Philadelphia Phillies vs Washington Nationals Box Score on Sep 09, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 9, 2017

WASHINGTON -- Rookie Rhys Hoskins hit his 14th homer, walked with the bases loaded and stole his first base and Cesar Hernandez was 3-for-5 with one RBI as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 on Saturday.

The Phillies (54-88) improved to a still-dismal 26-51 on the road while the first-place Nationals (87-55) had their winning streak snapped at five as their magic number remained at three to win the National League East.

Philadelphia rookie starter Mark Leiter Jr. (3-5), in his first appearance against Washington, gave up four runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in six innings. Edubray Ramos pitched a scoreless seventh for the Phillies, Luis Garcia fanned all three batters in the eighth and Hector Neris went the ninth for his 20th save as he got rookie Victor Robles for the last out on a grounder with Michael A. Taylor on base.

Taylor, who had two hits with three RBIs, had a two-out RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4 in the sixth. But Leiter retired pinch hitter Adam Lind on a groundout to end the threat.

Howie Kendrick was 2-for-4 for Washington and scored twice. The loser was Washington starter Edwin Jackson (5-5), who is now 2-7 in his career against the Phillies. Nick Williams was 2-for-5 for the Phillies.

There were three solo homers among the first 10 batters of the game. Howie Kendrick hit his eighth homer of the year to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the first.

The Phillies responded with two homers of their own in the second. Rookie phenom Hoskins led off with his 14th homer in 30 games. Two batters later, Maikel Franco cranked a shot over the Phillies bullpen in left to make it 2-1 on his 20th homer of the year.

Philadelphia scored three runs in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead.

Cameron Rupp drove in a run with a bloop single to right, Cesar Hernandez had an infield single to plate another run and Hoskins walked with the bases loaded for the third run.

Washington cut the lead to 5-3 as Taylor hit a two-run homer to left off Leiter in the fourth. It was the 16th homer of the year for Taylor and his second in two games.

Jackson, who has played with 12 teams, went 3 1/3 innings and gave up seven hits and five earned runs with three walks and five strikeouts.

Jackson entered the game with a 6.00 ERA in his career against Philadelphia. The right-hander last beat the Phillies as a starter in 2012, when he was a member of the Nationals rotation for the first time.

NOTES: Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), diagnosed with brain cancer in July, was at the game. ... Phillies RHP Ben Lively (3-5, 3.92) is slated to face Washington RHP Stephen Strasburg (12-4, 2.78) in the series finale Sunday. ... Washington OF Jayson Werth and RHPs Joe Blanton and Ryan Madson were part of the 2008 Phillies World Series team. ... Phillies OF Odubel Herrera had his hitting streak stopped at 21 games as he went 0-for-4.