The Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Washington Nationals, 5-2, on Tuesday night to fall to 0-2 in the three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. The loss was the Phillies' fourth straight for what is now their longest losing streak of the season. Roy Halladay (L, 4-4) lasted six innings for his second shortest outing of the season. He gave up nine hits, two for home runs, and five earned runs while striking out six.
Halladay gave up four runs in third inning alone. Bryce Harper hit a two-run triple to give the Nationals the lead for good. Ian Desmond hit a solo home run three batters later to put Washington up 4-1. That lead extended to 5-1 in the fourth when Halladay gave up another homer, this time to Rick Ankiel, to lead off the inning.
Nationals starter Jordan Zimmerman (W, 3-4) gave up seven hits in his six innings on the mound, but was tagged with just one earned run. The Phillies went up 1-0 in the second inning when Hector Luna hit a ground rule double over the the center field fence to score Hunter Pence. They wouldn't score again until Zimmerman left the mound. Erik Kratz pinch-hit a home run off Tom Gorzelanny in the eighth inning to cap the scoring at 5-2. The dinger was Kratz' first hit this season in four at-bats.
The Phillies are now 21-23 on the season, and 5.5 games behind the first-place Nationals in the NL East. Game 3 of the series will pit Philadelphia's Cole Hamel (4-4, 2.48 ERA) against Washington's Edwin Jackson (1-1, 3.31) on the mound at 7:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.
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