Jeimer Candelario and Lane Thomas hit solo homers to spoil Matt Waldron’s major league debut and Josiah Gray and three relievers combined on a four-hit shutout as the Washington Nationals defeated the host San Diego Padres 2-0 on Saturday night.
After scoring 23 runs in their previous two games, the Padres suffered their seventh shutout loss of the season Saturday.
Gray (5-6) gave up four hits and four walks with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings to earn the win. The Padres had men reach base in each of the six innings Gray started.
Relievers Mason Thompson, Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey retired all 10 Padres they faced as Washington won just its fifth game in June (5-15).
Thompson entered the game with one on and one out in the sixth and struck out Gary Sanchez looking with catcher Keibert Ruiz picking Xander Bogaerts off first to complete an inning-ending double play. Thompson struck out three of the four Padres he faced.
Finnegan struck out two in a perfect eighth and Henry picked up his fifth save with a strikeout in a perfect ninth.
Candelario gave the Nationals a quick 1-0 lead with his ninth homer of the season with two outs in the first. Candelario drove a 1-1 fastball 395 feet to right-center field.
Thomas made it 2-0 with one out in the third with his 13th homer of the season — a 396-foot drive to left center on the first pitch from Waldron of the at-bat. Thomas, who had three hits in the game, also homered off a fastball.
Waldron, a 26-year-old whose repertoire features a knuckleball, allowed two runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings in his debut. Before joining the Padres, Waldron was 1-6 with a 7.02 ERA at Triple-A El Paso.
–Field Level Media
