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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philadelphia pitcher Cole Hamels got it done on the mound (a five-hitter) and at the plate (two hits) last night in a win over Washington.
PHILADELPHIA » Cole Hamels was more impressed with his performance at the plate on a night when he went the distance.
Hamels pitched a five-hitter, Raul Ibanez doubled twice as he stopped an 0-for-35 slump and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 4-1 last night.
Hamels chipped in offensively with two hits, including a triple.
"Being a pitcher, you’re not supposed to hit," Hamels said. "We have a competition among the starters and I don’t want to lose."
Jayson Werth was 0-for-3 with a walk in his first game in Philadelphia since signing a $126 million, seven-year deal with the Nationals. Werth was mostly booed when he came to the plate in the first inning, but he turned the jeers into cheers when he took off his helmet and tipped it to the crowd.
"I was very grateful," Werth said. "I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. It meant a lot to me."
Hamels (4-1) struck out six and walked one in his eighth career complete game and first since last Aug. 13, at the New York Mets.
Michael Morse homered for the Nationals. Livan Hernandez (3-3) allowed four runs and 10 hits in 6 1⁄3 innings.
The four-time defending NL East champion Phillies have won nine of 12 and are 19-9 overall.
Hernandez retired his first eight batters until Hamels tripled in the third. Hamels hit a high drive off the scoreboard in right and hustled into third standing with his first career triple.
"I knew it wasn’t out, so I kept running and if they threw me out then I got a double," Hamels said.
Jimmy Rollins, back in his customary leadoff spot for the first time this season, followed with a line-drive single to make it 1-0. Rollins tripled in the fifth and scored on Placido Polanco’s sacrifice fly.
The 2007 NL MVP finished 2-for-4 with a walk. Rollins batted .271 with only one homer and five RBIs while filling in for the injured Chase Utley in the three-hole. Polanco batted third and Maui native Shane Victorino went from leadoff to second.
Morse hit an opposite-field shot to right to cut Washington’s deficit to 2-1 in the seventh. It was just the second homer allowed by Hamels this season.
Philadelphia added insurance runs in the bottom half on Ryan Howard’s RBI single and Ibanez’s RBI double. Ibanez’s ground-rule double in the fourth was his first hit since April 18.
"You don’t want to see anybody go through that," Ibanez said. "The only way I have to function is to pretend it never happened."
Since an awful first start, Hamels has pitched at least seven innings and allowed three runs or fewer in each of his last five starts. The lanky lefty improved to 10-3 against Washington.
