{"id":4803,"date":"2026-06-23T06:34:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T06:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4803"},"modified":"2026-06-23T06:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T06:34:32","slug":"nationals-halt-the-phillies-and-it-really-means-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4803","title":{"rendered":"Nationals halt the Phillies, and it really means something"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington continues its strong play and holds off its fierce NL East rival. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Curtis Mead, second from right, is congratulated by teammates Luis Garc\u00eda Jr., right, and CJ Abrams, front left, after the Nationals defeat the visiting Phillies. (John McDonnell\/AP Photo\/John McDonnell)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s been years since a Washington Nationals-Philadelphia Phillies series has carried the weight of this week\u2019s four-game set at Nationals Park. The division rivals have played noteworthy matchups, but this time they both have winning records and something to play for.<\/p>

Read more Erling Haaland scores 2 more goals and Norway beats Senegal 3-2 to reach World Cup round of 32<\/a><\/p>\n

After a 1-hour 32-minute weather delay, the Nationals had the advantage. They beat the Phillies, 4-1, behind a career-high 7\u2153 innings from Foster Griffin and home runs from Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. and Curtis Mead.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only June, but this series could be the difference between making the postseason or starting an early vacation. The Phillies took two out of three in Philadelphia earlier this year, but both have improved since then. The Phillies made the leap after firing manager Rob Thomson at the end of April, while the Nationals have made steady progress throughout the season.<\/p>\n

Now the teams were meeting again, and while the Nationals\u2019 clubhouse was aware of the stakes, Manager Blake Butera said they were treating it just like any other game. They were excited for the challenge and looked over their game plan while munching on appropriately themed pregame plates of cheesesteaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all come here to win,\u201d Garc\u00eda said through an interpreter. \u201cWe\u2019re working toward something. Of course they are also doing the same. It\u2019s really tight right now but from our side it\u2019s just come, keep working and win games.\u201d<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s exactly what the Nationals did on Monday. They put a run across in the first inning off opener Tim Mayza after James Wood doubled, advanced to third on a deep flyout from Curtis Mead and scored on a single from Dylan Crews. Garc\u00eda doubled the lead in the second inning off Alan Rangel, slugging his 11th homer of the season. Rangel, who was called up Monday, pitched five bulk innings for the Phillies, allowing just one run.<\/p>\n

That gave Griffin a bit of a security net as he worked through his start. The Phillies can be a tough lineup to crack \u2014 they scored 25 runs in a series win over the New York Mets this past weekend \u2014 but they were no problem for Griffin.<\/p>\n

\n
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Foster Griffin threw a career-high 7\u2153 innings for the Nationals. (John Mcdonnell\/Ap Photo\/John Mcdonnell)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some big names over there, they\u2019ve put together a really good club, they\u2019re hot right now too,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cIt\u2019s still a white ball and a round bat and hitting is hard. I just want to go out there with my stuff, mix pitches and try to execute.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Algeria rallies past Jordan 2-1 for its first win at a World Cup since 2014<\/a><\/p>\n

His one mishap came in the seventh, when Brandon Marsh hit a fastball to right field for a solo shot. In the bottom of the inning, with righty Seth Johnson on the mound for the Phillies, Mead immediately shifted the momentum back to the Nationals, turning on a full-count slider for a two-run homer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came in here with a goal to really attack lefties and he\u2019s fought his way into the lineup against righties and had some success against righties and we saw it again tonight with that huge home run,\u201d Butera said about Mead. \u201cGets us a little more wiggle room late in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his team holding a 4-1 lead, Butera sent Griffin, already at 99 pitches, out to face one more batter. It was another instance of Butera trusting Griffin late in the game, and once again Butera rewarded his manager. Six pitches later, Griffin accomplished his mission, getting Rafael March\u00e1n to ground out. The veteran southpaw exited to a standing ovation from the spattering of fans who remained after the lengthy delay, showing him love after he achieved the career milestone.<\/p>\n

Griffin tied a career high with nine strikeouts, generating 16 whiffs while holding the Phillies to just four hits. The cutter was strong, and his four-seam fastball was the best Butera said he had seen it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just had everything working,\u201d Butera said. \u201cIt was an unbelievable performance against this good of a lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Lovelady and Clayton Beeter faced the minimum to finish out the win.<\/p>\n

Note: <\/b>DJ Herz suffered a flexor strain and is being shut down, the Nationals said. The lefty had Tommy John surgery in April 2025 and had made three rehab starts before the setback.<\/p>

Read more Paige Bueckers scores 27, Fudd adds career-high 26 as the Wings beat the Storm 112-110 in overtime<\/a><\/p>\n

Herz made his MLB debut in 2024 and had a 4.16 ERA in 19 starts.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington continues its strong play and holds off its fierce NL East rival. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNationals halt the Phillies, and it really means something - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nationals halt the Phillies, and it really means something - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington continues its strong play and holds off its fierce NL East rival.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T06:34:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/128c9f9e55c4338435d2d5005da44bdd-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Nationals halt the Phillies, and it really means something\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T06:34:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803\"},\"wordCount\":832,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/44ea09fe6ed6d01e7e0dce2c3d812e5e-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803\",\"name\":\"Nationals halt the Phillies, and it really means something - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/44ea09fe6ed6d01e7e0dce2c3d812e5e-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T06:34:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=4803#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/44ea09fe6ed6d01e7e0dce2c3d812e5e-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/44ea09fe6ed6d01e7e0dce2c3d812e5e-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Washington Nationals' Curtis Mead, second from right, is congratulated by teammates Luis Garc\u00eda Jr., right, and CJ Abrams, front left, after they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in a baseball game, Monday, June 22, 2026, in Washington. 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