The Washington Nationals avoided a sweep by the Phillies on Thursday night with a 3-0 win in the series finale. Ross Detwiler worked quickly and moved through the Philadelphia lineup for seven scoreless innings. The Phillies put together a rally in the top of the second, but Bryce Harper gunned down John Mayberry, Jr. at the plate to quickly put out the rally attempt. Detwiler completely settled in after that, giving up just three hits -- none of which came after the third inning. He threw only 88 pitches before handing it over to his bullpen.
Sean Burnett was the first out of the pen and came on to work a 1-2-3 inning. Tyler Clippard faced the heart of the order in the bottom of the ninth and closed the door for his 21st save of the season. Clippard walked the lead-off man, Chase Utley, but rebounded to finish things off with a strike out of Ryan Howard, who represented the tying run.
On offense, the Nats would strike early for three runs that would be enough with the pitching staff cruising. Jayson Werth had three productive at-bats in his first game since early May. Werth singled to left in his first at-bat and then grounded out to the right side to score Michael Morse from third. A hit and an RBI in his first two at-bats were followed with a walk in his final trip to the plate in the bottom of the eighth. It was a good return against his former team.
Along with Werth, it was Adam LaRoche who had a big night at the dish. LaRoche broke the scoreless tie when he led off the second inning with a solo bomb to right. He then knocked in the second run of the evening on a single that scored Ryan Zimmerman. The two-run third inning would end the scoring for the night as the Nats finished off the series with a W.
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