The way Odubel Herrera is going Austin Corbett Browns Jersey , he might have to make an extra trip to Washington next month.
Herrera homered for the fifth straight game and finished with four hits, helping the Philadelphia Phillies rout the Nationals 12-2 on Friday night.
Herrera hit a tiebreaking two-run shot in the third for his 13th homer, matching the club record for consecutive games with a long ball. He has connected in six of his last seven overall.
The All-Star Game is at Nationals Park on July 17, and Herrera is putting together a solid case for a spot on the NL squad.
”I’m playing hard, giving my best, so if it happens it’ll be great,” he said via an interpreter. ”That’s what you work for.”
Herrera is hitting .472 (17 for 36) with six homers, 11 runs and 10 RBIs in his last eight games. His season batting average is up to .308.
”I don’t think there’s any words for it. I mean it’s simply incredible what he can do,” Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin said.
”The thing with Odubel is that he can shake off anything at any given time. … It can look like he’s struggling and then next pitch he hits it 440 feet.”
Carlos Santana homered and drove in four runs for Philadelphia. Andrew Knapp also connected and Nick Williams drove in three runs.
The Phillies had 15 hits in their fifth win in six games. They also moved ahead of Washington for second place in the NL East behind Atlanta.
”To me, today was the first game where we really got blown out. That was a blowout right there,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. ”We’ve just got to keep our heads up, guys go home and rest Josh Jackson Youth Jersey , come back tomorrow and do it again.”
Eflin (5-2) allowed baserunners in every inning except the first but limited the damage to two runs over five innings in his fourth straight win.
Washington’s Tanner Roark (3-8) gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings, and the Nationals needed four relievers to finish the game.
”The last two starts I’ve left the bullpen out to dry,” Roark said, ”and I’m just not happy about it.”
The Nationals have dropped eight of 11, including the completion of a suspended game. They are in third place this late in the season for the first time since 2013.
Michael A. Taylor extended his hitting streak to 13 games and drove in Washington’s first run when he capped an 11-pitch at-bat with a double in the second.
HARPER DERBY BOUND
On Friday afternoon the Nationals tweeted: ”tfw Bryce announces he’ll do the (at)MLB HR Derby if he makes the NL All-Star team…” accompanied by a GIF of Harper celebrating in the dugout.
RECORD HOLDERS
Chase Utley (twice in 2008), Bobby Abreu (2005), Mike Schmidt (1979) and Dick Allen (1969) also homered in five straight games for the Phillies. Ken Griffey, Jr. (1993), Don Mattingly (1987) and Dale Long (1956) share the major league record with homers in eight consecutive games.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: RHP Jerad Eickhoff (right lat strain) threw his curveball off flat ground and will throw the pitch again during a bullpen session on Saturday. . RHP Pat Neshek (right shoulder strain) will begin a rehab assignment at Class A Clearwater on Saturday. … RHP Luis Garcia (right wrist strain) played catch on flat ground Friday.
Nationals: RHP Stephen Strasburg (right shoulder inflammation) played catch on flat ground for the second time this week Friday. … RHP Jeremy Hellickson (right hamstring strain) will make a rehab start for Class A Potomac on Sunday.
UP NEXT
Philadelphia RHP Aaron Nola (8-2, 2.55 ERA) opposes RHP Erick Fedde (0-2, 5.63 ERA). Nola (seventh overall) and Fedde (18th overall) were both selected in the first round of the 2014 draft.
