ROB MAADDI
AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A comfortable lead in the division helps the Washington Nationals minimize getting swept.
Pinch-hitter Grady Sizemore hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the NL East-leading Nationals 8-4 Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.
The Nationals had won 12 of 13 before losing three in a row in Philadelphia. They still have the best record (75-57) in the NL and a 6½-game lead over Atlanta in the East.
“We’re still playing good baseball,” shortstop Ian Desmond said. “We just lost a couple games. We know who we are.”
Denard Span was 3 for 4 and fell a triple short of the cycle for the Nationals. Doug Fister (12-5) allowed a season-high 10 hits and five runs — four earned — in 5 2-3 innings.
“With the exception of the last pitch, he was pretty good,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said.
Marlon Byrd hit a two-run homer and Jimmy Rollins hit a solo shot to back Kyle Kendrick (7-11). The right-hander allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings.
The last-place Phillies went 7-2 on their best homestand this season.
“We always have the same approach, win or lose,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said. “We look forward to the next one. We know if we do things correctly, we have a good chance to beat the other team.”
Byrd started Philadelphia’s rally in the sixth with a leadoff single. Domonic Brown lined an RBI double to right-center to cut the deficit to 4-3. Two outs later, Sizemore drove an 0-2 pitch into the right-field seats for a 5-4 lead and his first career pinch homer.
Fister left after hitting the next batter, Ben Revere, with an 89 mph fastball on his right arm. Revere went down in pain, but stayed in the game.
Byrd connected off Ross Detwiler in the seventh for his team-high 24th homer.
The Nationals took a 3-2 lead in the third when Jayson Werth singled in Span, who led off the inning with a double.
Span ripped a 427-foot homer off the railing in the second deck to make it 4-2 in the fifth. It was Span’s second homer this season in his 512th at-bat.
Rollins hit a towering drive into the right field seats for his 17th homer to cut it to 2-1 in the first. Chase Utley followed with a single to center. He scored when Span misplayed Ryan Howard’s single. The ball rolled past Span for an error and Howard ended up on second.
Howard added an RBI single in the eighth, finishing 3 for 5.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: 1B Adam LaRoche was back in the starting lineup after being held out due to back tightness on Tuesday. He went 0 for 4.
UP NEXT
Nationals: RHP Jordan Zimmermann (9-5, 2.93) starts the opener of an interleague series at Seattle. Felix Hernandez, the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner, goes for the Mariners.
NATS STATS
The Nationals fell to 63-8 when scoring four runs or more. … Span was 0 for 8 in the series before busting out of his slump. He leads the NL with 50 multi-hit games. … Fister has lost consecutive starts for the first time this year.
CELEBRATING MO’NE
The Phillies honored Mo’ne Davis and her Taney Dragons teammates on a day the city gave them a parade downtown. Davis, who was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated after becoming the first female pitcher to win a game in the Little League World Series’ 68-year history, and her 11 teammates each threw out a first pitch to 12 Phillies players. The Dragons represented the mid-Atlantic region in the World Series. They won their first two games before being eliminated, losing to Las Vegas and to eventual U.S. champion Chicago.
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