For the second consecutive evening, the Philadelphia Phillies‘ offense jumped on a leaky Washington Nationals bullpen, leading to a 5-4 victory at Nationals Park on Wednesday night.
Once again, the Phillies were down to their final strike before starting their rally. Kyle Schwarber, sitting out a second game in a row due to a back injury, gutted out a pinch-hit, 10-pitch walk with two outs in the ninth inning to bring the go-ahead run to the dish.
Derek Hill, also a pinch-hitter, fouled off consecutive pitches before launching a 382-foot home run over the dark green right-centerfield wall to give the Phillies a late 5-4 lead. Jhoan Duran was forced to endure a walk to the mound without a light show, but he still secured his 19th save of the season after three consecutive strikeouts.
Similar to last night’s ballgame, Washington jumped out to an early lead. Luis García Jr. swatted a first-inning home run to centerfield off of Aaron Nola to give Washington an early 1-0 lead. Jorbit Vivas doubled that lead to 2-0 with a solo shot in the second. Those would be the majority of the hits the Phillies veteran allowed on the evening. Nola was removed after five innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits and two walks, striking out five batters.
The Phillies’ offense roared to life in the fourth inning behind a leadoff single from Brandon Marsh, a Bryson Stott RBI double, a J.T. Realmuto sacrifice fly and a Gabireal Rincones Jr. single to centerfield to take a 3-2 advantage. Marsh continued his push for a starting spot in the outfield of the 2026 MLB All-Star Game after a 3-for-4 effort at the plate in the victory.
Interim manager Don Mattingly turned to the bullpen in the sixth inning. Kyle Backus retired two of the three hitters he faced before being replaced by Jonathan Bowlan. That turned out to be an ill-fated choice after Bowlan allowed a 394-foot home run to pinch-hitter Curtis Mead, swinging the ballgame back in Washington’s favor at 4-3.
The contest stayed that way until the aforementioned ninth inning, when the Nationals bullpen blew its 23rd save opportunity of the season in the final frame. Schwarber’s two-out walk set the stage for Hill’s heroic game-winning swat. Then, Duran successfully landed the knockout punch on Washington’s chin to secure the Phillies’ 44th win of the 2026 campaign.
Philadelphia and Washington are not finished with each other just yet this week. Cristopher Sánchez (9-3, 1.80 ERA) is scheduled to battle Cade Cavalli (4-4, 4.07 ERA) in the series finale at Nationals Park tomorrow night. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:45 PM ET.
Keywords
Phillies,
Phillies recap,
Nationals,
MLB,
baseball,
Derek Hill,
Kyle Schwarber,
Brandon Marsh,
Aaron Nola,
Jhoan Duran