitch outing, José Alvarado tossed a scoreless eighth inning to continue his dominance. Alvarado hasn’t allowed a run in 12⅓ innings. He has struck out 20 of the last 40 batters and given up two hits, both singles.