Phillies top Nats in 10 with walk-off sac fly

Phillies top Nats in 10 with walk-off sac fly

May 7th, 2017

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies' offense had been struggling lately, but it came alive in the late innings Sunday afternoon to rally for a come-from-behind 6-5 victory against the Nationals.
drove in the winning run with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to snap a five-game losing streak for Philadelphia, which had lost eight of its previous nine entering Sunday, and avoid a three-game sweep. The Phillies had trailed by three runs in the eighth inning when , who had been sidelined with a sore left wrist, hammered a pinch-hit three-run home run off Matt Albers to tie the game.
"I saved him for that big moment," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said.

The final outs of games have been a challenge for Nationals manager Dusty Baker lately, as he tries to navigate through a struggling and injured bullpen. The homer was the first run Albers has allowed all season, and the Phillies scored in the 10th off , whose ERA increased to 9.22.
"In a moment like this, it sucks, because you don't want to lose a game that your team played really well," Treinen said. "... You always want guys to win that deserved it. Yeah, it's frustrating right now, but I'll get over it."

The Nationals were in control thanks to a solid start from right-hander and a strong day from , who continued to punish his former team. As if he feeds off the boos showered down on him from the fans at Citizens Bank Park, Werth had four hits and homered twice.
Werth launched a solo homer in the first inning and a two-run homer in the fifth inning off Phillies right-hander -- who gave up three runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. This marked Werth's 14th career multi-homer game, the last three at Citizens Bank Park as a member of the Nationals.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Werth does it again: Philly fans still welcome Werth with a heavy chorus of boos each time he returns, even though he played his last game with the Phillies seven years ago and is entering the final year of his contract with the Nationals.
"All I hear is cheers," Werth said with a smile. "There's a lot of love going on out there."
An error by shortstop led to a two-run double from Galvis in the fourth inning, giving the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Hellickson could not hold it, however, and served up a two-out, two-run homer to Werth. Werth has hit 15 home runs at Citizens Bank Park since 2011, his first year with the Nats, the most of any visiting player during that span.
"Jayson had a great day. Outstanding day," Baker said. "Half of them are cheering him. Half of them are booing him. I don't understand why. But anytime you come back to where you played a long time and had success, you look forward to coming to play here, and he had a good series." 

Chance to end it: The Phillies had a chance to win the game in the ninth inning, after a leadoff walk and an error by Albers gave them a pair of runners on. But the Nats called on left-hander to bail them out of the jam. Even after he gave up a one-out single to to load the bases, Romero induced a grounder from for a force out at home before flew out to end the threat.
QUOTABLE
"He's always had too long of a swing. He had a little bit of a contorted setup in the box. He just shortened everything up. His bat is on his shoulder. He takes it from Point A to Point C and eliminates Point B. He's direct to the ball, and he's getting good results." -- Mackanin, on why Altherr's shortened swing has led to more success
WHAT'S NEXT
Nationals: The Nationals travel to Baltimore for the beginning of the four-game Beltway Series with the Orioles on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. ET at Camden Yards. (3-0, 1.64 ERA) will take the mound against .
Philies: The Phillies will welcome back an old friend, , to Philadelphia when the Mariners come to town for a quick two-game set beginning on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET. (0-3, 4.00 ERA) is still searching for his first win a month into the season and will face .
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