The Philadelphia Phillies nullified a six-run deficit against the Washington Nationals to earn a 7-6 victory in MLB on Thursday as Andrew McCutchen drove in four runs. With this win, the Phillies completed a three-game sweep.
The Phillies overcame a disappointing start from Aaron Nola to their sixth consecutive win. Philadelphia pulled within 1½ games of NL East leader Atlanta Hawks and two games of Cincinnati Reds in the race for the second NL wild card.
Juan Soto homered and drove in four runs and Lane Thomas also went deep for Washington, which has lost five in a row and 21 of the last 27 games.
McCutchen brought the Phillies to within 6-4 in the eighth inning with an RBI single off Patrick Murphy, who gave up a single to Freddy Galvis two batters later and chased Andres Machado (1-1). After Rafael Marchan’s walk loaded the bases, Nick Maton’s sharp grounder was misplayed by second baseman Luis García and two runs scored.
García hesitated on Odúbel Herrera’s potential double-play ball a batter later, getting just one out as Marchan came around for the go-ahead run.
Sam Coonrod (2-2) pitched a scoreless seventh for the Phillies. Ian Kennedy worked the ninth for his 22nd save overall and sixth with Philadelphia.
Soto, who went 3 for 4 with a walk, hit a two-run homer in the third and added a two-run single in the fifth as Washington built a 6-0 lead.
The Phillies halved the deficit on McCutchen’s three-run double in the sixth.
Nola allowed six runs in four-plus innings. Washington’s Paolo Espino yielded two runs in 5 1/3 innings.
The Phillies improved to 13-6 against the Nationals this season. They trailed by at least three runs in seven of their victories over Washington, the most such wins ever by a team against an opponent in a single season in the modern era, according to STATS LLC.
The Phillies have scored seven runs in seven consecutive games for the first time since June 1933.
The game was a makeup of Wednesday’s rainout, when the remnants of Hurricane Ida passed through the Mid-Atlantic.