OOTP 5/30: Nationals 6, Phillies 5

With the team riding yet another win streak, the Phillies sent Cole Irvin to the mound to try and keep the line moving. He fared well.

The bullpen?

Welllllllllllll......

The offense actually fared rather well early on. Facing Stephen Strasburg, the team grabbed an early lead thanks to a solo home run from Adam Haseley to lead off the bottom of the second inning. Haseley, who has largely wrestled the every day center fielder’s job away from Roman Quinn, took a misplaced changeup and launched the pitch down the left field line for his 8th home run of the year. In the bottom of the third, Strasburg got Bryce Harper to ground out before having to leave the game with an undisclosed injury. Sterling Sharp took over and promptly gave up J.T. Realmuto’s 13th home run of the year, pushing the score to 2-0. Harper stretched that lead in the fourth with a bases loaded walk that score Irvin and the score stood at 3-0.

Irvin, for his part, made that score stand into the fifth before giving up back-to-back doubles to Michael Taylor and reliever Fernando Abad, which put Washington’s first run on the board. The Phillies would get it back in the sixth on an RBI double from Harper, making it 4-1. Irvin just kept rolling right along, lasting into the eighth before the trouble started.

He struck out Adam Eaton to start the inning, but a single, a walk and a double ended his night with the Phillies still on top, 4-3. Adam Morgan came in and allowed the tying run to score before quelching the fire and sending it to the bottom of the eighth.

Pinch hitter extraordinaire Neil Walker hit a solo home run that put the Phillies ahead 5-4 before Hector Neris was brought on in the ninth to lock things down. Usually, you’d feel safe but not tonight.

A double, single and a walk ended Neris’s night quickly, bringing on Ranger Suarez in relief. Suarez gave up an RBI single to Trea Turner that loaded the bases again. Carter Kieboom lofted a sacrifice fly that gave the Nationals the lead, but they couldn’t get that extra insurance run across. Turns out they didn’t need it as Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle easily put the Phillies rally down in the ninth and ended Philadelphia’s winning streak at five.

The rubber match tomorrow will see Patrick Corbin face off against Jake Arrieta before the Phillies head south to face the rest of the NL East.