A pair of National League East opponents take the field for the final game of their series in the City of Brotherly Love searching for a win. The Washington Nationals are on the road as they play the finale of a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies Sunday afternoon. In the opening game of the series Friday night, it was Philadelphia picking up a 5-3 victory to draw first blood in the series. Will the Nationals find a way to come up with a victory here on getaway day or will the Phillies find a way to tighten their hold on a playoff berth? This article was published prior to the conclusion of the middle game of the series at Citizens Bank Park Saturday evening.
Washington lost for the third time in four games after a stretch of five wins in six games as they were knocked off in the opening game of this series. The Nationals entered Saturday last in the NL East, 38.5 games behind the Braves for the division lead. They have been eliminated from playoff contention. On Friday night, Alex Call (run, RBI) had three hits while Lane Thomas (run, RBI) added a pair in the contest. Call hit his third homer of the season in the loss for Washington. Patrick Corbin (6-18) took the loss on the mound as he allowed five runs on 12 hits with no walks and two strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work.
Anibal Sanchez is on the mound for the Nationals in the series finale here as he makes his 11th start of the season. He comes in 2-5 with a 4.56 ERA, a 1.266 WHIP, 23 walks and 35 strikeouts over 51.1 innings of work this year. Sanchez earned the win in his last start, whi ch came Monday on the road against the Cardinals. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing two hits with two walks and three strikeouts in a 6-0 Nationals victory. In his last three starts, Sanchez is 2-0 with a 0.55 ERA, a 0.86 WHIP, seven walks and nine strikeouts over 16.1 innings of work. Sanchez makes his 28th career start against the Phillies in this contest. He is 7-11 with a 4.39 ERA, a 1.476 WHIP, 71 walks and 128 strikeouts over 145.2 innings of work against them. Sanchez is 2-8 with a 5.25 ERA, a 1.607 WHIP, 45 walks and 66 strikeouts over 84 innings in 16 career starts at Citizens Bank Park.