Two nights in a row Philadelphia Phillies reliever Ryan Madson has taken the mound with his team in trouble and the Nationals’ top two hitters coming to the plate. Both times his club walked off the field a winner.
Tuesday night, Madson struck out Ryan Zimmerman and induced a ground out by Adam Dunn with the bases loaded and the tying run at second base. On Wednesday, with the Phillies up by one and the tying run again in scoring position, Madson got Dunn to line out to second base – and then received an added bonus when baserunner Justin Maxwell couldn’t get back to the second-base bag in time. Instead, he was doubled up to end the game when Chase Utley flipped the ball to shortstop Jimmy Rollins covering. Philadelphia won it, 6-5, before a crowd of 16,818 at Nationals Park.
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It was an up-and-down night for Maxwell, who did set a career high with three hits. He had earlier run through a stop sign at third base in the fifth inning – but easily scored on the play and was later cleared of any fault by third base coach Pat Listach, who took the blame for not sending Maxwell in the first place. In the end, it wasn’t baserunning mistake that cost Washington, anyway. It was not taking advantage of its chances at the plate against Philadelphia starter Cliff Lee and relievers Chan Ho Park and Madson.
“We had first-and-third, no outs and we had bases-loaded, no outs and each time only got one run out of that,” said Nats manager Jim Riggleman. “It comes back to haunt us.”
Nats starter Garrett Mock struggled early, allowing four hits and a walk in the second inning. But he settled down, striking out the side in the fourth inning. Mock left after five, allowing four runs on six hits and three walks.
“I made a couple of pitches [in the second inning] that went right where I wanted them and they just found that place – that piece of grass – where there was nobody there to catch it,” Mock said. “It’s just one of those games…But for me there were a lot of positives I can draw from it.”
Washington trailed 4-1 at that point, but scored twice in the bottom of the fifth and again in the seventh to tie the game at 4. The Phillies then took the lead right back in the top of the eighth with a pair of solo home runs off reliever Tyler Clippard (2-2, 3.16 ERA), who took the loss. Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz did the damage. It was the second game in a row Philadelphia hit back-to-back homers and the 10th time this season.
“Clippard has done a good job for us and taken the ball whenever we’ve asked him, too,” Riggleman said. “But the last couple of nights he hasn’t been able to locate and he’s paid for it.”
