James Wood homered twice and drove in five runs to lead the Washington Nationals to an 8-2 win against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.
Wood, who has three homers in his past two games, also singled and drew a bases-loaded walk for the Nationals, who have won four straight including two in a row against the Dodgers.
Keibert Ruiz, Jacob Young and Dylan Crews had two hits each for Washington, which goes for the series sweep on Wednesday.
Andy Pages and Enrique Hernandez homered for the Dodgers, who have lost three straight and four of five after opening the season 8-0.
Los Angeles starter Justin Wrobleski (0-1) was making his season debut after being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City before the series. The 24-year-old allowed eight runs on eight hits over five innings.
Washington’s Brad Lord pitched three scoreless innings in his first start of the season. He allowed two hits and struck out four — including Shohei Ohtani twice — with two walks.
Colin Poche (1-2) pitched a scoreless fourth inning with three strikeouts to earn the win. Four Washington pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts.
The Nationals jumped on Wrobleski in the first inning. Alex Call singled and Wood homered to center on a first-pitch fastball to make it 2-0 before an out was recorded.
In the second, Crews singled with two outs and Young and Call walked to load the bases. After Wood walked to force in a run, Ruiz lined a two-run single to center and the lead was 5-0.
Crews singled leading off the fourth, stole second and went to third on Young’s single. After Call’s sacrifice fly made it 6-0, Wood struck again, smacking a two-run shot to right-center on a first-pitch curveball.
The Dodgers got on the board when Pages led off the fifth with a home run to left-center off Orlando Ribalta, and Hernandez made it 8-2 when he went deep against Jackson Rutledge in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
