WASHINGTON _ For one game, at least, practice made Maikel Franco perfect.
Franco didn't play in the series opener here Friday night. Even though fellow third baseman J.P. Crawford is out with a broken left hand and rookie Jesmuel Valentin had made only one previous start at the position, the Phillies preferred to consign Franco to the bench while putting him through extra drills in the batting cage in their latest appeal to get him to hit the ball in the air more often.
"When you're not playing," manager Gabe Kapler said, "you have a chance to kind of work on your craft."
Franco responded in kind. Back in the lineup Saturday, he went 4-for-4 and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning of a 5-3 victory over the Washington Nationals by chugging home on Valentin's fly ball to right field and sliding safely under catcher Spencer Kieboom's tag.
It marked the first four-hit game since July 14 for Franco, who entered with only four hits in his previous 28 at-bats. And now, the question becomes whether this will set Franco on course to fulfill his potential as the Phillies' long-term third baseman or serve as just another tease en route to ultimately displacing him when Crawford returns or general manager Matt Klentak gets around to trading for Adrian Beltre, signing Manny Machado or acquiring someone else.
The Phillies will wait a while longer before deriving an answer. In the short term, Franco sparked their third consecutive victory and ninth win in 12 games. The Phillies have won four consecutive series for the first time since May 5-18, 2016. And with a victory in their first appearance on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball since April 21, 2013, the Phillies can sweep their first series at Nationals Park since April 26-28, 2016.
Don't look now, but the Phillies are 1{ games ahead of the swooning Nationals, who have dropped nine of their last 12 games.
Once again, the Phillies got a stellar performance from ace Aaron Nola. After giving up two runs in a two-out rally in the first inning, Nola blanked the Nationals for the next five frames. He also tied the game with a two-out single in the Phillies' two-run second inning.
Nola threw 83 pitches and easily could have continued, but with Franco on third base as the go-ahead run, Kapler used Valentin as a pinch-hitter in the seventh.
It worked. Valentin hit a line drive to right fielder Adam Eaton, who took one step and made a strong throw to home plate. Franco, not known for his speed, rumbled home and beat the tag, with a video replay confirming home-plate umpire Larry Vanover's initial safe call.
Carlos Santana added a solo homer and Franco notched an RBI single in the eighth inning before Seranthony Dominguez recorded a save in the ninth inning.
