Craig Kimbrel recorded his eighth save of the season today. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)
Final Score: Phillies 4, Nationals 2
Bullpen games are never ideal — especially when a team is coming off a game where their starting pitcher only lasted 3 2/3 innings. But that’s the exact situation the Phillies found themselves in this afternoon, and despite being in a tough spot, the bullpen showed up in a big way to help Philadelphia beat the Nationals.
Matt Strahm, Andrew Vasquez, Dylan Covey, Yunior Marte, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Domínguez and Craig Kimbrel all pitched for the Phillies today, and outside of a two-run inning by Washington in the fourth, they looked sharp as the club’s bullpen continues to be a strength.
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The Phillies opened up the scoring this afternoon in the second inning. J.T. Realmuto doubled to left field with one out, and two hitters later, Josh Harrison — who was in the lineup for Bryson Stott at second base — singled to left with two outs to bring Realmuto home.
Philadelphia added onto their lead an inning later. With two outs in the top of the third and runners on first and second, Trea Turner stepped up to the dish and delivered an RBI double to put the Phillies up 2-0.
The Nationals scored a pair of runs in the home half of the fourth inning. With Covey pitching, Washington strung together three consecutive one-out singles to score their first run of the game. Then, C.J. Abrams grounded a ball to first baseman Drew Ellis with runners on the corners. Ellis tagged first base and Keibert Ruiz stopped in his tracks between first and second as Dominic Smith scored to even the game at two runs apiece. Ruiz was then tagged out to end the inning.
An inning-and-a-half later, the Phillies recaptured the lead as Realmuto led off the sixth inning with a home run — his first since April 30:
After Marte and Soto pitched scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh, Bryce Harper led off the eighth inning with a double. Harper’s double was followed by a Turner walk to put two runners on base with nobody out. Realmuto was up next and he grounded into a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners with one out for Brandon Marsh — who flied a ball to deep center field for a sacrifice fly to extend the Phillies lead to 4-2.
The score remained at 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth and it was Kimbrel’s turn out of the bullpen. The veteran right-hander fired a scoreless inning to pickup the save and the first Phillies win in a week.
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