Left-hander MacKenzie Gore struck out 11 in five shutout innings to help the Washington Nationals hold on for a 3–1 win over the host Oakland Athletics on Saturday afternoon.
Gore (2–0) struck out three in the first inning despite allowing two baserunners, and he fanned the side in the fifth. He gave up four hits and walked one.
Kyle Finnegan picked up his fifth save in six opportunities by pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
Five of the Nationals’ 10 hits went for extra bases.
CJ Abrams opened the scoring by tripling home a run for Washington in the third inning off Oakland starter Joe Boyle (1–2).
Luis Garcia Jr. delivered a run-scoring double with two outs in the sixth to expand the lead.
After the Nationals’ lead was trimmed to 2–1 in the seventh, Jacob Young doubled in an insurance run in the ninth off Michael Kelly.
Abrams, Garcia, Young and Riley Adams each had two hits for Washington.
After squandering a few scoring chances, the A’s scored off reliever Robert Garcia in the seventh. Abraham Toro’s double, his third hit of the game, brought in Nick Allen to make it 2–1.
Nationals reliever Jordan Weems came on to fan Zack Gelof and preserve the lead.
The A’s finished with eight hits as their two-game winning streak came to an end. The Nationals ended a two-game skid.
Boyle, a rookie right-hander who was making just his sixth major league start, gave up one run on five hits with a walk in five innings. He struck out five.
The A’s got a single, steal and a walk in the first inning but Gore struck out Shea Langeliers to end the threat. Toro and Gelof hit consecutive singles with one out in the third, but Gore struck out J.D. Davis and got Tyler Nevin on a flyout. Gore retired the last eight batters he faced, six of them via strikeouts.
