Phillies In Position to Sweep the NL East Leading Nationals

Last night, the Phillies (60-72) took the series over the Washington Nationals (75-56). In the victory, Freddy Galvis and Darin Ruf hit home runs, but the it ultimately came down to an over turned call at first base with Kevin Frandsen coming off the bag allowing Ben Revere to reach base. That allowed Revere to steal second and move to third on a fly ball by Jimmy Rollins. Revere would score thanks to a sacrifice fly by Carlos Ruiz.  Cole Hamels was very strong through six innings, before getting into trouble in the seventh and the first batter in the eighth which would lead to him getting pulled for Ken Giles. Giles followed by striking out the side. Papelbon closed out the game earning his 100^th career save as a Phillie.

Tonight, the Phillies will send Kyle Kendrick (6-11 4.93 ERA) to the hill looking for the sweep of the NL East leading Nationals and four win in a row.  Kendrick got the win in his last start over St. Louis and Adam Wainwright. Kendrick went six and a third innings giving up four runs on eight hits. The Nationals will counter with Doug Fister (12-4 2.38 ERA). Fister is having a career year after going 14-9 with 3.38 ERA with the Tigers. Fister took the loss in his last start against the Giants. In the start, he went six innings giving up four runs on seven hits.

Game Notes:

• With yesterday’s win the Phillies took three series in a row for the first time since July of 2013.
• Ryno Sandberg said yesterday that Papelbon is the closer and will continue to be the closer until he is no longer in a Phillies uniform. Though Sandberg also said that he has confidence in Giles and did not think it would be a problem if Giles were to close.
• Tonight, the Phillies will honor the Taney Dragons for their run in the Little League World Series.

Phillies Lineup:

1. Ben Revere CF
2. Jimmy Rollins SS
3. Chase Utley 2B
4. Ryan Howard 1B
5. Marlon Byrd RF
6. Domonic Brown LF
7. Wil Nieves C
8. Cody Asche 3B
9. Kyle Kendrick P

Nationals Lineup:

1.  Denard Span CF
   
2. Anthony Rendon 3B
3. Jayson Werth RF
4. Adam LaRoche 1B
5. Ian Desmond SS
6. Bryce Harper LF
7. Wilson Ramos C
8. Asdrubal Cabrera 2B
9. Doug Fister P

First Pitch: 7:05 PM ET

Location: Citizen’s Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA 

Weather: 65^o F Partly Cloudy with showers/tstorms around

TV: CSN

Radio: 1210 WPHT, 94 WIP

Andrew Shipotofsky is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Ashipotofsky