Aaron Nola had exhausted 100 pitches through six innings on Wednesday night, a surefire sign that his night was finished.
But then the Phillies finally chased Washington starter Patrick Corbin, scored two runs against the Nationals' bullpen, and rallied to take the lead in the seventh inning of a 3-2 win at Nationals Park. If there was a night for Joe Girardi to ride Nola into deep water, it was Wednesday. So, he did.
Nola returned for the seventh inning, threw 13 pitches to retire three batters, and shortened the workload on the bullpen after they pieced together four innings on Tuesday night. The final pitch he threw _ his 113th of the night _ was a signature curveball for a swinging strike against Trea Turner, Nola's eighth strikeout of the night.
Girardi leaned on the ace of his staff to capture a series win on the road against the reigning world champions. The Phillies came to D.C. after slogging through a five-game losing streak and spending the previous eight days on the road. They knew they would face Corbin and Max Scherzer, two of baseball's premier pitches, but they'll leave Wednesday night with a series win, thanks to their own premier arm.
Nola allowed two runs on five hits in his seven innings, rebounding from a rough start last Friday in Atlanta. He has allowed three runs or less in four of his last five starts. Juan Soto homered in the second inning and Howie Kendrick beat the shift in the fourth with an RBI single that was nearly a double play. Nola kept the Phillies in it until they scored twice in the seventh.
The win gave Joe Girardi his 1,000th career win, which ties him with Charlie Manuel for the 64th-most managerial wins in baseball history. Girardi, who has managed 1,808 games, is the 16th-fastest manager in major-league history to reach 1,000 wins.
"It means I've been really blessed and fortunate to be in the game for a long time," Girardi said. "I've been around a lot of great players, great organizations who have given me an opportunity to do this. Great coaching staffs. Just everywhere I've been, I've had great coaches assembled around me. (Bench coach) Rob Thomson has been with me almost the whole way, all but one year. I'm so thankful for what he's done for my career and what he does on an everyday basis and all the coaches what they've done. I've been blessed."
The game was played Wednesday night as baseball responded to the shooting on Sunday of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, by police in Kenosha, Wisc. Earlier in the day, the NBA postponed three playoff games after Milwaukee and Orlando staged a boycott.
The Brewers and Reds postponed their game in Milwaukee, located 40 miles north of Kenosha. The Padres and Mariners postponed their game in San Diego and the Giants and Dodgers opted against playing in San Francisco. Several players _ including Jayson Heyward of the Cubs and Dexter Fowler and Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals _ sat out in protest.
"We as a team, the Milwaukee Brewers, unanimously decided today to not play our baseball game due to continued issues that we've seen with racial injustice and social oppression," Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun said. "Obviously, with what happened in Kenosha, it hits close to home. It's something that continues to be deeply disturbing and disheartening to all of us. We had a team meeting and as a group, we continue to have conversations about what we can do and how we can use our platform to continue to try to elicit change as we recognize that there are still significant issues in our country."
"We made the decision today that the most impactful thing we can do is not play our baseball game, to not distract from what's going on in the country. We felt that baseball was insignificant relative to the issues that we all continue to see and that we are disturbed by."
By the time Nola threw his 100th pitch, the Phillies had scored just one run. Rhys Hoskins homered in the third inning for his third home run in the last nine games. Didi Gregorius tripled in the seventh, which caused Nationals manager Davey Martinez to lift starter Patrick Corbin. Alec Bohm greeted reliever Will Harris with a single to right field for his sixth RBI in 12 games since being promoted as the rookie continues to look comfortable at the plate.
The Phillies had finally chased Corbin, scored two runs against the Nationals bullpen, and rallied to take the lead in the seventh inning. If there was a night for Joe Girardi to ride Nola into deep water, it was Wednesday. So he did.
