Phillies Batter Mikolas Early, Cruise to 7-3 Win Over Washington
Philadelphia put the game away before Washington could blink, hanging six runs on Miles Mikolas in just five innings to take a commanding 7-3 final. The Nationals never led, and the story of the night was how thoroughly the Phillies' lineup dismantled a starter who had no answers in the middle innings.
The damage started immediately. In the first, Arraez doubled to right, scoring Turner and sending Harper to third — a play that swung Philadelphia's win probability from 75% to 84%, and the game was barely underway. Bohm followed with another double to right, plating Harper and pushing the lead to 2-0, though Arraez was thrown out at home trying to extend the inning. Washington answered in the second when Young singled to right to score Ford, and Crawford singled to right to score Realmuto, briefly making it a 3-1 game and giving the Nationals something to build on. They couldn't.
The third inning is where Mikolas's night unraveled completely. Marsh doubled to right to score Harper, Realmuto singled to center to score Marsh, and then Stott doubled to right to score Realmuto — three straight hits, three straight runs, and suddenly it was 6-1. Mikolas finished with 5.0 innings pitched, surrendering 12 hits and 6 earned runs. Twelve hits in five innings is not a recipe for keeping a lineup quiet, and Philadelphia's hitters looked like they knew exactly what was coming. On the other side, Cristopher Sanchez worked 5.0 innings, allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 6 — a workmanlike outing that gave his bullpen a manageable situation to close out.
Washington showed some fight. Andrew Pinckney launched a 402-foot home run to right center in the fourth to make it 6-2, and in the sixth, Ruiz singled to center to score Young, pulling the Nationals within three at 6-3. But Philadelphia answered immediately — Schwarber singled to right to score Stott, restoring the four-run cushion at 7-3 and effectively ending any suspense. Realmuto went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, Marsh and Stott each went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and the Phillies' lineup top to bottom looks like a problem for any rotation. For Washington, Jacob Young went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Keibert Ruiz went 2-for-3 with an RBI — bright spots in a losing effort, but not nearly enough to overcome the third-inning avalanche that buried them.