Posted by Danielle Wilson
On this sweltering Wednesday afternoon, the Phillies completed a three-game series in Washington, which was the rubber match of the series following yesterday's 10-2 loss. Roy Oswalt took the bump today against John Lannan, who is notoriously known for hitting just about every batter in the Phils' lineup. He's 0-10 against the Phillies with a 6.44 earned run average.
The Nationals took an early lead once again, this time it was Jayson Werth who singled to score Roger Bernadina. The Phillies came back in the top of the second thanks to third baseman Alex Cora's error, which allowed Ryan Howard to score on Carlos Ruiz's single. Tied game.
Laynce Nix went yard for a solo shot in the bottom of the third to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead.
Roy Oswalt only pitched five innings, tossing 79 pitches. He allowed two earned runs off of six hits, walking two and striking out three.
Domonic Brown was put in to pinch hit for Roy in the sixth, and it was a huge spot for him, against a lefty with the bases loaded and two outs. He popped out, but was absolutely robbed by Laynce Nix who made an incredible sliding grab which you can see here.
Michael Stutes pitched two scoreless striking out one, and Antonio Bastardo pitched one scoreless striking out one. The Phillies couldn't come back to score, thus losing to John Lannan and the Nationals, 2-1. Raul Ibanez is still waiting for RBI #1,000.
20 games in 20 days has come to an end, and the Phillies have tomorrow off. They'll travel to PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Cole Hamels (7-2, 3.01 ERA) will take the mound Friday night against Pirates starter Jeff Karstens (3-4, 3.58 ERA.)
