Washington Nationals Beat Phillies 8-1 For 7th Straight Win

Bryce Harper homers in his third straight game as the Nats beat the Phillies, 7-1 for their seventh straight win

Tonight, at Citizens Bank Park, the Washington Nationals (9-1) extended their win streak to seven games as they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies (5-7) by a final score of 8-1. In this game, Bryce Harper homered for the third straight game and Max Scherzer threw seven strong innings to get his second straight win.

Just like last night, the Nats got the scoring started in the top of the first. After a Michael Taylor walk and a Anthony Rendon single, Harper hit a fly ball to left that was caught by Darin Ruf. But, Taylor tagged up and Ruf dropped the ball as he made the throw home, which allowed Rendon to go to second.

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After the Harper sacrifice fly, Ryan Zimmerman drove in Rendon with a base hit to center. With the score 2-0, Daniel Murphy hit a triple down the right field line to give the Nats a 3-0 lead. With tonight’s first inning, the Nats have scored eight first inning runs over the last two days.

Three innings later, the Nats mounted a two-out rally when Wilson Ramos doubled to left. Aaron Nola would walk Danny Espinosa intentionally to get to Scherzer, but the Nats’ ace made him pay with a two-run double off the wall in right.

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In the top of the fifth, after a Rendon leadoff walk, Harper crushed a 1-0 fastball by Nola to right field for a two-run homer. His fifth of the season put the Nationals in front, 7-0.

As for Nola, the Phillies’ right-hander went five innings, gave up seven runs on seven hits, struck out six, and walked three on 80 pitches (49 strikes) in the loss.

Those would be all the runs that the Nationals would need for Scherzer. The right-hander went seven innings, gave up one run on five hits, struck out seven, and walked one on 108 pitches (72 strikes) in the win. The only mistake the Nats’ ace made was in the bottom of the fifth when he gave up a solo home run to Cameron Rupp, his first of the season.

In the top of the ninth, the bench got involved in the scoring for the Nats when Chris Heisey hit a solo home run to right center, his first home run in a Nationals’ uniform.

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After Scherzer, Matt Belisle threw a scoreless eighth inning giving up only one hit (a double to Odubel Herrera) and Shawn Kelley threw a scoreless inning in the ninth, striking out the side and giving up only a one out single to Freddy Galvis.

Next Game: The Nationals will go for the sweep and their eighth straight win tomorrow afternoon against the Phillies. You can catch the game at 1:35 PM ET on MASN and WUSA-9. Gio Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will take the ball for the Nats against Charlie Morton (1-1, 5.23) for the Phillies.