Philadelphia Phillies, Cole Hamels edged; fail to sweep Washington Nationals

The Phillies lost Sunday afternoon’s ballgame in D.C. against the Nationals by a final score of 3-2, with Cole Hamels getting the loss as Washington avoided a sweep in the last game of a 3 game set.

Philadelphia opened the scoring in the top of the 1st inning on a comical play. After Grady Sizemore had singled to center field, Marlon Byrd followed up with a single of his own up the middle which Sizemore got to third on, before the ball squirmed away from Rendon at third and Sizemore scored. The throw to the catcher Jose Lobaton was also wild, and Byrd advanced to 3rd on the play. 1-0 Phillies with a hit and 2 errors on the same play.

Adam LaRoche tied up the game in the bottom of the 2nd with a deep drive to right center field that landed in the bullpen for his 22nd long ball of the year.

The Phillies regained the lead in the top of the 4th with yet another strange play helping manufacture the run. Carlos Ruiz hit a simple fly ball to center field, but with the sun causing havoc Denard Span misjudged it and the ball dropped in allowing Ruiz to head to second base. Darin Ruf then scored Ruiz on a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 2-1 Philly.

The Nats got level with yet another Adam LaRoche bomb in the bottom of the same inning, this time the ball more towards the scoreboard but with the same result, tying the game at 2-2.

Washington scored what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the 6th inning when, following an Ian Desmond double, Hamels balked the runner over to third before Scott Hairston scored him on a sac-fly to make it 3-2.

The Phils looked to have started a rally in the top of the 8th when Ben Revere hit a pinch single to center, but was adjudged to have been caught stealing despite little video evidence on the challenge to overturn the original safe call.

Cole Hamels took the loss to move to 8-7 on the year, having pitched 6.1 innings giving up 3 runs on 7 hits. Mike Adams and Antonio Bastardo provided 1.2 innings of hitless relief out of the bullpen.

Gio Gonzalez got the win to go to 8-9, pitching 6 innings of 2-run ball, allowing just 5 hits and walking none. Aaron Barrett and Tyler Clippard provided 2 innings of scoreless relief to earn a hold each, while Drew Storen got his 2nd save of the year as Washington wrapped up the win.

Marlon Byrd got 2 hits tonight for the Phillies hitting in the clean-up spot, while the 6, 7 and 8 hitters Maikel Franco, Freddy Galvis and Tony Gwynn Jr. were all hitless.

Philadelphia now sits at 66-76, 14.5 games back of Washington in 1st and 1.5 games away from the 4th place New York Mets. Washington now leads the division by 7 games ahead of Atlanta.

Tomorrow, the Phillies welcome their Pennsylvania neighbours the Pittsburgh Pirates to Citizens Bank Park for the second season series. Kyle Kendrick (8-11, 4.77) takes on Jeff Locke (6-4, 3.75) with first pitch at 7:05 ET.

Tomorrow, the Phillies