Harper, Castellanos lead Phillies to Game 1 win over Nationals
WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper had three hits against his old team, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the skidding Washington Nationals 5-3 Friday in a doubleheader opener for their 13th win in 15 games.
Nick Castellanos drove in two runs and scored another for the Phillies, who improved to 12-2 under interim manager Rob Thomson. Philadelphia’s 10-game winning streak against the Nationals is its longest against the franchise since 10 in a row against 1991 Montreal Expos.
Harper raised his average to .323.
Washington has lost six straight, dropping to an NL-worst 23-44. Josh Bell homered for the Nationals, who have lost nine of 11 overall and nine straight home games to the Phillies.
Playing a makeup of a game postponed by the lockout on a 91-degree afternoon, the Phillies staked starter Ranger Suárez to a 2-0 lead before he threw a pitch thanks to Castellanos’ two-run double off Joan Adon (1-11).
Castellanos was in the middle of Philadelphia’s rally in the third, following Harper’s single by poking a double to right that Juan Soto appeared to misjudge. Odúbel Herrera had a run-scoring groundout and Alec Bohm hit an RBI double to a 4-0 lead.
Castellanos is batting .359 (14 of 39) in his last 11 games and is a .435 hitter (10 of 23) with nine RBIs in six career games at Nationals Park.
Washington managed one run in the first five innings, but Bell’s two-run homer into the right field bullpen in the sixth closed the gap to 5-3. Suárez (5-4) yielded three runs and six hits in 5 ⅔ innings while striking out five.
Brad Hand worked the ninth, escaping a two-on, one-out jam of his own making for his second save.
Adon, summoned as Washington’s 27th man for the doubleheader,
allowed four runs and struck out six in five innings in his first start for the Nationals since June 7. He also extended his major league lead in losses; teammate Patrick Corbin ranks second with nine.
ON THE NUMBER
Former Washington infielder Ryan Zimmerman’s No. 11, which will be retired Saturday, was painted on the field in foul territory along both baselines. Zimmerman was the Nationals’ first draft pick after moving to Washington and played his entire 16-year season career with the franchise.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: LHP Bailey Falter was designated as Philadelphia’s 27th man and was scheduled to start the second game.
Nationals: DH Alcides Escobar (right hamstring strain) went
0 for 4 Thursday as his rehab assignment for Triple-A Rochester continued. He is 1 for 7 with a home run overt two games. … LHP Evan Lee departed in the seventh after walking four of his last five batters. He also threw two wild pitches in that stretch. … Washington recalled RHP Cory Abbott from Rochester and optioned RHP Andres Machado to Rochester. Machado was 0-0 with a 5.48 ERA in 17 games for the Nationals.
Thursday’s game
Kyle Schwarber homered twice, Zack Wheeler won his third consecutive start, and the Phillies routed the Nationals 10-1 in the opener of the five-game series on Thursday night.
Philadelphia, scored seven unearned runs in the third inning.
“You have to be able to jump on mistakes, and we did it tonight where we put up seven with two
outs,” Schwarber said. “It was really cool to see.”
Wheeler (6-3) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings while striking out three. The right-hander improved to 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts this month.
The Phillies blew the game open with a two-out rally in the third that started when former Phillie César Hernández misplayed Yairo Muñoz’s sharp grounder up the middle. Schwarber then drilled a 1-0 fastball from Patrick Corbin into the centerfield seats.
Things spiraled from there for Corbin (3-9), who yielded a double and a walk before Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto delivered consecutive RBI singles. Both scored on Didi Gregorius’ double, and Gregorius came around for the inning’s seventh unearned run when first baseman Josh Bell sailed a throw to Corbin on Alec Bohm’s grounder.
Schwarber led off the fourth with a solo shot to right. It was his 17th career multi-homer game and his third in 2022, his first season with Philadelphia. Schwarber has hit seven home runs this month after hitting 16 for Washington last June.
“You saw it last year, all the home runs in that short period of time,” Thomson said. “When he’s locked in, it’s pretty special.”
First of many
Thursday marked the first meeting of the season between the clubs, but they’ll be familiar foes the rest of the year. Philadelphia will play 19 of its last 99 games against the Nationals, while Washington gets 19 of its final 97 games against the Phillies.