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Reuters
Luis Garcia hit a home run and drove in career-high five runs, Joey Meneses hit a home run and had four RBIs and the Washington Nationals earned a 13-4 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Garcia went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and scored two runs, Meneses went 3-for-4 with four runs and a walk, and Luke Voit went 2-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs.
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Anibal Sanchez (4-6) allowed four runs on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks in five innings for the Nationals, who defeated the Phillies for the first time in 10 meetings.
Philadelphia (84-73) has defeated Washington (55-102) in 14 of the team’s 17 meetings this season entering Saturday’s doubleheader nightcap in advance of Sunday’s season series finale.
The Phillies’ loss, which was their sixth in their past seven games, kept their magic number to clinch their first postseason berth since 2011 at five. Washington won for just the fourth time in its past 12 games.
After the Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Kyle Schwarber stole home on the back end of a double steal with Bryce Harper, the Nationals tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Garcia’s single to center scored Lane Thomas.
The Nationals broke the game open in the second inning. After a two-out single to center by Riley Adams and a base hit to left by Lane Thomas, Abrams loaded the bases when he reached on an infield single for the first of his three hits.
Meneses cleared the bases with a double to left for a 4-1 lead. Four pitches later, Voit blasted Kyle Gibson’s slider 440 feet over the center-field fence to make it 6-1.
The Phillies cut into the lead in the fourth when J.T. Realmuto scored on a single to left by Nick Castellanos, who made it 6-3 when he crossed the plate on Jean Segura’s groundout to second. Bryson Stott followed with a bunt that scored Brandon Marsh, who had doubled earlier in the inning.
Meneses’ solo shot in the fifth extended the lead to 7-4 before the Nationals tacked on three more runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Garcia and Ildemaro Vargas, and Victor Robles’ sacrifice fly to center.
Garcia capped the scoring with a three-run home run to right in the eighth that scored Meneses and Voit.
Gibson (10-8) allowed seven runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in six innings for the Phillies, who got two hits from Realmuto.
–Field Level Media
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