Phillies Beat Nationals 7-3 as Washington Drops Series Finale in Philadelphia

By Brian Hradsky | Maryland Sports Blog

The Washington Nationals could not build on Wednesday night’s offensive breakout, falling 7-3 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.

Philadelphia jumped on Washington starter Miles Mikolas early, piled up 16 hits and took three of four games in the series. The loss dropped the Nationals to 56-61, while the Phillies improved to 62-54. citeturn533740view0

MLB Schedule

Nationals

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3

Phillies

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7

Final

Yesterday

Phillies Strike Early

Philadelphia wasted little time putting Washington in a hole.

Luis Arraez and Alec Bohm delivered consecutive RBI doubles in the first inning to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. J.T. Realmuto then scored on a Justin Crawford single in the second, extending the advantage to 3-0. citeturn533740view0

The Phillies broke the game open in the third.

Bryce Harper, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott all doubled as Philadelphia scored three more runs and pushed its lead to 6-1. The barrage was part of a huge night for the Phillies’ offense, which finished with 16 hits and eight doubles. Stott accounted for two of those doubles. citeturn491912news1turn533740view0

Mikolas Struggles Against Phillies Lineup

Mikolas endured a difficult outing against a relentless Philadelphia lineup.

The veteran right-hander surrendered six runs on 12 hits over five innings, falling to 3-9 on the season. Philadelphia consistently put balls in play and created traffic on the bases, preventing Mikolas from settling into any kind of rhythm. citeturn533740view0

The performance came one night after Mikolas made an unusual contribution at the plate. Used as a pinch hitter in the 11th inning Wednesday, he produced an RBI squeeze-bunt single in Washington’s 10-4 victory — his first at-bat since 2021. citeturn533740view0

Thursday was a very different story.

Washington’s pitching staff simply could not contain Philadelphia’s lineup long enough for the Nationals to mount another comeback.

Pinckney Records Memorable First Career Hit

One of the brightest moments of the night for Washington came from Andrew Pinckney.

Pinckney launched a solo home run in the fourth inning for the first major league hit of his career. citeturn533740view0

Getting a first career hit is memorable enough. Doing it with a home run against one of baseball’s better pitchers made the moment even more impressive.

Pinckney’s homer cut into Philadelphia’s lead, but Washington never generated enough sustained offense to seriously threaten the Phillies.

Sánchez Becomes MLB’s First 15-Game Winner

Cristopher Sánchez continued an excellent season for Philadelphia.

The left-hander allowed two runs on six hits over five innings, improving to 15-4 and becoming the first pitcher in Major League Baseball to reach 15 victories this season. It was also Sánchez’s fifth consecutive winning decision. citeturn491912news1turn533740view0

Washington did manage opportunities against Sánchez, but Philadelphia’s early offensive explosion gave him plenty of margin for error.

That proved to be a major difference from Wednesday, when the Nationals scored 10 runs and finally broke through against Phillies pitching.

Nationals Settle for One Win in Philadelphia

Washington finishes the four-game series with just one victory.

Philadelphia won the opener 6-3 before shutting out Washington 5-0 Tuesday. The Nationals answered with an impressive 10-4 victory Wednesday, but Thursday’s 7-3 loss gave the Phillies the series, three games to one. citeturn533740view0

The Nationals have shown flashes of encouraging baseball, but their inconsistency remains evident.

Scoring 10 runs Wednesday demonstrated what this lineup can look like when everything clicks. One night later, Washington fell behind 6-1 and spent the rest of the game trying to recover.

That has been a recurring problem throughout the season.

NL East Picture

The loss left Washington at 56-61, 15 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.

Philadelphia sits second at 62-54, 8½ games behind Atlanta, while Miami occupies third place at 58-58. Washington remains ahead of the New York Mets, who entered Friday at 50-66. citeturn533740view0

At this point, Washington’s remaining schedule is increasingly about evaluating younger players, finding pieces for 2027 and building momentum over the final weeks.

Performances such as Pinckney’s first career homer are therefore particularly important.

MSB Take

Thursday’s game was essentially decided during the first three innings.

Allowing Philadelphia to build a 6-1 lead against Sánchez was always going to put Washington in an extremely difficult position. The Phillies collected doubles seemingly everywhere, Mikolas could not stop the early damage and the Nationals never found the extended rally they needed.

There were still positives.

Pinckney hitting a home run for his first major league hit is exactly the kind of moment Washington wants to see from its young players as the season progresses. The Nationals are trying to determine which players can become part of their next competitive roster, and every opportunity for prospects to establish themselves matters.

But as a team, Washington needed more after Wednesday’s 10-run performance.

Instead, the Nationals leave Philadelphia having lost three of four.

Washington now returns home Friday to begin a series against the Cincinnati Reds, with Cade Cavalli scheduled to start. Cavalli enters at 8-5 with a 3.52 ERA. citeturn533740view0

Final: Phillies 7, Nationals 3

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