Entering Monday, the Washington Nationals seemed to be facing a tough week, with five games, including a Tuesday doubleheader, with Philadelphia, then a weekend series with AL wild-card contender Cleveland to close out the regular season.
So here we are, four down, four to go, with another Nats win over the Phillies.
Washington (89-69) rallied with two runs in the seventh, then added two insurance runs in the eighth, in a 5-2 win Wednesday night.
Anibal Sanchez (11-8, 3.85 ERA) struck out seven in seven innings of work, allowing two runs on six hits.
The suddenly lights-out relief corps did its job again, posting two scoreless innings, with Sean Doolittle recording his first save since Aug. 16, striking out the side in the ninth.
The Nats ‘pen has allowed two runs in 13 innings through four games in this series, for a 1.38 ERA.
Washington still has the worst bullpen ERA in MLB, at 5.77, but that’s down from 5.83 entering the week.
Howie Kendrick (17) and Brian Dozier (20) each hit solo homers for the Nationals Wednesday night.
Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner each got the night off, as the Nats are starting to think toward the Tuesday, Oct. 1, NL wild-card game, against either Milwaukee or St. Louis.
The NL Central race has tightened a bit this week, as the Brewers (88-70) continue to win, and St. Louis (90-69) lost the final two games of its series at Arizona, leaving the Cardinals a game and a half up as the final weekend of the 2019 regular season approaches.
The Nats and Phillies (79-79) conclude their five-game series on Thursday at 4:05 p.m. Stephen Strasburg (17-6, 3.37 ERA) takes the mound for Washington against Philly starter Jason Vargas (7-8, 4.40 ERA).
Of note with Strasburg is that he would seem to be in line to get the start in the Oct. 1 wild-card game if Nats manager Davey Martinez were to keep his rotation on its regular rest.
Patrick Corbin (14-7, 3.05 ERA) is slated to get the start on Saturday against Cleveland, and Max Scherzer (11-7, 2.92 ERA) is scheduled for the Sunday regular-season finale.
Story by Chris Graham
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