Two wily veterans took the mound for the Phillies-Nationals game Wednesday night. Two veterans that have been quite good this year for their teams. A pitching duel wasn’t exactly expected, but it would not have surprised anyone if one did. And for a five innings, one did. A complete contrast to the night before, where (checks notes) 8,123,412 pitches were thrown, this game was played pretty crisply for those five innings.
Then the Phillies’ defense happened.
Zack Wheeler and Jon Lester were both very good early in the games. The only blemish on either pitcher’s ledger was when the Phillies had runners on first and second in the top of the second for Andrew Knapp.