Philadelphia Phillies (18-25) at Washington Nationals (24-17), 7:05 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - The Washington Nationals will try to keep rolling when they open a three-game series Friday versus the Philadelphia Phillies.
The NL East-leading Nationals have won five straight and 14 of their last 17 games, including Wednesday's 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees in the finale of a brief two-game set.
Ian Desmond and Tyler Moore both homered and Denard Span finished 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Nationals. Jordan Zimmermann got the win with seven strong innings and gave up two runs with six strikeouts and one walk. Drew Storen struck out two batters in the ninth for his 12th save.
Nationals star outfielder Bryce Harper's night came to an early end when he jawed with home plate umpire Marvin Hudson over a low pitch that was ruled a strike in the current National League home run leader's second plate appearance. The exchange prompted Nationals manager Matt Williams out of the dugout for a heated verbal spar with Hudson that triggered his ejection as well.
"I don't think 40,000 people came to watch him ump tonight, plain and simple," said Harper of Hudson. "There's no reason for me to get tossed in that situation. I don't think I really did anything bad to get tossed, but maybe he had a really bad morning."
Washington has won six in a row at home and will send Max Scherzer to the mound Friday. Scherzer is 4-3 with a 1.75 earned run average in eight starts and is riding a personal three-game winning streak. Scherzer struck out 11 batters and allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings of a 4-1 win at San Diego last Saturday and has gone at least seven innings in six straight starts.
Scherzer is 1-0 in two starts against the Phillies this season and has a 2-1 record with a 2.63 ERA in four career starts in this series.
The Phillies are coming off a four-game split with the Colorado Rockies and dropped a 7-3 decision Thursday afternoon.
Jerome Williams was roughed up to the tune of five runs and eight hits in five innings of work to suffer the loss. Ryan Howard homered and Darin Ruf drove in two runs for the Phillies, who are 7-2 in their last nine games.
"We're not swinging as bad as I think people think we are," Howard said. "It's just a matter of the results (haven't been) there."
Philadelphia will also visit the New York Mets on this 10-game trip.
Taking the mound for the Phillies at National Park Friday will be Sean O'Sullivan, who is 1-2 with a 3.68 earned run average in four starts. He tasted victory for the first time this season in a 6-0 beating of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, tossing six shutout innings.
O'Sullivan is 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in two career starts against the Nats.
The Nationals are 4-3 against the Phillies this season.