Starter Landon Knack picked up his first major league victory by working six innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers, who racked up 20 hits, defeated the host Washington Nationals 11-2 on Wednesday night.
Will Smith went 4-for-6, Shohei Ohtani doubled three times and Mookie Betts, who also had four hits, and Gavin Lux each had two-run singles as the Dodgers won their third game in a row. Andy Pages, who also had three hits, added a home run.
Knack (1-1), a right-hander who was the losing pitcher last week against Washington in his first big-league game, held the Nationals to two runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out five and retired the final 13 batters he faced.
Ryan Brasier and Ryan Yarbrough pitched in relief for Los Angeles.
Nationals starter Jake Irvin (1-2) lasted only 4 2/3 innings after baffling the Dodgers in Los Angeles on April 17. This time, he allowed six runs on 12 hits.
Nick Senzel smacked his second home run of the season for Washington, which won two of three last week in Los Angeles but go into Thursday’s game hoping to avoid a series sweep.
The Dodgers were relentless against Irvin across the first five innings after waiting until late in Tuesday night’s game to get the offense clicking.
Smith had two singles and a double before the sixth inning.
Smith’s two-out single in the first inning drove in Ohtani, who had doubled. That was a breakthrough considering Irvin blanked the Dodgers for six innings in last week’s matchup.
Betts added a two-run single in the second. After Senzel’s homer and Joey Meneses’ bases-loaded walk in the second got the Nationals going, the Dodgers struck again.
Max Muncy’s run-scoring single in the third gave Los Angeles at least one run in each of the first three innings.
Lux drove in two runs in the fifth, doubling his season RBI total with one swing. Pages drilled his second homer of the season in the eighth before Ohtani’s RBI double.
–Field Level Media
