Stone Garrett hit a grand slam, Jeimer Candelario added a solo home run and reliever Kyle Finnegan snapped out of a final-inning jam that helped the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 on Sunday.
The Nationals took two of three from the defending National League champions and finished a solid 6-3 on a nine-game, 10-day road trip. The worst team in the NL East, it won series against Seattle and San Diego on the trip and won seven of 11 overall.
They also made a dent in the Phillies’ playoff quest.
The Phillies apparently picked up where they left off after Saturday’s 19-run outburst that was keyed by Kyle Schwarber’s grand slam and Nick Castellanos’ home run.
Castellanos did it again Sunday when he hit his 12th homer of the year, hitting Trevor Williams (5-4) in the right-field seats for a 1-0 lead in the first. Bryce Harper singled and JT Realmuto smashed a two-run homer to make it 3–0.
Williams calmed down and pitched five innings in a game interrupted by a 23-minute rain delay.
Phillies starter Ranger Suarez (2-3) had loaded the bases with a hit and two walks in the third when Garrett threw the first pitch that saw the seats for his second career grand slam.
Candelario added a home run, his 11th, in the fifth. Suárez did not return to the mound after the delay in the sixth and left after giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
The Phillies have mixed games with big offensive outbursts with others continually failing to get clutch hits late in the game with runners in scoring position. Case in point: the sixth, seventh and eighth innings against three Nationals relievers.
Bryson Stott led off the sixth with a double and Alec Bohm was walked. But Darick Hall pulled a double play, Brandon Marsh grounded out, and the Phillies didn’t score. Castellanos added a run-scoring double in the seventh — his 27th after he had 26 all of last season — to make it 5-4 and Harper walked. Finnegan escaped when he grounded Realmuto into a double play late in the inning.
Finnegan was still on the mound in the eighth when he had two baskets and one out and had Marsh hit a 4-6-3 double play.
Hunter Harvey worked the ninth for his eighth save.