The Nationals scored four runs against one of baseball’s best starting pitchers, Roy Halladay, but still fell to the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4, dropping their third straight game at home.
It was not the bats that let the Nationals down on Memorial Day, but the bullpen. Nats’ reliever Sean Burnett gave up two runs in the seventh inning to put the Phillies ahead for good.
“I just talked to Burny, and I said ‘You know, the ball’s coming out of your hand a lot better than what the results are saying,” Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman said after the game.
The Nationals offense got to Halladay early as first baseman Michael Morse hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. It was Morse’s fifth homerun in his last seven games and his seventh overall. Third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. scored later in the inning off a sacrifice bunt by Nationals’ starter Livan Hernandez to make it a 2-0 lead.
The Phillies took the lead in the top of the fourth inning as first baseman Ryan Howard and left fielder Raul Ibanez hit back-to-back home runs. It was Howard’s 12th home run of the season and Ibanez’s eighth, and the first time this year that Philadelphia went back-to-back. Phillies’ catcher Carlos Ruiz scored later in the inning after a single by Domonic Brown to make it a 3-2 Phillies lead.
The Nats tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning when second baseman Danny Espinosa hit a solo home run to make it three all. Though the Nationals have hit five home runs in their last four games, all have been of the one-run variety. The sixth one came off the bat of left fielder Laynce Nix on the first pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Nats a 4-3 lead.
The Phillies retook the lead in the top of the seventh inning as Howard hit a single to right, letting third baseman Placido Polanco score to tie the game. Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly to score second baseman Chase Utley, bumping the game to 5-3.
While the loss was disappointing for the Nats, the offense came through, something it has not of late — and it happened against the National League’s reigning Cy Young Award winner.
“He’s [Halladay] a great pitcher, and our guys were pretty aggressive and got a couple balls,” Riggleman said. “We’re starting to swing the bat a little better so maybe this is gonna turn for us.”
However, Riggleman cautioned that a loss is still a loss.
“There’s no moral victories, but you hope that it seeps into people that we can do this,” he said. “We can hit. We have a history of hitting, and we’re gonna hit.”
