Coming into tonight’s game, Washington Nationals‘ fans were hoping for a strong performance from Jordan Zimmermann (13-9, 3.68) in what could be his last home game in a Nats uniform. Instead, the Phillies were able to put up six runs against him for the second time this season. Four of those runs came on a rare inside-the-park grand slam by Aaron Altherr in the third inning. Altherr ended up hitting two of Philadelphia’€™s four home runs as they defeated the Nationals 8-2 to hand Washington their fourth straight loss. With the loss and the Mets up 12-0 against the Reds, the Nats’ tragic number could be down to one by the time they hit the field tomorrow afternoon.
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The Nats did get on the board first against Phillies’€™ rookie starter, Jerad Eickhoff (2-3, 3.07). Anthony Rendon led off the inning with a double to left. After Eickhoff struck out Yunel Escobar and Bryce Harper swinging (Harper struck out three times tonight), Jayson Werth hit a single to left field that scored Rendon and gave Washington a 1-0 lead.
Then, Zimmermann ran into some trouble in the third. The first three Phillies reached base in the inning as Brian Bogusevic drew a walk, Cameron Rupp singled to center, and Eickhoff laid down a bunt, but Zimmermann could not throw out Bogusevic at third.
After a line out to center by Freddy Galvis, Altherr hit a ball to center field that Michael Taylor dove for, but he missed it and the ball kept rolling further into the outfield. All four runs would score on the grand slam to give Philadelphia a 4-1 lead. It was the first inside-the-park grand slam hit in the big leagues since 1999.
The Phillies would tack on two more runs against Zimmermann in the fifth. With one out, Altherr hit a solo shot over the wall in left field for his fifth home run of the season and his second of the game. Two batters later, Darin Ruf hit a solo shot of his own to left center. His tenth home run of the season increased the Phillies’€™ lead to 6-1. As for Zimmermann, he went five innings, gave up six runs on six hits, struck out six, and walked two on 79 pitches (57 strikes) in the loss.
While Werth tacked on his second RBI of the game when he hit a solo shot to left in the bottom of the sixth for his 12th home run of the season, the Nats offense struggled most of the night against Eickoff. He went seven innings, gave up two runs on five hits, struck out a career-high ten batters, and walked one in the win.
Sammy Solis shut out the Phillies during the sixth and seventh inning, but Philadelphia scored two more runs in the eighth against Rafael Martin. After a leadoff double by Ruf, Cody Asche hit a two-run shot to center field to give the Phillies a 8-2 lead. It was Asche’€™s 12th home run of the season.
Next Game: The Washington Nationals (78-75) will play the second game of their three game series against the Philadelphia Phillies (58-96) tomorrow afternoon at Nats Park. You can catch the game on MASN2 at 4:05 PM ET. Stephen Strasburg (10-7, 3.81) gets the start for the Nats against Aaron Nola (6-2, 3.84) for the Phillies.
Next: Nationals Vs. Phillies Series Preview (9/25-9/27)