The Phillies barely hung on last night as they edged the Nationals 5-4. Cole Hamels earned his 8thwin of the year after tossing six innings of three-run ball against the Nationals. His counterpart, Gio Gonzalez, was hit for four earned on nine hits in six frames. Carlos Ruiz continued his hot streak with two doubles and three RBIs. In his last ten games, Chooch is hitting .378 (14-for-37) with 13 RBIs. In that span he has risen his batting average thirteen points. This afternoon the Phillies will look to play spoiler for the Nationals, who are 5 1/2 games back in the Wild Card standings. Tyler Cloyd (2-4, 4.56 ERA) and Jordan Zimmermann (17-8, 3.36 ERA) are set to duel in the series finale.
Tyler Cloyd has yet to settle in with the big league rotation this year. Replacing Ethan Martin in the rotation on Tuesday against the Padres, Cloyd was knocked around for seven runs on nine hits in four innings of work. Cloyd will be making his second start since August 24 as he takes on the Nationals tonight. In his last three MLB outings, Cloyd is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA. This will be Cloyd's first start against the Nationals this season and his second lifetime.
Jordan Zimmermann continued his bid for the NL Cy Young Award on Tuesday as he won his NL-leading 17th game against the Mets. The young righthander struggled with his pitch count and command but was still able to allow just three earned runs over five innings. In his last three, Zimmermann is 2-1 with a 3.56 ERA. This will be Zimmermann's third start against Philadelphia this season, he is already 1-1 and has a 3-5 record with a 4.13 ERA lifetime against them.
Phillies lineup:
- Roger Bernadina CF
- Jimmy Rollins SS
- Chase Utley 2B
- Domonic Brown LF
- Darin Ruf RF
- Cody Asche 3B
- Kevin Frandsen 1B
- Erik Kratz C
- Tyler Cloyd P.
Nationals Lineup:
- Denard Span CF
- Ryan Zimmerman 3B
- Jayson Werth RF
- Bryce Harper LF
- Ian Desmond SS
- Adam LaRoche
- Wilson Ramos C
- Steve Lombardozzi 2B
- Jordan Zimmermann P
Erik Seybold is a writer for Philliedelphia. Follow him on Twitter.
