The offense that Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez has been waiting for showed up just in time to prevent a sweep at the hands of a division rival Sunday night.
Daniel Murphy’s single drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth inning and the Nationals rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies 8-6 to salvage the finale of the three-game series.
Anthony Rendon homered and doubled
Authentic Isaac Yiadom Jersey , Bryce Harper tied a career high with three doubles and Michael A. Taylor and Murphy each had three singles as Washington pounded out 17 hits in a game that was delayed 38 minutes by rain in the bottom of the fourth inning.
”We weren’t scoring very many runs,” Martinez said, ”and for us to come out and compete like we did today and put up eight runs . and just really work very good at-bats, I felt really good for the boys and I know they’ll feed off it.”
Rhys Hoskins and Nick Williams homered for the Phillies, who had won three straight.
Pinch hitter Brian Goodwin led off the eighth with a walk. With one out, right-hander Seranthony Dominguez (1-2) came on to face Harper, who doubled to right, with Goodwin stopping at third.
After Rendon grounded out, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler elected to walk rookie Juan Soto and pitch to the veteran Murphy, who began the day hitting .135.
”You pick your poison right there,” Kapler said. ”You have two very good hitters. The first one in Soto has been elite. And Murphy has struggled a little bit. And we went after the guy that was struggling and coming off injury.”
After throwing three 98-mph plus fastballs to get ahead 1-2, Dominguez tried a slider that Murphy lined to shallow right. Taylor’s single made it 8-6.
”I was watching some film on him and he had kind of gone with the slider as a kill shot to a couple lefties, so once I got two strikes I was aware of it,” Murphy said. ”I hadn’t seen it yet, so that’s never any fun, but fortunately I was able to get it in the air enough and kind of scoop it over Cesar (Hernandez’s) head at second base.”
Ryan Madson (2-3) pitched the eighth inning
Authentic Josh Jackson Jersey , and Sean Doolittle finished for his 21st save.
The Phillies took a 6-2 lead in the fifth on a two-run triple by Odubel Herrera and a two-run homer by Williams, but the bullpen surrendered six runs.
Washington pulled within a run at 6-5 in the sixth with four two-out hits, including an RBI triple by Trea Turner and RBI doubles by Harper and Rendon.
RENDERFUL
Rendon has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games is batting .447 (17-for-38) in that span with three homers, seven RBIs and nine runs scored.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: C Andrew Knapp left in the seventh with a right knee contusion. … 3B Maikel Franco slipped on first base and fell hard in the eighth. He stayed in to run but left after the half-inning with lower back tightness. … INF Jesmuel Valent锟絥 was placed on the paternity leave list and OF Dylan Cozens (left quadriceps strain) was reinstated from the 10-day DL.
Nationals: RHP Jeremy Hellickson (right hamstring strain) allowed 11 runs in 4 2/3 innings of a rehab start at Class A Potomac on Sunday. ”I’m more concerned with the way he feels,” manager Dave Martinez said, downplaying the results. ”We’ll go from there.” … RH reliever Brandon Kintzler (right forearm flexor strain) threw a scoreless inning at Potomac. … RHP Stephen Strasburg (right shoulder inflammation) played catch on the field again. ”We’ll keep doing his throwing progression and figure out when he can actually throw from the mound,” Martinez said.
UP NEXT
Phillies: RHP Vince Velasquez (5-7, 4.82) starts the opener of a series against the Yankees on Monday. He is 0-0 with a 3.24 ERA in two games vs. New York.
Nationals: RHP Gio Gonzalez (6-4, 3.08) opens a series at Tampa Bay on Monday. He is 2-2 with a 5.54 ERA in six games against the Rays.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Coach Peter DeBoer embraced the high expectations for the San Jose Sharks after general manager Doug Wilson presented him two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson on the eve of training camp.
A franchise that perpetually has fallen just short so many times now has the pieces in place to win it all.
“It’s a pressure to win. There’ s no shirking that, there’s no hiding from it,” DeBoer said. “I’m not a big believer in you don’t talk about the Stanley Cup. There’s no hiding from that. That’s what we’re here to do. I think Doug and ownership have sent a message to our group that they believe we’re one of the teams that has the capability of doing that. Now the journey starts and it’s on us to get better every day and make sure we give ourselves a chance to win.”
The Sharks made the move to acquire Karlsson from Ottawa after striking out in an attempt to sign star center John Tavares in free agency. It was quite the consolation prize as it gave San Jose the league’s top two scoring defensemen over the past decade in Karlsson and Brent Burns, a premier shutdown defenseman in Marc-Edouard Vlasic and a group of talented veteran forwards led by Joe Thornton, captain Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and last season’s big addition Evander Kane.
The addition of Karlsson gives San Jose perhaps the most complete roster in the Pacific Division and the necessary ingredients to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final after being knocked out in the first and second round of the playoffs the past two seasons.
“There’s really no excuses,” Kane said. “It’s up to us to put it all together
Deadrin Senat Color Rush Jersey , put it on the ice, have a good season and like I said, having that focus on not being satisfied with making the playoffs or going deep in the playoffs but winning the Stanley Cup.”
Here are some other things to watch with the Sharks this season:
THORNTON’S HEALTH: The Sharks have been hurt the past two seasons by serious knee injuries to Thornton. He played in the playoffs on a torn left ACL in 2017 and then missed the final three months last year with a torn ACL in the other knee. Thornton played at a high level in the final month before the injury last January and the Sharks believe he can still be an impact player at age 39, especially on a line with scorers like Pavelski and Kane.
“To have the luxury of passing to two goal-scorers it’s something you enjoy and you look forward to coming to the rink because you know you have two finishers on your line,” Thornton said.
POWER OUTAGE: One of the main goals the Sharks had this offseason was improving a power-play unit that ranked 16th in the league last season at 20.6 percent. The addition of Karlsson should provide a big boost. He is an elite power-play quarterback and his ability to carry the puck into the offensive zone and set up the play should free up Burns more for his big shot. With Thornton, Couture and Pavelski also expected to be on the top unit, the Sharks could get back to the level they were at in 2015-16, when San Jose ranked third on the power play on the way to the Cup final.
TIMO AND TOMAS: While much of the focus in San Jose is on the veteran core, success could depend heavily on two forwards under the age of 25 who showed good promise last year. Tomas Hertl was tied for second on the team with a career-high 22 goals and was dominant at times in the playoffs on the wing alongside Couture. The 21-year-old Timo Meier had 21 goals in his first full season and has the potential to be a 30-goal scorer.
DOWN THE MIDDLE: The trade for Karlsson did leave one hole in the roster at center on the third and fourth lines. With Chris Tierney in Ottawa, the Sharks will have to decide whether to move Hertl down to the third-line center role or hope Finnish newcomer Antti Suomela can fill that role. The fourth-line center could go to a rookie, either Rourke Chartier or Dylan Gambrell.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Martin Jones was inconsistent last season as he dealt with various injuries, posting a .915 save percentage in the regular season. But Jones once again stepped up his game in the playoffs, where his .926 save percentage in three postseasons for San Jose is the highest of any goalie with at least 15 starts during that span.
