Phillies inch closer to postseason baseball with win over Nationals

Final Score (7 innings): Phillies 8, Nationals 1

WASHINGTON — This could have gone many different ways, but it was decided that Sunday’s Nationals-Phillies series finale would begin on time. After an hour or so of play without any raindrops, the warning track quickly became one giant puddle and the Nationals grounds crew scurried to apply drying agents on the infield.

Welcome to the dog days of October. It wasn’t quite Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, but the field was so bad that a foul ball became a double. The official scorer ruled the play “double due to the field conditions.” Interim manager Rob Thomson practically had to beg the umpires to put the tarp on the field.

“They were really bad. Especially when you saw Rhys slip there, that tells you something,” Thomson said on the playing conditions. “It wasn’t very good, but they tried to get through it and that’s what they’re supposed to do just for the integrity of the game.”

As the Phillies sat in the clubhouse waiting for the game to be called, the Marlins did the Phillies another solid and took a 2-0 lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh. Milwaukee ultimately came back in the ninth and the two teams are battled it out in extras. The Marlins squeezed out a 4-3 win in 12 innings, cutting the Phillies’ magic number to one.

They played through the storm for a bit and luckily for the Phillies, Patrick Corbin was on the mound. He came into the game with a 10.87 ERA in three starts against the Phillies in 2022. To Corbin’s credit, he has been better in September. He even threw seven innings and allowed only one run in a win against the Mets. A loss against him with Zack Wheeler on the mound would be unfathomable.

But the Phillies ended his miserable season with another spanking. They scored seven runs on 10 hits in an 8-1 rain shortened victory. The magic number to clinch a postseason spot is now two.

Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott recorded three-RBI games. Schwarber’s bases clearing single gave the Phillies a 7-0 lead in the fifth.

Both Stott and Matt Vierling doubled on fly balls over the right fielder’s head. For Stott, it was only his fifth extra-base hits since the beginning of September. The Phillies’ shortstop also picked up another RBI on a fielder’s choice in the second.

Sunday was ultimately a day of good outcomes. The Phillies won, Zack Wheeler started and looked brilliant, the Marlins won and nobody got hurt. Gone is the nightmare scenario where the Phillies have to fly back to Washington from Houston to play a game 162 makeup. The Phillies are now 86-73. The win (and Brewers loss) insures that the Phillies cannot be eliminated from playoff contention until the final day of the regular season.

Either a Phillies win or Brewers loss will give the Phillies their first playoff berth since 2011. They’ll go from facing the worst team in baseball to arguably the best in the Houston Astros, who have three aces lined up to pitch. All of their regulars will play for the integrity of the game, as Dusty Baker puts it.

Shibe Vintage Sports Notes

• The Phillies finished the season series against Washington with a 16-3 record, which goes down as the most lopsided season series in history between the two franchises.
• Wheeler’s pitch count reached 77 on Sunday. Thomson said Wheeler did not throw any more pitches down in the tunnel during the rain delay. “He’s pretty close to full out now.”
• Corbin’s 11.74 ERA against the Phillies this season is the second highest among pitchers who have thrown at least 15 innings against Philadelphia in a season since 1901. The Cubs’ Tiny Osborne had an 11.88 ERA against the Phillies in 1923.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Monday, October 3 vs. Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park
• 8:10 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: Sportsradio 94 WIP

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