Spot starter Joan Adon was perfect over five innings and retired the first 17 batters to lead the visiting Washington Nationals past the Cincinnati Reds 7-3 on Saturday.
Lane Thomas, who bashed two homers Friday night, continued his assault on Cincinnati, getting two hits and two RBIs on Saturday. This was Washington’s third straight win and 10th in its last 15 games.
Keibert Ruiz doubled twice and walked for Washington, which won its second straight against Cincinnati after dropping four straight at home at the start of July.
The slumping Reds, who dropped their fifth straight, were sloppy all around. They committed four errors for the second time in four games and fell to 9-13 since the All-Star break. Cincinnati has been outscored in the five-game slide, 54-24.
With starter Trevor Williams on the bereavement list, the Nationals turned to the 24-year-old Adon for a spot start. Adon (1-0) responded with the best start of his young career.
The right-hander entered with a lifetime 1-12 mark with a 6.72 ERA, including 15 starts. But Adon was perfect through five innings, with seven strikeouts on just 59 pitches.
Adon extended the streak to 17 batters to open the sixth before the ninth-place hitter — Luke Maile — went to the opposite field with a soft liner to right field in front of Lane Thomas for Cincinnati’s first hit and base runner.
Elly De La Cruz followed with a two-out line drive off Adon’s glove for an infield single.
TJ Friedl then snapped a team-wide 0-for-19 drought with runners in scoring position with a homer halfway up the right field deck to cut Washington’s 6-0 lead in half.
Adon was finished after six innings, allowing three hits and three runs, striking out seven and walking none.
Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott (6-3) walked four batters in the first two innings as he endured his second straight rough start. He finished with a career-high five walks while matching career highs in runs allowed (six) and hits (nine) while striking out just three over 5 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
