Ryan Zimmerman punched the Phillies’ gut with a walk-off grand slam Friday night, but in typical Phillies fashion, they bounced back and took down the Nationals on, what I guess you could call ‘the road.’
It took until the fourth inning for a team to tally a run tonight’s game at Nationals Park, when Wilson Valdez sliced a two-run triple to right field, scoring John Mayberry Jr. and Carlos Ruiz. The scoring on that play was a bit favorable to Valdez, being that Jayson Werth played a game of hop scotch out in the right-outfield corner, allowing Valdez to score.
The Phillies tacked on three more runs en route to a 5-0 victory.
Hunter Pence homered in the sixth and Jimmy Rollins laced a two-run single in the same inning. Carlos Ruiz collected two hits and Mayberry Jr. hit two singles and walked once. Mayberry Jr. also threw a rope to Ruiz in the fourth and Zimmerman was caught with his pants down to keep Washington off the board.
Friday’s rain storm washed away Oswalt’s start allowed Kyle Kendrick to pitch six innings. The extra night of rest must have worked for Oswalt, who pitch eight scorless innings (115 pitches) and struck out nine batters.
Michael Stutes came into the game in the ninth and faced the minimum (Struck Werth out), giving the Phillies their 81st win.
Philadelphia played a home game tonight in Washington. ‘Lets go Phillies’ chants reverberated through the stadium and Phillies hats littered the seats. It’s unusual to see Nationals Park filled. Washington owner, Ted Lerner can thank Citizens Bank park and the city of Philadelphia for their gratuitous loan some other time.
44,685 people showed up for tonight’s game, breaking the franchise record for attendance. Expect a bit of the same for tomorrow.
The Phillies and Nationals will be back at it again tomorrow afternoon at 1:35 p.m. Roy Halladay will toe the rubber for Philadelphia and Chien Ming Wang will start for Washington if the rain storms show mercy.
3B: Valdez (3). HR: Pence (15).
WP: Oswalt (6-7). LP: Lannan (8-9).
TTB 