The Philadelphia Phillies have one of the best pitchers in baseball in Roy Halladay on the mound for them at Nationals Park, so they don't need much help. Unfortunately, they got it when Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond committed back-to-back errors in the fourth-inning to help give the Phillies a 3-0 lead.
Desmond bobbled a hard-hit ball hit by Jimmy Rollins and then on the very next play he was called for interference while trying to convert a double play. This allowed Rollins to move to third, and he later score on a Ben Francisco ground out.
Nationals' pitcher John Lannan, up to that point, had done well at neutralizing the Phillies attack, making them ground into two double plays. The Phillies would later again score on a Placido Polanco RBI single in the fifth, and with the bases loaded, Lannan walked Ryan Howard to put another run across the plate for Philadelphia.
Offensively the Nationals have done little against Holladay, only scoring two hits, both Adam LaRoche singles. Halladay had a small breakdown in the third when he walked two straight batters, but he got Jayson Werth to ground out to end the threat and the inning.
The Nationals are looking for an offensive spark heading into the sixth.