The offense that Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez has been waiting for showed up just in time to prevent a sweep at the hands of a division rival Sunday night.

Daniel Murphy’s single drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth inning and the Nationals rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies 8-6 to salvage the finale of the three-game series.

Anthony Rendon homered and doubled Riley Sutter Capitals Jersey , Bryce Harper tied a career high with three doubles and Michael A. Taylor and Murphy each had three singles as Washington pounded out 17 hits in a game that was delayed 38 minutes by rain in the bottom of the fourth inning.

”We weren’t scoring very many runs,” Martinez said, ”and for us to come out and compete like we did today and put up eight runs . and just really work very good at-bats, I felt really good for the boys and I know they’ll feed off it.”

Rhys Hoskins and Nick Williams homered for the Phillies, who had won three straight.

Pinch hitter Brian Goodwin led off the eighth with a walk. With one out, right-hander Seranthony Dominguez (1-2) came on to face Harper, who doubled to right, with Goodwin stopping at third.

After Rendon grounded out, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler elected to walk rookie Juan Soto and pitch to the veteran Murphy http://www.buccaneersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-m.j.-stewart-jersey , who began the day hitting .135.

”You pick your poison right there,” Kapler said. ”You have two very good hitters. The first one in Soto has been elite. And Murphy has struggled a little bit. And we went after the guy that was struggling and coming off injury.”

After throwing three 98-mph plus fastballs to get ahead 1-2, Dominguez tried a slider that Murphy lined to shallow right. Taylor’s single made it 8-6.

”I was watching some film on him and he had kind of gone with the slider as a kill shot to a couple lefties, so once I got two strikes I was aware of it,” Murphy said. ”I hadn’t seen it yet, so that’s never any fun, but fortunately I was able to get it in the air enough and kind of scoop it over Cesar (Hernandez’s) head at second base.”

Ryan Madson (2-3) pitched the eighth inning, and Sean Doolittle finished for his 21st save.

The Phillies took a 6-2 lead in the fifth on a two-run triple by Odubel Herrera and a two-run homer by Williams, but the bullpen surrendered six runs.

Washington pulled within a run at 6-5 in the sixth with four two-out hits http://www.buccaneersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-vinny-curry-jersey , including an RBI triple by Trea Turner and RBI doubles by Harper and Rendon.

RENDERFUL

Rendon has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games is batting .447 (17-for-38) in that span with three homers, seven RBIs and nine runs scored.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Phillies: C Andrew Knapp left in the seventh with a right knee contusion. … 3B Maikel Franco slipped on first base and fell hard in the eighth. He stayed in to run but left after the half-inning with lower back tightness. … INF Jesmuel Valent锟絥 was placed on the paternity leave list and OF Dylan Cozens (left quadriceps strain) was reinstated from the 10-day DL.

Nationals: RHP Jeremy Hellickson (right hamstring strain) allowed 11 runs in 4 2/3 innings of a rehab start at Class A Potomac on Sunday. ”I’m more concerned with the way he feels,” manager Dave Martinez said, downplaying the results. ”We’ll go from there.” … RH reliever Brandon Kintzler (right forearm flexor strain) threw a scoreless inning at Potomac. … RHP Stephen Strasburg (right shoulder inflammation) played catch on the field again. ”We’ll keep doing his throwing progression and figure out when he can actually throw from the mound,” Martinez said.

UP NEXT

Phillies: RHP Vince Velasquez (5-7, 4.82) starts the opener of a series against the Yankees on Monday. He is 0-0 with a 3.24 ERA in two games vs. New York.

Nationals: RHP Gio Gonzalez (6-4, 3.08) opens a series at Tampa Bay on Monday. He is 2-2 with a 5.54 ERA in six games against the Rays.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves moving deep into uncharted waters.

They’ve never led a Stanley Cup playoff series let alone taken a 2-0 lead. After winning both games on the road against the Washington Capitals in overtime, the Blue Jackets return home for Game 3 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series on Tuesday night at what’s expected to be a lively and loud Nationwide Arena.

“I just think we found our confidence at the right time and feel good about ourselves http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-b.j.-hill-jersey ,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said after the 5-4 victory in Game 2 on Sunday night. “It’s a bridge that we have crossed and I hope we stay on the right side. We go out there knowing we’re going to win. It’s a bit of a swagger they have.”

The excitement is palpable in Columbus in anticipation of Game 3 after forward Matt Calvert scored the winner from the doorstep with one hand on his stick in Washington. But there’s plenty of work to do to win a playoff series for the first time in team history.

“We’re going to keep getting better,” Calvert said. “We’re going to keep learning every day. We’ll be ready for Game 3.”

More than any other player, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is responsible for the Blue Jackets’ two victories. He was peppered with 58 shots by the Capitals in Game 2 but came up with big saves time and again when Columbus was backed up in the defensive zone for long stretches.

“I would say your career is a journey and you learn some things here and there,” Bobrovsky said. “It doesn’t matter what’s in the past. We’re going to play (Game 3). It doesn’t matter what happened (in Game 2). Each moment is huge right now and you just have to be ready.”

The Blue Jackets are just the fifth team to overcome multi-goal deficits in back-to-back playoff games in NHL history, but that’s also a concern. They’ve fallen behind in both games largely because of too many penalties — 13 combined in Games 1 and 2.

The Capitals have scored on five of 13 power-play opportunities so far.

“I think we have a way of (staying out of the penalty box),” Tortorella said. “We just need to be more consistent doing it. We can’t be (taking penalties) all that time. It’s just impossible. They’re too good. That has to be straightened out moving forward.”

The Capitals still have plenty of skill with Alexander Ovechkin leading the way, and they definitely have more postseason experience than the Blue Jackets.

Washington was in the same boat last year when it dropped the first two games of its second-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals rallied to force Game 7 before falling.

In 2009, the Capitals were trailing 0-2 against the New York Rangers before coming back to advance. But they’re also just the sixth team in league history to lose two at home in overtime to start a seven-game series, and all five ended up being eliminated.

So while there’s a sense of urgency for the Metropolitan Division champions given their past playoff failures http://www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-oren-burks-jersey , it’s not yet desperation.

“Right now we’re sitting here two in a hole,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “But at the same time, your group has an opportunity to grow, fight their way back.

“There’s a lot of character in our room. Our group has a lot of fight in it. We’re not going away. We’re going to be around. You’re going to see us dig in. You’re going to see us fight. We’re going to see something happen here. I’m excited to get to Columbus and for Game 3.”

The Capitals have outplayed the Blue Jackets for long stretches, but they’ve let leads slip away and the final result hasn’t gone their way.

“We’ve got to win, and that’s what we come for,” Capitals defenseman John Carlson said after contributing six assists in the first two games. “We don’t come to outplay them, we don’t come to outshoot them. You have to win, and we didn’t do it.”

Trotz has yet to indicate whether Philipp Grubauer or Braden Holtby will start in goal on Tuesday night. Holtby replaced Grubauer in Game 2.

“I think we’ve got to manage to not only get the lead but hold onto it http://www.cardinalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-chase-edmonds-jersey ,” Grubauer said. “It’s not easy. It’s a tough team to play against. But we made it really hard on ourselves, too.”

One Capitals player who definitely won’t see action in Games 3 or 4 is winger Andre Burakovsky, who suffered an upper-body injury in the first period on Sunday and did not make the trip.

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