PHILADELPHIA -- Kyle Gibson retired his first 18 batters and pitched one-run ball over eight innings, Kyle Schwarber hit his NL-leading 34th home run and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 7-2 Friday night.
Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto, Nick Castellanos and Darick Hall also homered for the Phillies, who have won eight of nine to solidify their standing in the race for the NL's third and final wild-card position. The victory moved Philadelphia 10 games over .500 for the first time since they were 37-27 on June 8, 2019.
Gibson (7-4) overpowered Washington's lineup, weakened significantly after the club traded Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego this week. He struck out 4, allowed 2 hits and hit 2 batters over 105 pitches in his first start in nine days after taking bereavement leave for the death of his grandmother.
"Whenever you can execute pitches consistently and you feel like you are executing pitches in the right spot, you are locked into things and not thinking about adjustments," Gibson said.
With four pitches getting mixed and matched and working on the corners, Gibson was able to force soft contact for most of the night.
"His two-seamer was really good," Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said. "His cutter was good. He didn't throw a slider for a strike until, like, the third time through the order. But man, that was pretty nasty."
Gibson forced 12 groundball outs, including a sparkling backhand defensive play by third baseman Alec Bohm on a hard-hit ball by Ildemaro Vargas to end the sixth that kept the dream of a perfect game alive.
"Once you get through the first time around the lineup, you start thinking about it," Gibson said. "And then, when you get that play from (Bohm), you start chasing it, knowing you have one more time through the lineup. And it was a lot of fun."
Washington's Victor Robles broke up the perfect game by getting plunked with a sinker in his left forearm to begin the seventh inning. The next batter, Luis Garcia, ended Gibson's no-hit bid with a clean single into left field over the glove of Bohm.
"I got tired for my first time on the mound in a while," Gibson said. "I stayed on my throwing routine, but not on my cardio routine. So I started losing my legs a bit and got the ball up."
"That was the sharpest he has been," Realmuto said. "From the bullpen on."
The Nationals/Expos franchise has not been no-hit since David Cone's perfect game against Montreal on July 18, 1999.
Gibson surrendered his only run in the eighth, when Vargas lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Lane Thomas. Garcia scored Washington's second run in the ninth off reliever Brad Hand.
All of the offense that Gibson needed came in the first inning when Philadelphia jumped on starter Josiah Gray.
Hoskins hit a home run to right for his 22nd home run to start the scoring. Two hitters later, Castellanos crushed an inside fastball to deep left field for his 10th, making it 3-0. Hall immediately followed with his sixth home run since being called up from Triple A Lehigh Valley on June 29.
Realmuto -- who fell a double short of the cycle -- lifted a high-arcing home run that sneaked over the left-field wall for a two-run homer in the third.
Gray (7-8) was charged with six runs over four innings.
"He didn't quite have his best stuff tonight and we were able to take advantage of it," Realmuto said.
Schwarber closed out the Philadelphia scoring in the seventh with a rocket that hit the steps inside the home bullpen in deep right-center.
BRAVES 9, METS 6 Ronald Acuna Jr. got four hits and robbed Pete Alonso of a two-run home run as Atlanta built a big early lead and beat New York to rebound quickly in their NL East showdown.
BREWERS 5, REDS 1 Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Tyrone Taylor belted a three-run shot in the second and Milwaukee held on to defeat Cincinnati.
CUBS 2, MARLINS 1 Willson Contreras hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning, Justin Steele matched a career high with 10 strikeouts and Chicago beat Miami. The Cubs looked like they were on the way to their sixth consecutive loss before Contreras drove an 0-1 pitch from Dylan Floro (0-1) to left with one out in the eighth for his 16th home run.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ASTROS 9, GUARDIANS 3 Trey Mancini hit two home runs, including his first career grand slam, and drove in five runs, leading Houston over Cleveland.
RAYS 5, TIGERS 3 Brandon Lowe hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the eighth inning for the Tampa Bay, who walked a franchise-record 13 times while rallying to beat Detroit.
RED SOX 7, ROYALS 4 Xander Bogaerts had four singles and Jarren Duran drove in two runs as Boston defeated Kansas City.
TWINS 6, BLUE JAYS 6 (10) Nick Gordon scored on Tim Beckham's fielder's choice in the 10th inning to give Minnesota a victory over Toronto.
WHITE SOX 2, RANGERS 1 Dylan Cease (12-4) pitched six strong innings, Eloy Jimenez hit a tiebreaking home run and Chicago beat Texas.
INTERLEAGUE
CARDINALS 4, YANKEES 3 Paul DeJong hit a two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning, lifting the Cardinals over New York in Matt Carpenter's return to St. Louis. Carpenter drew a standing ovation in his first visit back to the city where he played 11 seasons, then had two hits. Aaron Judge and Josh Donaldson also had two hits each for the Yankees, and Donaldson drove in two while New York built a 3-2 lead.
ORIOLES 1, PIRATES 0 Dean Kremer (4-3) pitched impressively into the seventh inning and Felix Bautista held on through a dicey ninth to lift Baltimore to a win over Pittsburgh.
Friday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 2, Miami 1
Philadelphia 7, Washington 2
Atlanta 9, NY Mets 6
Milwaukee 5, Cincinnati 1
Arizona 6, Colorado 5
San Diego at LA Dodgers, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Houston 9, Cleveland 3
Tampa Bay 5, Detroit 3
Chicago White Sox 2, Texas 1
Minnesota 6, Toronto 5 (10)
Boston 7, Kansas City 4
LA Angels at Seattle, (n)
INTERLEAGUE
Baltimore 1, Pittsburgh 0
St. Louis 4, NY Yankees 3