After zany finish, Phillies brace for rematch vs. Nationals

The Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals played a back-and-forth thriller in the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday.

The teams hope to deliver a similarly compelling story — and earn a victory — when they reconvene Wednesday in Philadelphia.

The Phillies captured their third straight win Tuesday, triumphing 7-6 after a rally in the bottom of the ninth. Philadelphia went into the top of the ninth inning ahead 5-2 and still led by a pair of runs with two outs and two strikes before Nathaniel Lowe blasted a go-ahead three-run homer.

The hosts came back to tie the game on Johan Rojas’ sacrifice fly before Bryson Stott came around to score on a wild pitch, sending the home fans into a frenzy.

Trea Turner finished with four hits for the Phillies, who received early home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Rojas in improving to 3-1 against Washington this season.

“Offensively, we could be better,” Turner said of the Phillies, who had lost five in a row prior to their current win streak. “I think we can do everything better, to be honest. … And we haven’t really slugged much.”

CJ Abrams notched four hits for the Nationals, who have lost four of their past six games.

“I feel like I let one get away from us there,” said Washington’s closer Kyle Finnegan, who took the loss — and the blame.

“We had a great chance to steal a really important game for us — first game of the series against a good team. The boys battled the entire game, late comeback. It’s a game that we should have won, and I didn’t do my job.”

Finnegan might get another chance to earn a save Wednesday, particularly if Nationals starter Jake Irvin (2-0, 3.19 ERA) can do his job. Irvin will try to keep the Philadelphia offense in check, and if his past three starts are any indication, he has a good chance to do that.

The 28-year-old right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA over his past three games. He gave up one run in 7 1/3 innings Friday in a 5-4 win over the New York Mets, though he didn’t get the decision.

“No matter the circumstance, it’s still (my mindset to) throw the ball over the plate on the next pitch and just challenge guys,” Irvin said. “Stay in attack mode.”

Irvin allowed two runs in five innings against Philadelphia on March 29. He left a tie game before the bullpen gave up nine runs in an 11-6 loss.

For his career, he is 0-3 with a 5.57 ERA in six lifetime starts against the Phillies.

Cristopher Sanchez (2-1, 3.42) gets the nod for Philadelphia; he left his previous start after just two innings. The lefty felt some soreness in his left forearm in that start on April 22, but he has generally felt strong over the past week.

“He’s been fine,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “The next day he came in and said he felt fine. He wanted to play catch. We shut that down, but it was just a precaution.”

Sanchez has yet to face the Nationals this season. He is 2-2 with a 3.80 ERA in 10 career games (seven starts) against Washington.

–Field Level Media