Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies

PHILADELPHIA – On Wednesday night, it took 11 innings and a pinch-hit appearance from Thursday’s starting pitcher (yes, you read that correctly) for the Nationals to snap a seven-game losing skid. The 10-4 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park was the result of a true team effort -- down to 37-year-old Miles Mikolas driving in a run less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to take the mound. “We’re not losing hope by any means,” said manager Blake Butera. “We’re going to have to grind out some games, like we did tonight. But at the end of the day, we’ll do whatever it takes to find wins.” Emphasizing togetherness all season, the Nationals broke a frustrating losing streak their way -- as one. “We never give up,” said starting pitcher Jake Irvin, who delivered an impassioned postgame speech to the team. “No matter what, we’re going to stay in the fight. No matter what the last week has looked like, what the future looks like, stay in the moment and take care of business when you have to.” Searching for their first win since July 28, the Nationals swapped runs with the Phillies in the 10th inning to take a 3-3 tie into the 11th. With automatic runner Brady House on second base, Jacob Young drew a walk against Caleb Kilian. CJ Abrams rocked a Statcast-projected 407-foot deep fly ball, which just missed sailing over the center-field wall. Instead, his go-ahead triple drove in two runs to take a 6-4 lead. “That’s CJ,” said Butera. “He’s been a leader for us. He’s performed unbelievably well all year long. We needed him to step up there, and that’s what really good players do.” Between in-game substitutions with pinch-hitters and pinch-runners, the Nationals knew they could run out of position players to hit. It is a scenario they had prepared for, and Butera had just the pitcher in mind. On the eve of reaching 10 years of Major League service time, Mikolas was asked to take his first at-bat since 2021. The 11-year veteran embraced the moment. “He’s always itching to get out there,” said Butera. “He reminds me every chance he can that he has two career home runs.”