The Phillies received another stellar performance from ace Cole Hamels, extending his scoreless innings streak to 19 with seven shut out innings Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals. Nationals’ Jason Bergmann was equal to the task, throwing seven shut out innings of his own. It came down to a battle between the bullpens, a contest narrowly won by the Phillies.
After receiving a shut out eighth inning from Tom Gordon, pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs once again came through in the clutch, knocking in the lone run of the game. Dobbs has 10 pinch hits and 9 RBIs in 22 at-bats this season, tops in the majors. Dobbs’ hit ended the 12 inning scoreless streak of Nationals’ reliver Jon Rauch.

Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Dobbs’ hit kept the Phillies from being shut out in consecutive games for the first time since September 11-12, 1999 and their first four game losing streak since August 22-25, 2007.

While the stellar pitching of Hamels, Gordon, and Lidge is the story of the day, the underlying story is the Phillies’ continued lack of hitting. Despite getting eight hits against the Nationals, coupled with four walks, the Phillies were only able to knock in one run, leaving fourteen men on base, including three by outfielder Shane Victorino, who has had his share of struggles so far this season.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, Hamels is unable to pitch every night, and they are going to have to find a way to start scoring again.