WASHINGTON—James Wood homered, tripled, and scored four runs, and the Washington Nationals erased a quick four-run deficit to beat the San Francisco Giants 11–5 on Tuesday night.
Wood also walked twice and stole two bases for the Nationals, who have won three of their past four games after having lost five straight.
CJ Abrams hit a three-run home run and Keibert Ruiz had three hits, including a solo shot, for Washington, which finished with 15 hits. Alex Call added two RBI doubles and a walk.
“We went from real gloomy, to boom,” Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said. “What they did was play hard for 27 outs. They really did. They started working good at-bats and they started driving the ball.”
MacKenzie Gore (7–9) continued his recent struggles but navigated through five innings for his first win since June 14, allowing five runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out six. Over his past nine starts, Gore is 1–4 with a 7.24 earned-run average.
Three Washington relievers combined to pitch four scoreless innings of one-hit ball to close it out.
Michael Conforto had a three-run homer, double, and a walk for the Giants (57–58), who were looking to climb above .500 for the first time since they ended play on May 29 with a 29-28 record.
San Francisco rookie Hayden Birdsong (3–1) was staked to the early lead but couldn’t hold it. He was lifted after two-plus innings, having allowed seven runs on five hits—two of them home runs. He walked three batters, all of whom scored.
“Today he just really didn’t have command of anything early on,” Giants Manager Bob Melvin said. “And they were putting some good swings on him, putting a lot of pressure on him. Never really had kind of a break out there. But not his best.”
Heliot Ramos homered to make it 1–0 with one out in the top of the first inning. Gore walked Matt Chapman with two outs and hit Mark Canha before Conforto lined a three-run homer to right-center field.
Wood tripled to ignite a five-run second inning capped by Abrams’ three-run drive off Birdsong on a shoulder-high fastball.
“I have no idea how he hit that ball,“ Birdsong said. ”Good for him. That guy can hit. And they can hit fastballs. … I knew that going in. Not very many people are probably hitting that ball. It was impressive.”
And Abrams’ reaction?
“I was confused about why I swung,” he said. “But I was happy I did.”
Ruiz homered leading off the third inning to make it 6–4, and later in the inning Call doubled off reliever Randy Rodriguez to score Wood with Washington’s seventh run.
Wood capped his night with a two-run homer in the eighth as Washington outscored San Francisco 11–1 after the first inning.
