Phillies beat Nationals, finish with 95 wins, their most since 2011. Now they’ll wait for the playoffs.
In a thrilling ending to a mostly unimportant game, Kody Clemens made a leaping catch at the wall to preserve a 6-3 Phillies victory in Washington.
WASHINGTON — In the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday, with the bases loaded and two outs, the Nationals’ Juan Yepez took one of José Ruiz’s curveballs and drove it 366 feet to left field. Kody Clemens tracked it down, jumped in the air, stuck out his glove, and snatched the ball just before he hit the wall. For a Phillies team that has given its fan base palpitations at times, it felt like a fitting way for the season to end.
“Clemens,” said manager Rob Thomson. “Just like we drew it up.”
Clemens’ catch with the bases loaded gave Ruiz the first save of his big league career, and the Phillies a 6-3 win over the Nationals. It was not the most consequential of games. The Phillies secured their No. 2 seed on Saturday, so there wasn’t much to play for on Sunday. But there were a few milestones that players wanted to cross.
Right fielder Nick Castellanos, who exited in the second inning, played in his 162nd game. Starter Aaron Nola had the opportunity to reach 200 strikeouts and 200 innings but fell just short.
“It’s a goal every year to get to 200, 200-plus,” Nola said. “It didn’t work out, but that’s all right. We achieved our goal, and one of our goals is to win the division, and we did that. And finished the last game of the season off strong, with a win.”
Thomson said his biggest takeaway from Game 162 was that the players came out of it healthy. In the second inning, Drew Millas roped a single right at Nola. It hit him just above his right hip. Nola was looked at by assistant athletic trainer Joe Rauch, but stayed in the game.
He allowed three earned runs on nine hits over five innings with seven strikeouts and one home run. The right-hander finished his year with a 3.57 ERA over 199⅓ innings, with 197 strikeouts. He characterized his season as “decent.”
“Up and down,” he said. “Had some really bad games, but overall, it felt like I was more consistent than last year for sure. Gave guys a better chance to win this year than I did last year. Stayed healthy, which is always a plus.”
With the win, the Phillies finished their season 95-67 — their most wins since 2011. The second seed guarantees them home-field advantage for the National League Division Series but not the entirety of the playoffs, should they advance. Because the Phillies finished their season with a better record than the American League-leading Yankees (93-68), the Phillies will get home-field advantage if they advance to the World Series.
But first, they have to get there. And a determining factor will be whether the bats are able to stay sharp throughout the first-round bye. Sunday’s game was a good note to end on, from that standpoint. The Phillies jumped on Nationals starter Jake Irvin early. Kyle Schwarber collected a leadoff walk, Trea Turner singled, and Castellanos walked.
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Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm drove home Schwarber and Turner with ground outs to put two runs on the board. The lineup tacked on in the fifth, loading the bases with a walk and two singles for Schwarber, who hit a two-run single to left.
Weston Wilson drove in another two runs with a line double to center field for a 6-1 lead. As a whole, the Phillies collected six runs on nine hits, going 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
The at-bats were “a lot better,” Thomson said. “Big first inning, couple walks, Schwarber gets the base hit. And Bohm actually hit the ball hard a couple of times today, so that was good to see. Wilson, big double. Played good defense. Made the return play on the double-steal attempt very well. Stott made a heck of a throw, and then he made a heck of a play to his backhand on the dive. I was really happy with the way we finished.”
The Phillies will have an off day on Monday, and return to work on Tuesday. They won’t play meaningful baseball again until Saturday, in the National League Division Series, but will try to stay locked in throughout this week.
“I would probably just say that even though you’re not playing games, per se, just be locked in in the work that you are doing,” Castellanos said. “Don’t be just so happy-go-lucky and think of these five days as a vacation. But still remain focused and concentrate on whatever it is that we have scheduled that day.”