Tonight, the Washington Nationals (82-58) didn’t generate any offense against Alec Asher.
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Washington Nationals pitcher A.J. Cole throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in Washington.
The Phillies snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Nationals.
Against their fellow divisional rivals this season, the Nationals are 42-18 overall, the best record of any team in the majors within their own divisions. Peter Bourjos led off with a solo home run off the left field foul pole. He’s 3-0 with a 0.64 ERA versus Philadelphia this season.
Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer, Asher pitched six innings of two-hit ball coming off a suspension, and the Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 4-1 on Thursday night.
Even though he had a rough inning, Cole still put together a decent outing. He struck out 35 and walked only seven in his 54.2 innings of work.
The Philadelphia Phillies recalled pitcher Alec Asher from Double-A Reading. The Nationals went on to earn a 5-4 win in 11 innings following Strasburg’s departure and own an 8 1/2-game lead in the division.
Once Asher came out of the game, the Nats one chance for a big inning against the Phillies bullpen came in the bottom of the eighth.
Hector Neris gave up a one-out single by Stephen Drew and a double by Trea Turner, bringing Jayson Werth up with runners on second and third.
After the Werth walk, Murphy hit a fly ball to left that was caught at the track by Aaron Altherr. Howard has hit seven home runs in 17 starts since the beginning of August.
Bryce Harper stepped in next and went down swinging to end the threat.
Over the final four innings, the Washington Nationals bullpen (Matt Belisle, Matt Grace, and Yusmeiro Petit) held the Phillies to one hit while striking out one batter each.
The Nationals got some discouraging news in that regard on Wednesday and will try to move ahead with questions about ace Stephen Strasburg when they host the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday.Strasburg sat out 16 games to rest a sore elbow before returning on Wednesday but lasted only 2 1/3 innings against Atlanta before exiting again with an undisclosed injury.
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Asher, acquired from the Rangers in the trade for Cole Hamels, ended last season in the Phillies’ starting rotation and went 0-6 with a 9.31 ERA in seven starts.
