Washington Nationals vs Philadelphia Phillies Box Score on May 06, 2017

The Sports Xchange
May 6, 2017

PHILADELPHIA -- Ryan Zimmerman was robbed in the first inning. He hit the ball too far and too hard for the Phillies to handle in his next two at-bats.

Baseball's hottest hitter, Zimmerman continued his remarkable stretch with the bat and accounted for three RBIs in the Washington Nationals' 6-2 win over the Phillies on Saturday night.

Zimmerman leads the majors in multiple categories including average, OPS and RBIs. He improved all of those numbers by going 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and an RBI double. The homer was his majors high-tying 13th of the year and extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Zimmerman homered in the fourth inning against Phillies starter Vince Velasquez, launching an 0-1 changeup into the left-field seats. He followed it up by drilling a line drive to right field in the sixth. Phillies outfielder Michael Saunders appeared to lose the ball in the lights, and it got over his head for an RBI double.

The next batter, Anthony Rendon, broke the game open with a three-run homer to give Washington a 6-1 lead.

Both of Zimmerman's big hits came after he had extra bases taken away from him in the first inning by Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera. Zimmerman hit a deep fly ball, but Herrera was able to track it down and make a leaping catch at the wall, possibly taking another homer away from the 13-year veteran.

It was the fourth straight win for the Nationals, who were without Bryce Harper for a second consecutive game due to tightness in his groin. Meanwhile, it was the fifth straight loss for Philadelphia, marking the team's worst losing streak of the season.

The Phillies were unable to capitalize against Washington right-hander A.J. Cole, who was making his season debut. Cole worked around command issues throughout his start, and the Phillies were only able to get one run across in six innings despite having 10 baserunners (six hits and four walks).

The Phillies started the scoring in the second inning when Cameron Rupp grounded a single up the middle to plate Freddy Galvis. The damage could have been worse against Cole (1-0), but he got out of the first inning unscathed thanks to an unconventional double play.

With runners on the corners and one out, Maikel Franco struck out swinging and was subsequently called for batter's interference as he got in the way of catcher Matt Wieters with Herrera trying to steal second.

Rupp hit a solo homer in the seventh, his third of the season, off Oliver Perez to make it 6-2.

Velasquez (2-3) surrendered six runs and seven hits in seven innings while striking out eight for the Phillies.

NOTES: Nationals OF Bryce Harper missed his second straight game with groin tightness. Manager Dusty Baker said Harper, who tweaked his groin on Thursday, could return to the team's lineup for the series finale. ... Phillies OF Aaron Altherr was held out of the lineup after hurting his left wrist while making a diving catch on Friday. ... Nationals 1B Ryan Zimmerman hit his 13th homer of the season. It was his second in as many nights and his 10th in 16 games. Zimmerman is now tied for the major league lead in homers with New York Yankees OF Aaron Judge.