By Sam Bush
Bryce Harper opened the Washington first by lining a sinking fastball from Phillies’ Nick Pivetta (1-2) to the opposite field for his 11th homer of the season.
With a runner on first in the third inning, Harper crushed a changeup to dead center as Washington won its sixth straight game, 7-3.
And that was that as the Phillies opened this weekend’s series with a game that was delayed 39 minutes by rain in the bottom of the fourth.
Carlos Santana and Maikel Franco hit back-to-back homers in the sixth for the Phillies.
In the shortest of his 33 career starts, Pivetta allowed six runs on five hits and three walks in one inning plus three batters.
“I think he just kind of ran into a buzzsaw,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Some guys were swinging the bats really well and wasn’t able to climb out of it.”
Pivetta, who was acquired from the Nationals in the 2015 Jonathan Papelbon trade, is now 0-2 with an 11.81 ERA against the team that drafted him in 2013.
