MLB Rankings: Baseball’s Greatest Hits of Week-16

MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-16

10. Maikel Franco, 42 percent

The Phillies and Nationals are part of a wild scramble for the two National League wild-card spots. That made their series last weekend in Philadelphia vital.

And when the Nats came away with the first two games, the pressure really ratcheted up on the home team. That pressure didn’t improve any when Washington scored twice in the seventh to erase Philadelphia’s 3-1 lead.

For two innings, the Phillies failed to mount anything resembling a rally, going down in order in the bottom of the seventh and eighth against Tanner Rainey and Wander Suero. Washington, too, failed to mount any sort of run at the lead.

In those circumstances, one swing can often determine the outcome. In the bottom of the ninth, the Nationals eschewed the use of closer Sean Doolittle, who had saved both the Friday and Saturday games. Instead, Dave Martinez sent out Matt Grace, with an ERA above 6.00, to try to send the game into extra innings.

Grace got the job one-third of the way done, striking out leadoff hitter Jay Bruce. Maikel Franco came up next and produced that ‘one swing’ the game had lacked. On Grace’s first pitch, Franco homered over the left-center field fence to wrap up a 4-3 victory that prevented the sweep.