Victor Robles, Josh Bell and Maikel Franco led a 22-hit assault with four hits apiece as the Washington Nationals got a measure of revenge for a three-game shellacking at home last weekend with a 14-4 destruction of the host San Francisco Giants on Friday.
Alcides Escobar and Cesar Hernandez each added three hits and Juan Soto homered for the Nationals, who snapped an eight-game losing streak. The Giants took their second loss in a row after winning five straight.
In a matchup of two guys who started for the Giants last season, Aaron Sanchez (1-1) outdueled Alex Wood (2-1), limiting San Francisco to three runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out four without walking anyone.
Wood left a competitive 5-3 game after five innings, charged with five runs and eight hits. He walked one and struck out three.
The Nationals, who were outscored 24-6 in their sweep at the hands of the Giants last week, broke this one open with a four-run sixth that featured RBI singles by Hernandez, Soto and Bell.
Up 9-4, Washington tacked on five in the eighth. Robles contributed a two-run double to the uprising, which also included RBI singles by Franco, Lane Thomas and Escobar.
Soto’s homer, his fourth of the season, came on Wood’s ninth pitch of the game. The solo shot opened the scoring.
Robles finished 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs for the Nationals, whose 14 runs were their most since running up 18 against the Miami Marlins last July. The 22 hits were their most since they had 22 at Arizona last May.
Robles’ four hits matched a career high, set last August against the Miami Marlins. One of his hits was a seventh-inning bunt with Washington leading 9-3.
The Nationals got upset last weekend when the Giants’ Thairo Estrada ran the bases aggressively late in a blowout win.
The last time the Giants allowed 20 or more hits came when they yielded 21 to the Diamondbacks during an 18-2 loss in May 2019.
Jason Vosler had a two-run homer, his first long ball of the season, in the second inning to keep the Giants close early on.
San Francisco’s Wilmer Flores and Joey Bart recorded three hits apiece, with Bart belting his third homer of the season in the seventh. Austin Slater had two hits and two runs for the Giants.
–Field Level Media
