PHILADELPHIA — Daniel Murphy finished off a stellar May with another home run to keep Washington on a roll.
Murphy hit one of four Washington home runs, Joe Ross allowed three hits in seven innings and the Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 Tuesday night for their third straight win.
NL MVP Bryce Harper missed the game, a day after he bruised his right knee when hit by a pitch.
Philadelphia lost its season-high fifth straight game and has scored just nine runs during the skid.
At 26-26, the Phillies are at .500 for the first time since a 10-10 start.
Murphy broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth with a two-out solo homer off Aaron Nola (4-4) and added an infield single in the eighth. He hit .416 in May (47 for 113) with seven homers and 23 RBIs, tying the franchise record for hits in a month, shared by Al Oliver (August 1982) and Marquis Grissom (June 1994) of the Montreal Expos.
He finished the month with a 10-game hitting streak.
Nationals manager Dusty Baker doesn’t think flipping the calendar to June will bother Murphy.
“I don’t think he really cares. Murph’s ready to hit June, July, August, September,” Baker said of Murphy, who homered in six straight post-season games last fall to help the Mets win the NL pennant. “You’ve seen him in October. It doesn’t really matter as long as we keep him healthy and happy.”
Murphy deflected questions about his personal accomplishment, instead focusing on the team’s success. The Nationals finished May with 16 wins.
“That was more fun,” he said of the victories.
Asked if he’ll be sad to see May end, Murphy said, “We can still win baseball games in June. I think that’s allowed.”
Jayson Werth, Danny Espinosa and Stephen Drew also homered for Washington.
Ross (5-4) struck out five and walked two.
“I thought he was unbelievable tonight,” Murphy said. “It was an absolute treat to watch.”
Felipe Rivero and Jonathan Papelbon finished the four-hitter.
Espinosa hit a two-run homer in the ninth against Colton Murray, and Drew followed with an inside-the-park homer that caromed off the wall in right-centre and sharply away from outfielders.
Nola (4-4) gave up two runs and five hits in six innings and is 0-2 in six starts against the Nationals.
“That was the bright spot of the night, Nola once again pitched very well,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said.
Nola thinks the Phillies will rebound.
“I feel like that’s who we are,” he said. “We’re a team that’s going to go out and battle and give it everything we have.”
Werth hit a solo homer in the first, but Cesar Hernandez’s RBI triple tied the score in the third.
OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCE
The Phillies began the night with a .234 batting average that ranked 24th among the 30 big league teams and had scored 163 runs, more than only Atlanta.
“We’re just getting out-homered every night,” Mackanin said. “Once again, I feel like it’s a broken record. We’re not hitting.”
DREW’S TRIP
Drew watched his hit deflect off the wall and knew he could make third, but he had to pick up speed when he saw third base coach Bob Henley waving him home.
“It kind of happened fast,” Drew said. “I saw the ball kick back so I knew I could get to third, but halfway to third I saw him still waving his hand, so I said, ‘I have to kick it in gear here.'”
STANDINGS
Washington improved to 32-21 to move two games ahead of the Mets in the NL East after New York’s 6-4 loss to the White Sox on Tuesday. The Phillies dropped 5 1/2 games behind the Nationals.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: Harper is day to day after he left in the seventh inning of Monday’s 4-3 victory over Philadelphia when he was hit by a pitch.
UP NEXT
RHP Max Scherzer (5-4, 4.05) is to start Wednesday’s series finale for Washington against LHP Adam Morgan (1-3, 6.67) for Philadelphia.
Scherzer is 5-1 with a 2.38 ERA in eight starts against Philadelphia, including 4-0 with a 1.88 ERA since joining the Nationals in 2015. Morgan is 0-3 with an 8.10 ERA in his past three starts.
