Phillies pull away from Nats as Realmuto appears to avoid serious injury

The Phillies won for the sixth time in the last eight games on Tuesday night, but the 6-2 victory over the Washington Nationals came at a cost.

All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto might not be able to play Wednesday night after taking a foul ball off the left knee in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Realmuto, who had to leave the game, was lucky. The ball did not strike his kneecap. 

"It's a muscle contusion," manager Joe Girardi said. "I'm not so sure what he's going to feel like tomorrow, my guess is it wouldn't be great."

Girardi said he did not believe Realmuto would need time on the injured list.

Josh Bell hit the ball that struck Realmuto's knee. At the time, there were two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the bases were loaded with the Phillies clinging to a one-run lead. Realmuto stayed in the game long enough to record the putout as Jose Alvarado struck out Bell to preserve the one-run lead.

A half-inning later, the Phillies, who had started the night 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, rallied for three runs, one on a hit by Alec Bohm and the other two on a single by Andrew Knapp, who pinch-hit and replaced Realmuto.

"When you have a lot of people on base, eventually you're going to score runs," Girardi said. "Consistently do it, you're going to be a good offense. We consistently put people on and we finally broke through. Big hit by Alec and then a really big hit by Andrew Knapp."

Chase Anderson pitched five strong innings but failed to get an out in the sixth. He managed to pick up his second win as a Phillie thanks to the work of the bullpen and the clutch hitting late in the game.

The Phillies' bullpen worked hard. Sam Coonrod, Brandon Kintzler, Alvarado, Connor Brogdon and Hector Neris combined to throw 95 pitches in four innings. A total of 370 pitches were thrown in the game by the two teams.

The Phils improved to 19-17. They are a game behind the first-place Mets in the NL East. 

The Phils have not won a road series this season. With Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin on the mound the next two games, they would seem to have a good chance of getting it done in this series. Still to be determined is whether Realmuto plays again in the series. More will be known on his condition before Wednesday's game.

Girardi teed one up for the second-guessers when he let Anderson hit with the bases loaded, no outs and the Phillies up, 3-0, in the sixth. The Phils got nothing in that inning and things got tight when Anderson was charged with two runs in the sixth, one on a leadoff homer by Trea Turner.

"Hindsight is always 20-20, but I just liked the way he was pitching," Girardi said of his decision to stick with Anderson, who has now pitched into the sixth in just two of seven starts and failed to record an out in the inning both times.

After leaving the bases loaded in the sixth, the Phils left two more in the seventh before pulling away in the eighth.

Odubel Herrera doubled in the top of the eighth and scored on a hit by Bohm. Knapp then stroked his two-run single to give Brogdon and Neris some cushion as they got the final six outs.

Herrera had two doubles and scored two runs. Over his last six games, he is 7 for 18 (.389) with two doubles, a homer, four walks, four RBIs and three runs scored.

"I said it like five days ago," Girardi said. "We like the way he was swinging the bat. He started to make some adjustments working with (hitting coach) Joe Dillon and it's seemed to carry over so he's had good at-bats."

The Phillies took a quick 1-0 lead on a solo home run by Bryce Harper in the first inning, built it to 2-0 on a two-out hit by Rhys Hoskins in the third and to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly by Andrew McCutchen in the fourth. McCutchen's sacrifice fly was preceded by a double from Herrera and a sacrifice bunt by Anderson.

In three previous games at Nationals Park, Anderson had allowed 19 hits and 17 runs in 9⅓ innings. Ouch.

The right-hander put all that behind him in this one. He survived a couple of hits and 23 pitches to put up a zero in the first inning and then did not allow another hit until Turner led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo homer. Anderson walked the next batter, Juan Soto, and was lifted from the game. Soto eventually scored in the inning as the Nats cut the Phils' lead to a run.

The fourth and fifth spots in the starting rotation have been an issue for the Phillies and it's no secret that Spencer Howard is down in Triple A, getting ready to fill a starter's role with the big club. Vince Velasquez and Anderson are currently holding down those spots, but for how much longer? Anderson pitched well for five innings Tuesday night, but, eventually, the Phillies are going to need more than that. You can't afford to have your bullpen throw 95 pitches in one game very often.

On this night it worked. And J.T. Realmuto appeared to avoid serious injury. All good. For now.

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