Maikel Franco hits walk-off homer as Phillies beat Nationals to salvage one win in series

Maikel Franco ditched his bat Sunday afternoon, spiking it against the dirt of the batter’s box nearly as soon as he used it to whack the hanging sinker. He watched the ball travel for a moment, turned to the Phillies dugout, and pointed to his teammates.

The celebration was on. The Phillies had not won in a week before Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park, and their desperation was evident as they stormed from the dugout and waited for Franco.

A night earlier, the season seemed to be slipping away with another crushing loss. But Sunday, Jean Segura scooped a pile of dirt to throw at Franco as he crossed home plate after delivering the walk-off homer. The Phillies, as they try to pull themselves from a brutal stretch, were ready to savor a win.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” Franco said.

One win is not enough to snap the funk that dropped the Phillies from first to third place. The Phillies still have just 12 wins in their last 30 games. But Franco’s blast was enough to provide them with some needed life as they ready to open a four-game series on Monday night against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. The Phillies dropped the first two games of the series against Washington and a series sweep would have been a death knell before facing the National League’s heavyweight. Instead, the Phillies gave themselves a shot.

“It's some momentum that we can ride going into the Dodgers series,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We have a lot of work to do. We understand that. We certainly don't discount the energy boost that a game like today can give us.”

Jake Arrieta provided five strong innings as he battled through the bone spur in his elbow that derailed him before the All-Star break. He allowed just one run on four hits, struck out two, and walked two. His elbow throbbed and his uniform was dirty from his headfirst slide into second for a third-inning double, but Arrieta soldiered on. He threw 88 pitches and the Phillies did not want to push him much deeper.

“It’s going to be a pretty consistent theme. It’s going to be painful,” Arrieta said. “The good thing is I’m not going to injure it any further. It is what it is. We’ll get it taken out when the time is right, but I can do what I did today for us a lot. Sometimes it is going to be even better, so the pain is just something you get used to.”

Arrieta handed the bullpen a one-run lead, but 12 outs seemed to be a tall task. And it was.

J.D. Hammer faced five batters in the seventh, but he retired just one and allowed two runs to tie the game after J.T. Realmuto increased the lead to two runs with a sixth-inning homer. Ryan Howard, who was honored with a pregame retirement ceremony, implored the fans to not boo the current team. But that plea fell on deaf ears when Gabe Kapler lifted Hammer.

“It’s a young group,” Howard said. “They’re still trying to find their way. They have to find out who they are and figure out who they are. Last year, they were able to make some strides forward. This year? Yeah, they kind of scuffled and struggled a little bit and that’s the ebb and flow of baseball. Every team goes through it. Washington got off to a slow start and all of a sudden they hit a stretch. The Braves hit a stretch. At some point, they’ll hit a stretch where things start going well. It’s all about hitting a stretch at the right point where you can catch the other teams kind of slipping.”

A night earlier, it was Hector Neris who was booed after giving up a go-ahead homer in the ninth. And it was Franco who was jeered after his error kept the eighth inning alive. Neris returned Sunday to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth. And Franco returned Sunday to give the Phillies the hit they needed. He told Neris after Sunday’s win that the closer owed him dinner. Other players lit cigars. The Phillies finally had a win. For one day, it was enough to change the tone.

“I think it’s not whether you get hit. You’re going to get punched and you’re going to fall down and you’re going to hit the mat. But it’s how quickly you can get back up and how hard you hit back,” Kapler said, pulling a line from Rocky Balboa. “Mikey had an error that hurt us yesterday. But he bounced back today. He really showed the resiliency we talk about and the toughness we talk about.”