Phillies Walked Off by Nationals Rookie
By Matt Veasey
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Phillies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Nationals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
The Philadelphia Phillies dropped the second game of their series in Washington thanks to a walkoff home run by a Nationals rookie.
The host Washington Nationals got a walkoff home run from rookie Trea Turner to down the Phillies by a 5-4 final at Nationals Park in our nation’s capitol on Friday night.
The 23-year old Turner drove a two-out, 1-2 offering from Phils reliever Frank Herrmann (0-2) out to center field to send the 28,469 fans home happy.
With the victory, the Nationals remain eight games up on the New York Mets in the NL East Division race, and lowered their ‘Magic Number’ to 14 for clinching the franchise’ third division crown in the last five years.
For the longest time this one was a nice battle between the two starting pitchers, Tanner Roark of the Nationals and rookie Jake Thompson of the Fightin’ Phils.
Roark scattered six hits over six innings, striking out eight and walking two while allowing just one earned run.
Thompson allowed just five hits across 5.1 innings, striking out five and walking one while surrendering two earned runs.
Freddy Galvis scored Odubel Herrera with a base hit in the top of the 4th inning to get the Phillies out on top.
Herrera would be forced to leave the game when he was hit by Roark with a pitch in the leg. X-rays were negative, and he is now day-to-day with a bruise.
The Nats answered back immediately, tying it up in the bottom of the frame when Anthony Rendon doubled home Daniel Murphy.
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The hosts took the lead when Bryce Harper singled home Murphy in the bottom of the 6th inning, and then Turner extended that lead when he drove a two-run homer off Phils reliever Colton Murray in the bottom of the 7th inning.
With the Nationals on top by 4-1, the Phillies rallied to tie it up in the top of the 8th. Aaron Altherr was hit by a Koda Glover pitch to lead off the frame, and Andres Blanco drew a walk.
Then with one out and the two runners on base, Cameron Rupp blasted his 15th home run of the season out to left-center, tying things up at four apiece.
Herrmann came on for the Phillies in the bottom of the 8th. He allowed a leadoff single to Rendon, but wiped that out with a double play ball.
That set the stage for the dramatics of Turner’s first-ever multi-homer game in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Nats have now won 10 of the last 11 games between the two division rivals.
“I finally got a pitch up in the zone. I put the barrel on it,” Turner said per MLB.com contributors. “I’m still laughing at how it ended up over the fence. I felt good.”
I’m sure he did feel good, and the Phillies most definitely found nothing amusing about the moment. The teams will continue this four game set with a Saturday night matchup.