Luis Garcia Jr. drove in three runs and Jose Tena notched three hits and two RBIs to guide the visiting Washington Nationals to a comfortable 13-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
Washington, which has won three of its first four games, totaled 17 hits, all of which were singles or doubles. The team only scored five runs on hits with the rest coming on groundouts, sacrifice flies, walks or chaos on the basepaths.
Joey Wiemer, who went 3-for-3 with a home run and a walk in each of his first two games for Washington, continued his hot start to the season with two singles in four at-bats, plus another walk.
Rafael Marchan hit a two-run homer for Philadelphia, which fell to 1-3 to begin the season. Phillies starter Taijuan Walker (0-1) was charged with seven runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Phillies had a tough time against Foster Griffin (1-0), who was making his first major league start since 2022. The right-hander gave up two runs and five hits in five innings with no walks and five strikeouts.
Washington erupted for four runs in the first inning. After the first two batters reached against Walker, the veteran right-hander recovered to get the next two hitters. But the next three hitters knocked in RBIs to make it 3-0 before Jorbit Vivas’ sacrifice fly capped the four-run frame.
After plating another run in the second inning, the Nationals tacked on two more runs in the third. Vivas walked and Wiemer singled to begin the frame before Trea Turner’s error opened the door for a pair of run-scoring groundouts to make it 7-0.
Philadelphia’s bats were quiet through the first four innings before Marchan’s homer in the fifth made it 7-2. The Phillies put two more runners on base in the frame, but Griffin rebounded to retire Bryce Harper to escape the jam.
Washington countered with two more runs in the sixth with help from an error by Edmundo Sosa.
The Nationals padded their lead with four runs in the ninth against Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado. The left-hander walked James Wood with the bases loaded to make it 10-2 before Garcia’s base hit extended the lead to 12-2.
Infielder Dylan Moore came on to get the final two outs, allowing one run in the process.
