PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Gibson stepped on the mound Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, nine days since his last outing, one day after coming off the bereavement list, and delivered one of the best starts of his 10-year career in the Phillies’ 7-2 wiin over the Washington Nationals.
The veteran right-hander carried a perfect game into the seventh inning before leadoff batter Victor Robles reached base by being hit by a pitch. The next batter, Luis Garcia, took away a possible no-hitter with a single. When the inning had finished and Gibson’s night was done, he had held the Nationals to two hits and one run in eight innings, with four strikeouts and two hit batsmen in 105 pitches.
Gibson worked quietly and quickly. Initially, he was overshadowed by the Phillies’ titanic offense, which put up four runs in the first inning, and tacked on two more in the third, all on home runs by Rhys Hoskins, Nick Castellanos and Darick Hall. But as the game went deeper into the night, fans started to catch on to what was happening. In the sixth inning, Ildemaro Vargas hit a liner down the third-base line towards Alec Bohm. It looked like it would be a sure base hit, but Bohm made a diving catch. As he ran off the field, visibly energized by the play, he pointed toward Gibson as if to say, “I’ve got you.”
