The Washington Nationals will kick off a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies tonight at Nationals Park. The Nationals are scheduled to send right-handed pitcher Brad Lord with a record of 3-6 with a 3.28 ERA. The Philies are scheduled to send left-handed pitcher Jesús Luzardo with an 11-5 record and a 4.20 ERA.

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Coming off a 3-3 road trip that included a series victory at San Francisco and an 8-7 win over Kansas City on Wednesday afternoon.

The Washington Nationals earned a hard-fought 8-7 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the series finale, surviving a rollercoaster game that included an explosive start, a late Royals rally, and clutch ninth-inning heroics.

The afternoon couldn’t have begun much better for the Nationals. They exploded for five runs in the opening frame, capped by Nathaniel Lowe’s grand slam—the team’s first since April 2024. The offense kept rolling against Royals starter Seth Lugo, adding a Brady House RBI single in the third and a CJ Abrams solo home run in the fourth. By the time Lugo exited after four innings, Washington had built what looked like a comfortable 7-2 lead.

But the game was far from over. Nationals starter Jake Irvin struggled to protect the advantage, giving up six runs over four innings, including a three-run blast by Vinnie Pasquantino in the fourth that tightened the score to 7-6. The Royals kept pressing, and in the eighth inning, Bobby Witt Jr.’s sacrifice fly brought Kansas City level at 7-7.

From there, the Nationals had to lean heavily on their bullpen. Interim manager Miguel Cairo called on five different relievers—most of them rookies—to piece together the final five innings. The group surrendered just one run, with Jose A. Ferrer ultimately closing the door by stranding the potential tying run at third base in the ninth.

The biggest blow of the game came in the top of the ninth. After Luis García Jr. doubled and moved to third on Josh Bell’s flyout, rookie Daylen Lile stepped to the plate and delivered a two-out, go-ahead single off Royals closer Carlos Estévez. Lile, who has been on a tear lately with a .339 average over his last 17 games, called it “a moment you dream of.”

Pasquantino’s dominance for Kansas City continued—he has now driven in 11 runs over his last four games—but it wasn’t enough to overtake Washington’s balanced attack and resilient bullpen. Cairo praised his club for its all-around effort, noting that both the offense and pitching corps played key roles in the win.

On Deck…

The Nationals will play game two of four against the Phillies with the first pitch scheduled to be at 6:45 p.m. EDT. The Nationals are scheduled to send LHP MacKenzie Gore (5-12, 4.09 ERA) and are scheduled to face RHP Zack Wheeler (10-5, 2.68 ERA) from the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the hole…

On Saturday, the Nationals will play game three of four against the Phillies, with the first pitch scheduled to be at 4:05 pm. Scheduled to make it to the start for the Nationals on the mound is RHP Cade Cavalli (0-0, 3.86 ERA), and the Phillies are scheduled to send RHP Taijuan Walker (4-5, 3.39 ERA) to the mound

The Nationals on Thursday reinstated outfielder Dylan Crews from the 60-day injured list, following his rehabilitation assignment, and designated first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for assignment.

Crews rejoins the active roster after playing 13 rehab games with Triple-A Rochester. Before his injury, the rookie standout was among the National League’s top first-year players, leading all NL rookies in home runs (7), tied for first in stolen bases (11), and ranking fourth with 24 runs scored..

James Wood is riding a six-game hitting streak, going 10-for-28 (.357) during that stretch with five doubles, one home run, seven RBI, one walk, one stolen base, and five runs scored, posting a .643 slugging percentage and 1.022 OPS. He’s recorded multiple hits in four of those six games and has reached base safely in 14 of his last 16 contests.

On the season, Wood is one of just five players to record at least 25 home runs and 15 stolen bases, joining Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and José Ramírez..

Josh Bell has been swinging the bat well, going 7-for-21 (.333) over his last six games with two doubles, two home runs, three RBI, four walks, and two runs scored.

Over his past 48 games, Bell is hitting .294/.386/.466 with 10 doubles, six homers, 20 RBI, 26 walks, and 20 runs scored. His recent surge is especially notable considering his turnaround since June 12 — when he was batting just .176/.271/.337. Since then, he has lifted his season slash line to .230/.329/.396.

Right-handed pitcher Brad Lord comes into his next start fresh off a strong outing on August 9 in San Francisco, where he earned the win after allowing just one earned run on four hits with five strikeouts over six innings. He delivered five scoreless frames before surrendering a solo homer in the sixth, matching the longest start of his career — a feat he first accomplished on May 6 against Cleveland.

