Phillies Swept By Nationals, Lose 6th Straight
WASHINGTON (AP) — Doug Fister kept himself and his club on a roll, allowing two runs and four hits over seven innings Thursday as the Washington Nationals capped a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 4-2 victory.
Fister (4-1) struck out five and didn't walk any as he won his fourth consecutive start for what's starting to look like the tough-act-to-follow rotation expected from the Nationals this season. Jordan Zimmermann threw eight scoreless innings in the series opener Tuesday, and Stephen Strasburg fanned 11 in Wednesday's win.
The Nationals have won five of six. They've outscored opponents 38-12 in those half-dozen games, including 19-6 in each of the three-game series against the Texas Rangers and the Phillies.
Kyle Kendrick (1-6) allowed four runs over seven innings and walked a season-high five as the Phillies dropped their season-high sixth in a row. Kendrick is 1-11 in his last 19 starts, has an 11-start winless streak on the road and hasn't won a day game since 2012, going 0-6 in his last nine starts in the sunshine.
Fister, who missed all of April with a lat strain, struggled in his season debut but hasn't allowed more than two runs in a game since. On Thursday, he was also a gymnast of a fielder.
Fister demonstrated the full range of flexibility of his 6-foot-8 frame when he did the splits to try to catch a ball at first base for a potential double play in the first inning. In the third, he somehow reached backward to stab a grounder up the middle to rob Ben Revere of a hit — a play that proved more valuable when Jimmy Rollins followed with a double.
Tyler Clippard worked the eighth for the Nationals, and Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 12th save.
The Phillies are an NL-worst 9-20 since May 5. Their only runs Thursday came when Revere led off the game with a double and scored on Chase Utley's single, and when John Mayberry Jr. led off the seventh with a homer.
The Nationals scored in the first on a two-out RBI single by third baseman-turned-outfielder Ryan Zimmerman, who is 4 for 11 since returning from a broken thumb. They added three in the fifth on an RBI single by Jayson Werth and a two-run homer by Adam LaRoche.
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