The Washington Nationals will look to avoid a four-game sweep by the host Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday after being outclassed in the first three games.
Philadelphia has outscored the Nationals by a combined 21-6 in the series, including a 5-1 victory on Saturday.
The Phillies have won eight of the nine meetings against Washington this season, including six straight.
Cristopher Sanchez recorded his second career complete game on Saturday to lead the Phillies, who have won four in a row.
The Nationals lost their fourth straight and were held to two hits, including Alex Call’s solo homer.
“Our offense didn’t show up,” Washington manager Davey Martinez said. “We couldn’t get anything going. I know Sanchez mixed up his pitches. For the most part, he kept the ball down. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
Washington starter MacKenzie Gore pitched well in the early innings on Saturday before the Phillies chased him in the sixth.
“We’re just getting our butt kicked right now, and it’s not fun,” Gore said. “Just another day where I just wasn’t good enough to win. I thought I did some things better, but we ended up giving up five runs. Did some things better, but still pretty frustrating.”
The matchup Sunday features a pair of right-handers as Washington’s Jake Irvin (9-10, 3.72 ERA) faces Philadelphia’s Taijuan Walker (3-4, 5.68).
Irvin is looking to build on a strong outing Tuesday, when he allowed two runs over six innings in a 9-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
The 27-year-old Irvin is 0-2 with a 4.24 ERA in three career starts against Philadelphia, including 0-2 with a 6.55 mark in two outings covering 11 innings this season.
Walker is set to make his second start since landing on the injured list with right index finger inflammation on June 22. He gave up three runs over four innings in a 5-0 loss to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
The Phillies are hoping Walker can provide quality innings over the season’s final six weeks.
“He can be a force when he’s on,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said. “We saw that for a period of time last year, and hopefully we get that because early in the year, when he didn’t have his good stuff, he was giving us five innings just on guts.”
The 32-year-old Walker is 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA in six career starts versus Washington.
Philadelphia’s starting rotation could receive a boost as soon as next weekend with the expected return of All-Star left-hander Ranger Suarez, who has been out since July 27 with lower back soreness.
Thomson was optimistic after Suarez threw 57 pitches during a simulated game on Saturday.
“He got his pitch count up,” Thomson said. “Ninety-one (mph) was the velocity, which was really good for a sim game. The stuff was really good, and it got better as the game went on. We’ll see how he comes out of it in the next day or two.”
Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm on Saturday extended his on-base streak on Saturday to a career-high 34 consecutive games, which is the longest active streak in the majors.
Bohm is batting .310 (27-for-87) with 13 extra-base hits and 14 RBIs over his past 22 games.
–Field Level Media
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