Lord will be facing the Philadelphia Phillies for the third time in his career and making his second start against them. In two previous appearances (one start), he owns a 1-0 record with a 5.40 ERA, four strikeouts, and three walks. His first Major League win came against this same Phillies lineup on May 1, when he worked five innings of two-run ball and struck out four.

One of the top rookie pitchers in the National League, Lord has been effective since returning to the Nationals’ starting rotation on July 22, going 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA, 14 strikeouts, and only five walks over that span. Before that, he spent two months in the bullpen (May 11–July 12), where he went 1-1 with a 2.79 ERA and held opponents to a .217 batting average in 29 relief appearances, fanning 35 batters while issuing 14 walks.

The 2025 season has already given Lord several notable firsts. He made his Major League debut on March 30 against the Phillies, then made his first career start on April 8 at home against the Dodgers, tossing three scoreless innings and striking out four — including Shohei Ohtani twice. His first big-league win came just a few weeks later, on May 1 in Philadelphia, with a solid five-inning performance. Overall this season, Lord carries a 3-6 record with a 3.28 ERA, 70 strikeouts, and a 1.21 WHIP across 85 innings in 39 appearances, 10 of them starts..

Last night, Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez set a new single-season career high in strikeouts, surpassing his previous mark of 153 strikeouts from 2024. He now sits at 157 strikeouts on the year, ranking 6th in the National League, 10th in the majors, and 5th among all left-handers in MLB.

Sánchez has recorded three double-digit strikeout games this season, placing him third on the team behind Jesús Luzardo (4) and Zack Wheeler (6). His 12 strikeouts on both April 17 vs. San Francisco and July 22 vs. Boston remain career highs.

As a team, the Phillies have logged 13 individual games with 10 or more strikeouts in 2025 — tied with the Atlanta Braves for the most in the majors (next: Detroit Tigers, 9). Overall, Phillies pitchers have registered 58 games with at least 10 strikeouts this season, matching the Houston Astros for the MLB lead and exceeding the next closest National League team, the San Diego Padres (45), by 13 games.

Former Washington Nationals:

Since July 9, Bryce Harper has been on a tear — 23 of his 30 hits over his last 28 games have gone for extra bases, including 14 doubles and nine home runs. Over that span, he’s batting .273/.339/.645 with a .984 OPS, driving in 16 runs and scoring 19.

The last Phillies player to notch 23 extra-base hits in a 28-game stretch was Trea Turner from Aug. 5 to Sept. 8, 2023. Turner, who played for the Washington Nationals from 2015–21 (637 games), holds Nationals Park records with 16 triples and 109 stolen bases.

Luzardo earned the win, pitching 6.0 innings while allowing seven hits, one earned run, and one walk, striking out four batters on 82 pitches (55 strikes). The Phillies defeated the Rangers 3-2 on the road. Luzardo extended his winning streak to four games. After giving up a run in the first inning, he shut out the Rangers over the next five innings, allowing only four hits during that stretch. He recorded six groundouts, five flyouts, and 11 swings-and-misses.

Tonight’s Start Highlights:

Winning Streak: Luzardo secured his 11th win of the season in his last outing — a new career high for a single season. His 11 wins tie him for the fourth most in the National League. He began the season with a career-best five-game winning streak, becoming the first Phillies left-hander to start his Phillies tenure with such a streak since Cliff Lee from July 31 to August 24, 2009.

Dominant Starts: Luzardo’s July 29 start marked his fourth scoreless game this season. He has three scoreless outings of 7+ innings, tying him for fourth in MLB. He has also made 11 starts with at least 6 innings pitched and allowing one or no earned runs, tying for fourth-most in the majors alongside Cristopher Sánchez (11) and Zack Wheeler (10). This marks the first time since 2011 that the Phillies had three pitchers with 10+ such starts in a season (Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels). This is Luzardo’s second-best season in that category, trailing only his 12 such starts in 2023.

Strikeout Success: Luzardo’s 151 strikeouts rank eighth in the National League. He recorded his 100th strikeout of the season on June 22. This is the third season in his career with 100+ strikeouts. Luzardo also notched his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season on June 11 versus the Chicago Cubs, becoming the first Phillie since Steve Carlton in 1972 to register four double-digit strikeout games within his first 14 starts with the club.

Home Record: 37-21 | Road Record: 32-30 | Day: 23-22 | Night: 46-29

Current Streak: L2 | Last Five: 3-2 | Last Ten: 7-3 | Current Month: 8-4

A.L. Teams: 24-15 | N.L. East: 16-12