Instead, they kept finding gaps.
Philadelphia pounded a season-high eight doubles, collected 16 hits and received two-hit performances from seven players in a 7-3 victory over the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park.
Seven different Phillies drove in one run apiece as the offense applied pressure from the opening inning and continued answering whenever Washington threatened to make the game competitive. The Phillies took three of four from the Nationals and have won five of their last six games.
“Getting out there early was nice,” manager Don Mattingly said. “It was one of those things that you feel good about.”
The Phillies jumped Washington starter Miles Mikolas immediately.
Trea Turner singled and Bryce Harper followed with another hit before Luis Arraez drove an RBI double into right field. Alec Bohm followed with a double of his own, scoring Harper and giving Cristopher Sánchez a 2-0 lead before he returned to the mound for the second inning.
Washington cut the lead in half on Jacob Young’s RBI single, but the Phillies responded in the bottom of the inning. J.T. Realmuto doubled and scored when Justin Crawford lined a single to right.
That became the pattern throughout the night.
The Nationals applied pressure. The Phillies answered before the game had a chance to tighten.
Harper opened the third with a double and scored when Brandon Marsh delivered a two-out double. Realmuto followed with an RBI single before Bryson Stott doubled home another run, extending the lead to 6-1.
By the end of the third inning, seven different Phillies had already doubled. Stott added his second double in the sixth, giving Philadelphia its season-high eighth of the night.
Mikolas lasted five innings and allowed six runs on 12 hits.
“We want to try to put as much pressure on their pitchers and feel like that they’re not going to take a breath,” Kyle Schwarber said.
Schwarber said the Phillies’ hitters must continue finding ways to reach base and create opportunities for the run producers behind them.
The early support proved important because Sánchez was neither as sharp nor as efficient as he had been during his dominant opening months.
The left-hander allowed six hits and two walks and needed 98 pitches to complete five innings. Washington consistently extended at-bats, created traffic and forced Sánchez to work for nearly every out.
He nevertheless limited the damage to two runs, struck out six and improved to 15-4.
“I try to pitch as good as I can when I have traffic on the bases and try to get out of those jams,” Sánchez said. “I always go out there trying to put the team in the best position to win.”
The outing continued a noticeable, though hardly alarming, shift from the form Sánchez displayed earlier in the season.
Since his June 3 start, when his scoreless-innings streak was snapped, Sánchez has posted a 3.96 ERA over 70⅓ innings with a 1.32 WHIP. Those are not poor numbers by any reasonable measure, but they are not quite ace-like, either — particularly compared with the overwhelming stretch that preceded them.
Sánchez has increasingly needed to navigate traffic rather than simply overpower opposing lineups. His ability to prevent those innings from unraveling has allowed him to continue giving the Phillies opportunities to win.
His most important escape came in the fifth.
Washington put two runners aboard and forced pitching coach Caleb Cotham to visit the mound during a hot night at Citizens Bank Park. Sánchez said the pause allowed him to control his breathing and reset before completing the inning without allowing another run.
“I think it was just more of staying calm with my breathing,” Sánchez said. “It was really hot outside, so I think he kind of knew that I needed the breather there, and luckily, he got out there and got me a few seconds of rest. That was key — to stay calm and stay stable with my breathing.”
Mattingly acknowledged that Sánchez appeared a tick below his best, but pointed to his ability to make important pitches when situations begin moving against him.
“The thing about Sanchy is he’s been giving up some hits, some guys on base, but he always hangs in there,” Mattingly said. “He’ll get a double play. He’ll get a strikeout when he needs it.”
Andrew Pinckney recorded his first major-league hit with an opposite-field home run off Sánchez in the fourth inning. Keibert Ruiz added an RBI single against Orion Kerkering in the sixth, pulling Washington within 6-3.
Again, the Phillies responded.
Stott opened the bottom of the sixth with his second double and scored on Schwarber’s single. Schwarber finished with two hits and showed encouraging signs after going through a quieter stretch at the plate.
He took additional batting practice on the field before the game, hoping a change in environment and a clearer view of the ball’s flight would help him rediscover the positioning he had been searching for.
“I was starting to get through the positions that I wanted to get into and the feel that I wanted to get into,” Schwarber said. “The first two were still a little bit uncomfortable.”
The bullpen eliminated any possibility of another late-game collapse.
José Alvarado, Jonathan Bowlan and Jhoan Duran each worked a perfect inning after Kerkering handled the sixth. The final nine Washington hitters were retired in order.
One night after the bullpen surrendered seven runs in extra innings, there was no late drama.
There was only another series victory, a season-high collection of doubles and another Sánchez win — even if the path to it looked considerably different from the dominance that defined his first two months.
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