NL East Wrap: Nats beat skidding Mets

The Phillies suffered yet another terrible loss on Wednesday afternoon… they’ve got to be in double digits in that category.

Jonathan Papelbon blew a two-run lead in the 10th inning and Matt Kemp walked the Dodgers off in the 12th as the Phils were denied their first three-game sweep of the season. Two straight series wins to start the second half were dampened by yet another set of bullpen meltdowns (see game story).

Here’s a look at how the rest of the division fared:

Mets’ slide continues
The Mets are fading fast, both in the NL East and the ultra-competitive NL wild card race.

New York lost to the Washington Nationals, 4-3, on Wednesday (see full recap). It was the Mets’ sixth-straight loss, and they are now just one game over .500, at 46-45.

Washington scored a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh and closer Tyler Clippard hung on after solo homers from David Wright and Jason Bay in the ninth inning.

Adam LaRoche (two-run homer) and Steve Lombardozzi (two-run double) were the offensive heroes for the Nats.

Jordan Zimmermann pitched six scoreless innings to improve to 7-6 with a 2.35 ERA. He leads all of major league baseball with 16 quality starts in 19 chances.

Washington is 53-36 and holds a 14-game lead on the last-place Phillies.

Fish can't solve Samardzija
Cubs righthander Jeff Samardzija struck out nine Marlins over five innings to lead Chicago to a 5-1 win (see full recap).

A four-spot in the seventh was highlighted by former Marlins catcher Jeff Baker's pinch-hit two-run double.

For the Fish, Emilio Bonifacio had a single, double and a triple and Jose Reyes added a homer.

Miami is 44-47, four games ahead of the Phils in the NL East.

McCann's heroics not enough
Brian McCann hit a game-tying two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning off Giants closer Santiago Casilla to force an 11th frame, but from there it was all San Fran.

Brandon Crawford and Gregor Blanco each hit three-run home runs in the top of the 11th and the Giants beat the Braves for the second straight night, 9-4 (see full recap). San Francisco beat Atlanta 9-0 on Tuesday.

Starting pitchers Ryan Vogelsong and Mike Minor each allowed one run and struck out seven over six innings.

For the Giants, Buster Posey went 3 for 4 and Melky Cabrera was 2 for 5 with a homer. For the Braves, Dan Uggla was 0 for 4 with four strikeouts and Michael Bourn went 1 for 6 with three Ks.

Casilla blew his sixth save but improved to 3-4. Anthony Varvaro took the loss for the Braves.

At 51-40, the Giants are tied with the Pirates and Reds for the second-best record in the NL. The Braves are 49-41 and 9.5 games ahead of the Phils for second place in the NL East.

E-mail Corey Seidman at cseidman@comcastsportsnet.com