Washington Nationals 5-1 over Philadelphia Phillies: Joe Ross dominates Phils in CBP

Washington Nationals' starter Joe Ross snapped a streak of four straight losses last time out, putting together seven strong innings on the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Ross, 23, held the Cards to one run on six hits in the 2-1 win in D.C., and earned the fourth win of his second major league season.

Tonight, in Philadelphia, the right-hander was facing the Phillies for the second time in 2016 in Citizens Bank Park, after throwing 7 ⅔ scoreless against the Nationals' NL East rivals back on April 15th.

Ross earned his second straight win with another solid performance, holding the Phillies to one run on three hits in seven innings, with solo home runs by Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy providing all the support he would need in what ended up a 2-1 win.

Ross took the mound with a 1-0 lead, courtesy of a one-out solo home run by Jayson Werth, who took the first pitch he saw from Philly righty Aaron Nola for a ride into the left-center seats, some 380-ish feet from home.

After two scoreless, however, Cesar Hernandez tied it up in the third with an RBI triple to center that brought David Lough around after the Phillies' right fielder doubled to right off Ross to start the frame.

It remained a 1-1 game until the top of the sixth, when Daniel Murphy got hold of a 90 mph 1-2 heater from Nola and hit it out to right for a two-out solo blast that made it 2-1 Nationals. Murphy's 9th.

Aaron Nola's Line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 Ks, 2 HR, 96 P, 64 S, 6/3 GO/FO.

Joe Ross's Line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks, 103 P, 67 S, 6/4 GO/FO.

Felipe Rivero took over on the mound in the bottom of the eighth, and struck out two in a 13-pitch, 1-2-3 frame.

Danny Espinosa hit a two-run home run to right in the top of the ninth and Stephen Drew hit a fly to center that bounced off the out-of-town scoreboard, allowing him to make it all the way around for an inside the park HR. 5-1.

Jonathan Papelbon came on in the non-save situation and wrapped things up. 5-1 final. Ballgame.

Nationals now 32-21

NATS NOTES:

• Washington's win last night left them 15-11 against Philadelphia over the last two seasons after the Nationals took 12 of 19 from the Phillies in 2015.
• The Nationals' current road trip, which continues with two more in Citizens Bank Park and then three in Cincinnati and three in Chicago (AL), is the longest, by days that they'll have this season.
• The Nationals are 16-10 on the road thus far, tied for the second-best record in the NL on the road, tied with the San Francisco Giants, behind only the Chicago Cubs (17-8).
• Philadelphia's starter, Aaron Nola, took the mound tonight with the second-lowest opponents' OBP in the National League (.238), behind only Clayton Kershaw (.185).
• Nola was also the fifth-best pitcher in the NL in WAR (2.0), behind Kershaw (4.1), Noah Syndergaard (2.6), Johnny Cueto (2.5) and Stephen Strasburg (2.2).
• Daniel Murphy was 3 for 4 last night in the series opener in CBP, leaving him 45 for 109 (.413 AVG) with one game left to play in May.
• Murphy started the night leading the majors in multi-hit games (25) and batting average (.395). He was also tied for first in the majors with 75 hits thus far this season. With a HR in the sixth, and a single in the eighth, Murphy collected his 26th multi-hit game.
• Ryan Zimmerman has a .262/.319/.553 line thus far in May, with seven home runs, seven doubles and 15 runs scored so far this month.
• With a home run last night, Freddy Galvis extended his current hitting streak to eight-straight games, over which he has a .364 AVG, four doubles, a triple and a home run.
• Nationals' relievers have a combined 1.67 ERA in 54 IP in May, with 10.00 K/9 on the month heading into tonight's game.
• Phillies' reliever Hector Neris's blown save and loss last night was the first blown save by a Phillies' reliever thus far this season.
• Before last night, the Phillies were one of only three teams without a blown save at home, along with the Arizona D-Backs and Washington Nationals.

Nationals now 32-21