Nationals mash early to claim another Beltway win over Orioles

James Wood and Josh Bell belted early home runs and Luis Garcia Jr.’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly broke a tie as the Washington Nationals beat the visiting Baltimore Orioles 4-3 on Wednesday night.

The Nationals won for the second night in a row and go for the sweep of the three-game series Thursday night. They’ve claimed victories in four of their last five games.

Washington starter Trevor Williams turned in five solid innings, allowing one run on six hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Reliever Jorge Lopez (1-0) logged 1 2/3 innings and picked up the win despite allowing the tying run.

Adley Rutschman, Cedric Mullins and Jackson Holliday each had two hits for the Orioles, who showed more offensive spark than a night earlier. They finished with 10 hits, but stranded 12 runners on base.

The Orioles have lost four of their last five as this outcome followed Washington’s 7-0 series-opening victory Tuesday night, when Baltimore was limited to a Mullins single.

In the ninth Wednesday night, Gunnar Henderson’s infield single and Ryan Mountcastle’s one-out single put two runners on base for the Orioles against Kyle Finnegan. Tyler O’Neill struck out before Heston Kjerstad popped out to end the game as Finnegan notched his ninth save.

Baltimore starter Tomoyuki Sugano worked seven innings and limited the Nationals to three runs on five hits without a walk. Gregory Soto (0-1) took the loss.

Wood’s eighth home run of the season leading off the bottom of the first opened the scoring.

Bell’s two-run shot with two outs in the second extended the margin to 3-0.

Baltimore scored on Rutschman’s third-inning single with two outs. The Orioles trimmed the deficit again in the seventh on O’Neill’s sacrifice fly. Ramon Urias’ sacrifice fly in the eighth off Lopez made it 3-3.

The Nationals finished with six hits, though no Washington batter had more than one.

–Field Level Media