Phillies barely squeak by Nationals in 19-4 nail biter

Boy, oh boy, did these Philadelphia Phillies need Saturday afternoon's victory over the cellar-dwelling Washington Nationals. While the game was a close one until the end, the Phillies emerged victorious in 19-4 fashion. It was only the second time the club scored 19 or more runs in a game since the 2009 season. After securing this win, the club now has the second best record in all of baseball since this time last month.

Starting with the pitching, Zack Wheeler did an excellent job of striking batters out and doing what he could to keep the Nats off the board. In a total of five innings, the right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out six. He earned his seventh victory of the season along the way as well, with both Andrew Vasquez and Dylan Covey putting up two scoreless innings each in relief.

Getting to the offense, these Phillies simply could not be stopped. In fact, every single starting position player earned at least one hit, with seven of them driving in runs. Alec Bohm, the hero of the day for Philadelphia, opened the scoring for the Phillies in the bottom of the second when he hit a single that drove in Bryce Harper.

The bottom of the third inning saw the first offensive explosion of the game, when Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Bohm, Josh Harrison and Cristian Pache all drove in runs, with Bohm's coming in the form of a two-run home run. The club brought home four more runs in the next inning before scoring a whopping eight runs in the bottom of the fifth.

In the end, Bohm homered twice (his eighth and ninth), Nick Castellanos hit his 11th and Kyle Schwarber hit his 22nd of the year. With the strong showings by the Phillies' pitching staff as of late, such a massive offensive performance was much needed for this club. From top to bottom, this ball club's offense is capable of being one of the more lethal units in the league and today proved that in a big way.