Brad Miller crushed a walk-off grand slam in extra innings as the Philadelphia Phillies recovered from a seven-run deficit to record an 11-8 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday afternoon to avoid a doubleheader sweep.
The Phillies scored three runs in the seventh — the last two on J.T. Realmuto’s single — to avoid the loss. They won the game the following inning in dramatic fashion when Miller sent a 1-2 sinker from Nationals left-hander Sam Clay (0-4) 425 feet over the fence in right.
Rhys Hoskins, Andrew McCutchen and Alec Bohm also hit homers for the Phillies.
Ryan Zimmerman delivered the tiebreaking single in the top of the eighth inning to give Washington an 8-7 lead before Miller’s heroics in the bottom of the frame. The homer was Miller’s 10th of the season.
Josh Harrison hit a two-run homer and Yadiel Hernandez added a two-run double for the Nationals.
The doubleheader split came after Washington placed All-Star shortstop Trea Turner, catcher Alex Avila and right-handers Daniel Hudson and Austin Voth on the COVID-19 list earlier in the day. A total of 13 members of the organization are part of the outbreak, including five coaches and four staffers.
The Nationals won the opener 3-1 and received six strong innings from Max Scherzer, who will likely be dealt by Friday’s trade deadline.
Washington was one out away from victory in the nightcap but Wander Suero and Tanner Rainey couldn’t get the final out on a day in which the team traded closer Brad Hand to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Suero allowed a two-out single to Miller and walked McCutchen. Rainey entered and allowed a run-scoring single to Bohm to bring the Phillies within two before walking Ronald Torreyes to load the bases.
Realmuto followed with a two-run single to left to tie the score.
Patrick Corbin allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings for the Nationals. The left-hander struck out two and walked one.
Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez retired just one batter. He was charged with four runs, three hits and one walk.
A bases-loaded double by Hernandez was the big blow in a four-run first inning with two runners scoring on the hit and a third on an error by Philadelphia center fielder Luke Williams. Tres Barrera followed by greeting Connor Brogdon with a double off the wall in left center to make it 4-0.
Zimmerman singled with two outs in the second and Harrison followed with a blast over the left-field fence to make it 6-0. It was Harrison’s sixth homer of the season.
The lead was 7-0 before Philadelphia began chipping away on the third-inning homer by Hoskins (his 23rd), and back-to-back fourth-inning blasts by McCutchen (No. 20) and Bohm (No. 7).
–Field Level Media