PHILADELPHIA (AP) —  Mallex Smith Jersey , the Phillies are in trouble.Stephen Strasburg threw seven impressive innings, Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman and Juan Soto homered and the Washington Nationals beat the freefalling Phillies 5-1 on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.“We haven’t played good baseball due to a ton of variables,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said.Nola, a Cy Young Award contender worthy of MVP consideration, had a rough first inning as the Phillies lost their fifth in a row to drop 7 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East with 17 to play. They’re 11-23 since Aug. 5, when they had the NL’s second-best record.“I made mistakes and they didn’t miss them,” Nola said. “We still have a chance. We have some games left.”The Phillies trailed the Mets by seven games with 17 to play in 2007 and rallied to win the NL East to begin a stretch of five straight division titles. They were swept by Colorado in the division series that season but won the World Series in 2008 and the NL pennant in 2009.“It can change real fast,” Nola said. “We can go from three (games back) to seven and seven to three just as fast.”Philadelphia has seven games remaining against the Braves.Nola allowed four runs and six hits in five innings. His ERA rose to 2.42. He’s given up four runs twice in September after only doing it twice in his first 27 starts.“Their lineup is exceptional,” Kapler said. “They throw challenging at-bats at you and they can all take you deep.”Nola, Mets ace Jacob deGrom and Washington’s Max Scherzer are the front-runners in the NL Cy Young race. Scherzer has won the past two and previously won the award in the American League with Detroit in 2013.Strasburg (8-7) allowed one run and struck out nine in his best start since April. He improved to 12-2 against the Phillies.Harper crushed his 33rd homer, a two-run shot into Philadelphia’s bullpen in the first to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. Anthony Rendon followed with a double and scored on Zimmerman’s single.Zimmerman connected in the fourth, sending a drive into the bushes in straightaway center. Odubel Herrera made a leaping attempt at the fence and nearly caught it.Soto drove one into the second deck in right field in the sixth off Austin Davis to make it 5-1. The 19-year-old rookie has 19 homers. Harper hit 22 homers as a teenager for the Nationals in 2012.“It’s reminiscent of watching Tony Gwynn growing up,” Strasburg said of Soto.J.P. Crawford hit a solo shot in the fifth for Philadelphia’s only run.TOUCH ‘EM ALLStrasburg threw a pitch that hit Philadelphia’s Jorge Alfaro, bounced off his arm http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-blake-snell-jersey , hit catcher Matt Wieters on the side of his helmet and then glanced off the plate umpire’s mask.MILESTONE MANNola became the first Phillies pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a season since Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels in 2013.CATCHING UPThe Nationals closed within a half-game of the Phillies for second place behind the Braves.UP NEXTNationals: RHP Joe Ross makes his first start of the season Thursday in a makeup game against the Cubs.Phillies: RHP Zach Eflin (9-7, 4.42 ERA) pitches Friday night against Miami in the opener of a three-game series. Eflin is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in two starts vs. the Marlins this season. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Max Kepler saw a lot of pitches Friday night, and it paid off Saturday night.Kepler had three hits, including a two-run homer that put Minnesota ahead to stay, and Jose Berrios threw seven sharp innings to help the Twins to an 8-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.Kepler went 3 for 3 with a walk and scored twice. He walked three times in Minnesota’s 6-4 victory in the series opener.“The more pitches you see in an at-bat, the better you start to see the ball with time, and I think we’re doing that pretty well as a team right now,” he said. “I hit some line drives and ground balls that some nights can be caught. Today, luckily they find holes.”Eddie Rosario and Logan Morrison also homered as the Twins won their second straight against the Royals.“We don’t want guys to try to step up and be supermen,” manager Paul Molitor said of his offense coming alive. “It’s just understand that you go out there and bring what you can bring.”Berrios (11-8) retired his first six batters, but had trouble throwing strikes in his middle innings and allowed the Royals to take a 2-1 lead after walking the bases loaded in the third. The All-Star right-hander settled down and remained unbeaten against AL Central opponents this season.“Seven innings didn’t look very likely after he gave up those couple, but he got it done,” Molitor said. “And thankfully, the bats came alive.”The Twins regained the lead on Kepler’s homer off Burch Smith (1-3) in the fourth. Rosario added a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Logan Forsythe and Bobby Wilson each drove in a run in the sixth.“I still felt pretty good Rob Refsnyder Jersey ,” Smith said. “They just capitalized on mistakes. I didn’t make a pitch, and they hit it. It’s a good-hitting team.Morrison added his 15th homer in seventh, a towering two-run shot off Glenn Sparkman that traveled an estimated 442 feet before landing in the right-field concourse.SMITH’S STARTSmith was charged with a season-high six runs in five-plus innings in his fifth start of the year. Manager Ned Yost still said Smith threw the ball well.“He started laboring in the sixth inning after about the 80-pitch mark, 85-pitch mark. Up until that point, I thought he did a good job of keeping us in the game and throwing strikes,” Yost said.DRAKE THE JOURNEYMANMinnesota’s Addison Reed and Oliver Drake combined for two innings of scoreless relief. Drake, claimed off waivers from Toronto on Friday, set a major league record by pitching for his fifth team this season. He arrived at the ballpark on Saturday afternoon and said he appreciated the chance to get right to work.“I think my catch partner though the whole time has been a fence post back home, so it’s just nice to get back out there playing baseball, throwing to hitters, competing,” Drake said.And the record?“It’s definitely cool having all the jerseys,” he said smiling. “That’s going to be something that looking back it’s going to be a cool collection. I don’t know if this is something I’ll brag about, but it’ll definitely be a neat story.”TRAINER’S ROOMTwins: Molitor said RHP Aaron Slegers (shoulder) would begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester on Saturday night. … RHP Michael Pineda is scheduled to begin his recovery from Tommy John surgery when he starts his rehab assignment with the Florida Gulf Coast on Monday.JOHAN’S CALLThe Twins inducted former ace Johan Santana into the franchise’s hall of fame in a pregame ceremony. Santana, who won two AL Cy Young Awards during his eight seasons in Minnesota http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-miller-jersey , became the 31st member of the Twins Hall of Fame. For five seasons, from 2003-07, he led the AL in wins (82), strikeouts (1,152), ERA (2.92) and opponent batting average (.212).Surrounded by family and former teammates, Santana was introduced by former teammate Torii Hunter before being presented with a Twins blazer by Rod Carew.“Go chase your dreams, work hard, be passionate about what you do. Have fun and never give up, and good things will happen to you,” Santana told the crowd.UP NEXTRoyals: LHP Danny Duffy (7-9) will make his 24th start of the season Sunday. After posting a 6.88 ERA in his first 10 starts, he has a 3.00 ERA since May 24, the fourth-lowest in the AL in that stretch.Twins: RHP Ervin Santana (0-0) looks to return to his ace form when makes his third start since returning from the 60-day DL after being sidelined by an injured finger. He has allowed a combined eight earned runs in 10 1/3 innings with six strikeouts this season.