The Philadelphia Phillies hope to find some leftover offense when they host the Washington Nationals in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
The Phillies produced their highest-scoring game in five years in a 19-4 win against the Nationals on Saturday, a day after Philadelphia lost 2-1 in the series opener.
“Days like (Saturday) where everybody’s swinging the bat well, a lot of smiles in the dugout,” said Philadelphia corner infielder Alec Bohm, who had four hits, including two home runs, and drove in six on Saturday.
The offensive eruption helped turn attention away from Bryce Harper’s career-long homerless drought. The two-time National League MVP went the entire month of June without hitting a home run, as well as the first day of July, running his streak to 30 games and 135 plate appearances without a long ball.
However, Harper was among six Phillies with multi-hit games on Saturday, and the other three starters each had one hit and at least one RBI.
“Everybody swung the bat well,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said.
The Nationals will try to have a short memory of Saturday, when their bid to win four in a row started going downhill beginning with a six-run third inning by Philadelphia.
“We have to forget about this one,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “Come back (Sunday) and go 1-0.”
Washington plans to start right-hander Trevor Williams in the series finale, while the Phillies will counter with left-hander Ranger Suarez.
Williams and Suarez went head-to-head on June 4 in the nation’s capital, and Suarez had the better performance in the 11-3 win by Philadelphia.
Williams allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, while Suarez earned the win after giving up one run and eight hits in seven innings.
Williams (4-4, 4.28 ERA) most recently pitched four innings against the Seattle Mariners last Monday, allowing three runs and eight hits while avoiding the loss in the 8-4 defeat.
Outside of a rain-suspended game on May 13 against the New York Mets, it was the shortest outing of the season for Williams, who is 0-3 with a 5.22 ERA in seven career appearances (five starts) against the Phillies.
Suarez (2-2, 3.18) had one of the best months of June in the majors, posting a 2-0 mark and 1.08 ERA in five starts covering 33 1/3 innings.
That run included three straight no-decisions against three of the top four teams in the NL — the Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers. He combined to hold them to two runs and 12 hits over 19 innings.
Suarez most recently limited the Chicago Cubs to one run and four hits over 7 1/3 innings, earning the win in a 5-1 victory last Tuesday.
Suarez said he focused on mixing his pitches during his most recent performance.
“I don’t want to go into an outing just to throw a bunch of curveballs and very few changeups,” Suarez said through a team interpreter. “I want to mix and match there because I don’t want to become predictable.”
Suarez is 6-0 with a 3.13 ERA in 12 appearances (five starts) against the Nationals.
–Field Level Media
