Xander Bogaerts had a first-inning grand slam among his two hits, Nick Pivetta pitched six strong innings and the San Diego Padres beat the host Washington Nationals 8-1 on Sunday, taking the rubber game of the series.
Elias Diaz had a home run and a single, and Jake Cronenworth added two doubles for the Padres, who have won five of seven.
Pivetta (10-2) allowed a run on three hits, struck out five and walked one. In his last five starts, Pivetta is 3-0 with a 0.57 ERA, 36 strikeouts and six walks.
Riley Adams homered for the Washington run and Luis Garcia Jr. and Paul DeJong each had two hits. The Nationals have lost six of seven.
Washington All-Star MacKenzie Gore (4-9) endured his worst outing of the season, allowing eight runs on eight hits — two of them home runs — in 2 1/3 innings.
The Padres jumped on Gore in the first. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a walk, Luis Arraez singled and Manny Machado walked to load the bases. Bogaerts then turned on a first-pitch fastball, homering to left to make it 4-0. Before the inning was over, Jose Iglesias and Cronenworth hit back-to-back doubles for another run.
With two outs in the second, Machado walked, Bogaerts singled and Gavin Sheets lined a single to center off shortstop CJ Abrams’ glove to make it 6-0.
Cronenworth doubled leading off the third and Bryce Johnson bunted him to third. Diaz homered to left on a 2-0 pitch to increase the lead to 8-0 and end Gore’s afternoon.
Adams homered to center off Pivetta with two outs in the fifth to make it 8-1.
Washington’s James Wood lined a single to right-center in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a career-worst 0-for-20 skid.
The Nationals loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, but Bryan Hoeing retired Abrams on a fly to left.
–Field Level Media