鈥?If Cam Heyward’s being honest, he’s lost count of distractions the Pittsburgh Steelers have dealt with this season Denzel Ward Browns Jersey , be they self-created, overblown or otherwise.The weeks would pass and something that had nothing to do with Pittsburgh’s relatively easy push to a second straight AFC North title and third in four years would pop up. There was running back Le’Veon Bell’s decision to skip training camp . Antonio Brown’s one-sided bout with a water cooler in Baltimore in October. Or rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster’s stolen bike . Or Martavis Bryant’s ill-timed and ultimately ignored trade request.The list goes on and on. Yet at nearly every turn, the outside noise would be drowned out for three hours every week while the Steelers put together a 13-3 record, a fourth consecutive playoff appearance and a first-round postseason bye. Even a well-deserved week off didn’t pass quietly, with offensive coordinator Todd Haley limping around after getting hurt during an incident at a bar near Heinz Field shortly after Pittsburgh wrapped up the regular season with a victory over Cleveland.Yawn.“I think we’ve shunned it to an extent to where it doesn’t really faze us,” Heyward said. “I couldn’t even tell you all the drama that goes on. I think we’re so focused and goal-oriented when it comes to certain things, we haven’t had time to think about the little stuff. We make fun of the petty stuff. We’ll laugh at the stuff that happens.”Maybe, but not all chaos is created equal. For a locker room that describes itself as close-knit, there was a moment of doubt. It came in the tunnel at brutally hot Soldier Field on Sept. 24. President Donald Trump’s provocative suggestion that NFL players who protest the national anthem should be fired put the Steelers in a tight spot.Head coach Mike Tomlin told his players they could do what they wanted, so long as they were united. After failing to reach a consensus, they tried to sit it out by remaining in the tunnel as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played.One problem: left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, a former Army Ranger Mitchell Trubisky Jersey Youth , ducked onto the field to get a glimpse of the flag. The opening notes began before Villanueva could get back to the tunnel. He turned to face the flag, standing alone and unintentionally providing a stark visual symbol of an issue that in many ways defined the NFL’s season.Linebacker Arthur Moats called the aftermath, which left some fans burning their jerseys and included Villanueva, Heyward and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger trying to explain how they “botched” the whole thing, the “lowest point you could get.”“It was just a lot of factors that went into it,” Moats said. “It made it stressful.”Ultimately, though, it didn’t divide the Steelers.“That was something no one had ever experienced,” Heyward said. “That’s something that no one could have prepared for. I thought we handled it good internally after the situation. We got some stuff cleared out and understood it wasn’t the right way to approach it. But we learned. We lived through it.”And they thrived. The Steelers fell to 2-1 after getting steamrolled in overtime by the Bears that afternoon. Pittsburgh lost just two games the rest of the way. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger emerged from an early funk to reach his sixth Pro Bowl. Brown led the NFL in yards receiving despite missing the final 2 陆 games with a left calf injury the team hopes will be healed in time for the conference semifinals. Bell’s decision to skip camp ended up saving his legs. A year after watching most of an AFC title game loss to New England with a groin worn down by a heavy workload, Bell is fresh.Just as important, Pittsburgh has built up an immunity to what Tomlin calls “outside noise,” even if it’s not outside at all.Last January Reuben Foster Jersey Youth , Tomlin spent the week between a road playoff win in Kansas City and a visit to New England for the AFC championship game dealing with Brown’s decision to stream video from the victorious locker room on Facebook. Don’t expect that to happen this time around.“We treat things that happen like anybody else should,” wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey said. “You get pulled over for speeding, you get the ticket. You hopefully learn. That’s kind of like that. It’s different tickets but once that ticket happens, it’s like, ‘Oh, don’t do that one. I got you.’ I know it sounds crazy, but it works for us. Everybody knows, ‘Don’t bring your phone out.’ We almost laugh at it knowing, ‘Don’t do that.’ It’s just the personality of our team.”One that’s been pointing to the 2018 Super Bowl from the minute it walked off the field in Foxborough 12 months ago.“We have a lot of guys primed for this moment,” Heyward said. “We don’t know what our team is going to look like next year. We’ve got to make the most out of this situation. The urgency has to be felt from here on out.”Is the urgency strong enough to make sure the turmoil of the fall will disappear in January?“Ask me in three weeks,” Heyward said. “We’re still fighting off some demons right now.”.
