It has not been pretty and the Philadelphia Phillies are racking up the hits, but the Washington Nationals have limited the damage and are trailing their NL East leading rivals 2-0 going into the sixth.
Nationals starter Livan Hernandez has not looked as sharp as previous starts, but has held his own against a potent Philadelphia line-up and have had some defense plays made behind him. In the third-inning when he gave up a triple to pitcher Cole Hamels. Hamels hit the ball into right field where outfielder Jayson Werth could not make a clean play on it. It was Hamels first career triple. Jimmy Rollins then singled bringing Hamels across the plate. Then in the fifth Placido Polanco hit a sac fly to score Rollins.
The Nationals wait for their offense to show up, but Werth is 0-for-1 with a walk and a steal so far in his first game back to Philadelphia while Michael Morse and Ivan Rodriguez are the only Nationals to collect hits against Hamels.
Two former Nationals are starting against the Nats in the Phillies line-up. Former infielder Pete Orr and catcher Brian Schneider are in the game, but have not made much of an impact as Orr is 0-for-1 with a walk and Schneider is 0-for-2.