The Washington Nationals clicked on all cylinders on Sunday afternoon to take the rubber match against the Seattle Mariners
The Washington Nationals did more than enough to take the rubber match against the Seattle Mariners, 10-1, on Sunday afternoon.
James Wood and Keibert Ruiz both finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs and a home run each in the win, while Nasim Nunez registered a pair of RBIs for his third multi-RBI game of the month. But it wasn't only the bats as Miles Mikolas tossed three strikeouts and allowed just three hits in seven innings. It marked his second straight outing allowing no earned runs and exactly three hits along with the most innings pitched in a Nationals uniform, a stark difference from the start of the regular season to lift the rotation.
With PJ Poulin stepping in as the opener, Seattle grabbed the lead in the opening frame after a double into center was enough to bring in the leadoff batter, but the Nationals tied it in the first at bat in the bottom of the frame. James Wood notched his 20th home run, including fifth leadoff, of the season after ending his five-pitch at bat with a 413 foot blast into right field.
The Nationals would then blow the game open in the fourth inning after Dylan Crews and CJ Abrams opened with consecutive hits to put runners on the corners with no outs, setting up three consecutive hits courtesy of Keibert Ruiz, Daylen Lile and Nasim Nunez to push to lead to 5-1. Jorbit Vivas then kept the good vibes going after his grounder into a fielder's choice drove in Nunez for the Nationals' sixth run of the day, grabbing a commanding lead that would only grow the rest of the way.
Keibert Ruiz's sixth home run of the season came on a solo shot in the seventh inning to push the lead to 7-1, while the Nationals piled on in the eighth inning after Jorbit Vivas opened with a leadoff walk. Jacob Young and James Wood hit consecutive doubles to push the lead to 9-1 before a groundout from Dylan Crews drove in James Wood for the final run.
Washington, meanwhile, allowed just one base runner on a single over the final five innings to close the game.
The Nationals, now 37-35, will open the second and final series of the homestand on Monday, June 15 when the Kansas City Royals head to Washington for the first meeting between the two teams this season.
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