TG Fantasy Baseball

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alex Avila cleanly picked a pitch in the dirt with the tying run on second base and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, saw pinch-runner Travis Jankowski hung up between second and third and ran all the way out to tag him near shortstop.

Avila's heads-up play thwarted a rally, Max Scherzer outpitched Zack Wheeler and Juan Soto hit a tiebreaking solo homer, lifting the Washington Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

Rhys Hoskins led off the bottom of the ninth against Daniel Hudson with a double off the right-field fence. Jankowski ran for Hoskins but got picked off after a 2-2 pitch to J.T. Realmuto short-hopped Avila. The veteran catcher never let go of the ball and kept his mask on his face as he ran toward Jankowski, pump-faking once on his way to make the tag.

“I caught him in the middle there and usually you see the catcher throw the ball or the runner picks a base and takes off, but it’s a pretty fundamental play for the catcher to run at him,” Avila said. “You don’t see it (in the majors) because usually the runner takes off one way or the other. If he did, I would’ve given it up. It was a play we practice all the time in high school and college.”

Jankowski was clearly disappointed with his mistake.

“Trying to do too much,” he said. “I saw a slider in the dirt, expected it to ricochet and it hopped up in his glove. No excuses, a bad read. That’s on me.”

Scherzer (5-4) struck out nine in 7 2/3 dominant innings, allowing one run on five hits. The three-time Cy Young Award winner lowered his ERA to 2.22 with his seventh straight start yielding two runs or less.

Wheeler (4-3) gave up two runs and five hits, striking out eight in 7 1/3 innings.

Soto provided the difference when he crushed an opposite-field...