GAME THREAD: NL: WASHINGTON (42-58) at PHILADELPHIA (52-48)

NL: WASHINGTON at PHILADELPHIA

<div class="pre">NL FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
WASHINGTON 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 7 10 1
PHILADELPHIA 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 6 12 1 (FINAL)

BATTERIES: WAS - JOHN LANNAN, CHRIS SCHRODER (5TH), RAY KING (6TH), JON RAUCH
(7TH), CHAD CORDERO (9TH) AND JESUS FLORES

PHI - ADAM EATON, J.C. ROMERO (7TH), JOSE MESA (7TH),
MICHAEL ZAGURSKI (8TH) AND ROD BARAJAS, CARLOS RUIZ (8TH)


WP - JON RAUCH (6-2)
LP - JOSE MESA (0-2)
SAVE - CHAD CORDERO (20)

HOME RUNS: WAS - JESUS FLORES (2) OFF MICHAEL ZAGURSKI IN THE 8TH, 2 ON

PHI - RYAN HOWARD (29) OFF JOHN LANNAN IN THE 3RD, 1 ON


TIME: 3:25 ATT: 43,413

PROBABLES: PIT - JOHN VAN BENSCHOTEN (0-4, 8.17)
PHI - JAMIE MOYER (8-8, 5.01)

PROBABLES: WAS - TIM REDDING (1-2, 2.92)
NYM - JORGE SOSA (7-5, 4.36)</div>

 

Flores powers Nationals past Phillies

<h3>WASHINGTON 7, PHILADELPHIA 6</h3><div class="pre">PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- This time, Jesus Flores' clutch hit</div>was preserved by the Washington Nationals' bullpen.

Flores hit a two-out, three-run home run in the eighth inningoff reliever Mike Zagurski as Washington avoided a three-gameseries sweep with a 7-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillieson Thursday.


The loss was costly for the Phillies, who learned after the gamethat second baseman Chase Utley suffered a broken right handafter being hit by a pitch. Utley was placed on the 15-daydisabled list after the game.


Flores also delivered a key pinch-hit, two-run double offZagurski in the ninth inning of Wednesday's game thattemporarily gave the Nationals a one-run lead, but the Philliestied it and won it in dramatic fashion on Ryan Howard's two-run,walk-off home run in the 14th inning.


"The last two days, I felt like I'm playing every day," Floressaid. "I just want to get comfortable every time I play andmake good swings."


Washington had two on with two outs in the eighth when Floreshit Zagurski's first pitch deep into the left field seats forjust his second home run of the season to give the Nationals a7-5 lead.


"It was exciting," Flores said. "I came off the bench and hitthe double (Wednesday) and today, I hit a three-run home run."

Zagurski's mistake made a loser of Jose Mesa (0-2), who allowedtwo unearned runs in two-thirds of an inning.


"Zagurski's a young guy with not much experience," Philliesmanager Charlie Manuel said. "He threw a change in the middleof the plate. Young guys make mistakes."


Flores' blast capped a five-run comeback for Washington, whichtrailed, 5-2, entering the seventh. Felipe Lopez brought theNationals to within one with a two-out, two-run single in theseventh.


"Jesus has gotten some big hits in his limited time for us,"Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "He has that kind of talent.We think he's going to be a front-line catcher in the bigleagues in the future."


Jon Rauch (6-2) got the win in relief while Chad Cordero alloweda run in the ninth before notching his 20th save.


Howard hit another two-run homer for the Phillies and PatBurrell also drove in two runs as Philadelphia had itsseason-high five-game winning streak snapped.


With the Phillies trailing, 2-1, in the bottom of the third,Utley singled with two outs. Howard drove a 3-2 pitch fromWashington starter John Lannan over the center field fence forhis 29th home run of the season and a 3-2 Phillies lead.

Lannan, who was making his major league debut, ran into troublein the fifth. The lefthander hit Utley with an 0-2 pitch andthen hit Howard with the first pitch. After hitting Howard,home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt immediately ejected Lannanand Acta.


"(Wendelstedt's) explanation was that Howard hit a home run inhis previous at-bat and he got hit in his next at-bat," Actasaid. "I was very surprised. I don't think the kid is gonnacome up here and start hitting people."


Utley immediately shook his right hand after being struck by thepitch, but stayed in the game.


"I definitely expect to come back, don't worry," Utley said.

Lannan went 4 1/3 innings and allowed five runs on six hits. Hewalked two and struck out one.


Chris Schroder replaced Lannan, but Aaron Rowand reached on anerror to load the bases. Burrell followed with a two-run singleto center that made it 5-2.


Washington got to Phillies starter Adam Eaton for two runs inthe first inning on RBI singles by Dmitri Young and AustinKearns.


Philadelphia responded in its half of the frame on a run-scoringsingle by Utley. The Phillies had a chance to score more runs,but Rowand hit into an inning-ending double play.