Fedde, wapped: Phillies 8, Nationals 5

Coming into the weekend, one of the concerns about the Phillies was their sudden lack of power throughout the lineup. Yes, Nick Castellanos has been missing, but even so, the big bats have been in a bit of a power drought throughout the lineup. Tonight, facing Eric Fedde, they broke out of that outage in a big way..

Ranger Suarez was on the bump for the Phillies and looked much better than he has the past few games. in the first inning, he was bailed out a bit by his defense when, after Joey Meneses doubled and went to third on a passed ball, Edmundo Sosa threw him out at home on a fielder’s choice. The Phillies came close to scoring in their half of the first inning when they loaded the bases on a double by Kyle Schwarber and walks to Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott, but Jean Segura grounded into a double play to end the threat. Things were a little calmer in the second, but in the third, the fireworks started. Meneses terrorized Suarez again with a two-run shot for the Nationals, but Bryce Harper stepped to the plate in the bottom half and ended a personally long drought of his own, sending a fastball away out to left field and tying the ballgame at two.

In the fourth, it was a little more eventful for the Phillies. A single by Segura and a walk to Nick Maton started the inning, followed by Segura going to third on a fly ball by Garrett Stubbs. The next hitter was Sosa, who hit into what looked to be a double play, but the hustle of Sosa was upheld on a challenge, scoring Segura and giving the Phillies the lead. Brandon Marsh doubled next to drive home Sosa and the lead was doubled.

In the fifth, Maton got in on the action, ripping a two run home run with Harper on and making it 6-2.

Marsh would strike again in the sixth inning, adding a solo shot to the Phillies’ ledger and making the score 7-2.

In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s three home runs on the evening for the Phillies, all three headed to the opposite field. If there’s a way to break out of a power slump, that’s as good as start as any.

The Nationals did get two more in the seventh inning, an Ildemaro Vargas double to score Cesar Hernandez, then a Lane Thomas single to score Vargas and now, it was a save situation. The Phillies would either need a more insurance to make it more comfortable or they would need the bullpen to step up. Schwarber tried to do his part, launching a ball back to New Jersey, making it 8-4.

His National League leading 37th home run meant Connor Brogdon would pitch the ninth in a nonsave situation, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make it interesting. Washington did make it fun by getting two men on with one out, Lane Thomas coming up and delivering an RBI single that made the game a little more uncomfortable for the Phillies. When Brogdon loaded the bases for Nelson Cruz, fingernails were being chewed to a nub all over the region, but Brogdon was able to wiggle out of it thanks to his changeup, striking out Cruz for the final out of the game and another series victory.

Weather may be an issue tomorrow, so winning tonight was big.