Nationals make 4 early runs stand up, knock off Phillies

Washington's Trevor Williams threw six shutout innings to back up the Nationals' first-inning offense in a 4-3 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night in the MLB Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa.

Relievers Jordan Weems, Hunter Harvey, Mason Thompson and Kyle Finnegan completed the combined six-hitter as the Nationals won for the seventh time in their last nine games.

Washington scored all of its runs in the first inning and their pitchers kept the Phillies mostly under wraps -- unlike a day earlier when Philadelphia produced lots of late-game offense to even the series with a 12-3 win. The Phillies scored three runs with two outs in the ninth on Sunday.

Youth players competing in the Little League World Series and their families comprised most of the crowd at Bowman Field in what has become an annual neutral-site event in the big-league schedule. The Phillies dropped to 0-2 in Williamsport, while this was the Nationals' first appearance.

Williams (6-7) gave up only one hit until Nick Castellanos' two-out double in the sixth inning. In six innings, he issued three walks and struck out four while picking up his first victory since July 2.

Finnegan came on with two outs in the ninth with one run in and a runner on first, and promptly gave up a two-run homer to Jake Cave. But Finnegan struck out J.T. Realmuto to notch his 21st save.

The Phillies, who are 2-5 in their last seven games, averaged 9.3 runs per game in their previous three outings but nearly ended up shutout victims for the second time in their last six games.

Phillies starter Zack Wheeler (9-6) strung together six consecutive shutout innings, but the damage had been done in the first inning. He ended up yielding seven hits and one walk while striking out five.

The first five Washington batters had hits off Wheeler, with Keibert Ruiz's double and Dominic Smith's single each knocking in two runs.

Joey Meneses of the Nationals went 3-for-4 and teammates Smith and Lane Thomas both had two hits.

A diving play by Washington third baseman Ildemaro Vargas on a ball off the bat of Trea Turner for a force-out in the eighth inning helped tame the Philadelphia offense.