Domonic Brown notched his first major league walk-off hit as the Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals Monday night, 5-4.
The Phillies looked rather punchless in droping two of three against the Colorado Rockies over the weekend while being outscored 15-7 in the series' final two games. They'd lost seven of their last nine comming into today's showdown with Washington, another struggling team.
The Nationals, picked to win the World Series by many, came into the contest at 34-34, just two games ahead of the Phillies. They had gone just 3-4 in their last 7.
Starting for the first time since a lopsided loss to the Reds on April 17th, John Lannan looked like he had to shake off some rust to begin the game, as he began the first inning by issuing a walk to Anthony Rendon, hitting a batter (Ryan Zimmerman), and allowing an RBI single to Jayson Werth that put the Nats up 1-0.
The Phillies, though, were quick to answer. After going down 1-2-3 to start the first inning, Ryan Howard sent an absolute blast into the second deck in right field, a solo shot that tied the game at 1.
In the bottom of the third, Michael Young led off with a triple. Jimmy Rollins followed up by working a walk and subsequently stealing second base, and Howard walked right after him to load the bases with one out. Domonic Brown struck out, but Delmon Young hit a double past a diving Werth to score Rollins and Young. Howard attempted to score on the play, but was thrown out to end the inning. The damage was done, though: 3-1 Phillies after three.
In the fourth, Washington's Kurt Suzuki and Stephen Lombardozzi hit consecutive one-out doubles to cut the deficit to just one run. Lombardozzi went on to steal third with two outs, but Lannan managed to strike out Jeff Kobernus to end the inning.
In the fifth, Ben Revere singled and then stole second, continuing his strong play in the month of June. His average now sits at .274, a marked improvement his April mark of .200. Ryan Howard drove him in with a single to collect his second RBI of the game, putting the Phils up 4-2.
Things got quiet towards the end, and one might have thought that the Phillies relievers would actually come in and handle the normally weak-hitting Nationals without much fuss. But, of course, the Nats had different plans. Mike Adams came in and allowed a run on two hits before Charlie Manuel gave him the hook in favor of Antonio Bastardo. Bastardo sat down Adam LaRoche to end the inning, with the Phillies up 4-3.
Howard and Brown both hit singles in the bottom of the eigth, but the Phillies failed to score a single run. So, in the ninth, in came Jonathan Papelbon, who entered the game a perfect 13-for-13 in save opportunities. It looked like he would remain perfect, too, until, with two outs, pinch hitter Chad Tracy hit an 0-2 pitch from Papelbon into the right field seats to tie it up.
Revere stepped up to the plate and delivered again, singling to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Jimmy Rollins, with one out, moved Revere over to third with a single to put men on the corners. Pinch hitter Steven Lerud struck out for the second out, putting the hopes for a comeback on (who else?) Dom Brown. Brown didn't strike out this time, instead hitting a ball into center field to score Revere and walk the Nationals off. The final: 5-4.
It was nice to see a game where the Phillies didn't look completely helpless at the plate, but what was even better was the timliness of the hits. The Phillies usually strand a ton of guys on base, like they did Saturday, so it was great to see guys like Howard and Brown producing in clutch situations.
Howard's breakout game was also a welcome sight, but maybe not a complete suprise to all. Right as Howard came to the plate, announcers Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler discussed the favorable circumstances for him to break his 67 at-bat homerless draught, including Dan Haren's homer-happy ways, the home crowd, and Charlie's mentioning seeing improvement from him over the weekend. And then, as if on cue, Howard hit one out. Nice.
The two teams play again tomorrow night as Cliff Lee, looking for his ninth win of the season, takes on Ross Detwiler.
