W - Blanton (10-7), L - Hernandez (8-11)
The Phillies were again stifled on offense early, but were saved by a solid pitching effort. Joe Blanton pitched his way through six innings of trouble without allowing a run. And the Phils scratched out a couple of runs against Livan Hernandez, one on a steal of home by Chase Utley. Finally in the seventh, they broke through as Jayson Werth crushed a grand slam. The Phillies kept the Nationals off the board until the ninth and nearly tossed up their third consecutive shut out in a 6-1 decision.
Joe Blanton clearly did not have his best stuff all night. He struggled with command and walked four batters. However, he made the pitches he needed to every inning to get out of jams and was aided by some poor base running by Washington. This led to a high pitch count and a relatively short outing for Blanton, who only went six innings. On the night, he also allowed five hits and struck out seven. The bullpen was strong but was dealt a serious blow as Chan Ho Park went down with an apparent leg injury.
The Phillies again could not do much against Livan Hernandez. After allowing a quick run in the first, Hernandez settled in and kept the Phils from adding on to their lead. He went six innings, allowing two earned on seven hits and two walks. Hernandez also struck out four Phillies on the evening. The Nationals' bullpen came on and allowed the grand slam to Werth, his second of the year. From there, the game was busted wide open and gave the Phillies a comfortable cushion.
The Phillies nearly shut out their opponent for the third straight game and did not allowed a run for 26 consecutive innings. In the process, they lowered their magic number to 11. With the win, the Phils are now 24 games over .500 at 84-60 and have overtaken the Cardinals for the second-best record in the National League, and are 4.5 games behind the Dodgers for the best mark. Currently, they are in line to face the winner of the NL wild card in the first round of the playoffs.
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