Yadiel Hernandez drove in a career-high five runs, including two in a five-run first inning Sunday afternoon that gave Josiah Gray an immediate comfort zone and propelled the visiting Washington Nationals to an 11-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the finale of their three-game series.
Hernandez and Juan Soto collected three hits apiece for the Nationals, who ran up a total of 45 hits in taking two of three from the host Giants one week after San Francisco swept them in a three-game set in Washington. The Nationals totaled just 20 hits in the three losses last week.
The Nationals jumped on Alex Cobb (1-1), reinstated from the injured list before the game, for four hits, three walks and five runs before he could get a third out in the first inning.
Four of the five runs were unearned thanks to an error on third baseman Jason Vosler, which plated the first run and set the stage for Hernandez’s two-run single, a Cobb balk that scored a fourth run and an RBI infield single by Lucius Fox that made it 5-0.
Pitching for the first time since April 19 while dealing with a strained groin, Cobb was pulled one batter later, having pitched just two-thirds of an inning without recording a strikeout.
Gray (3-2) coasted through six shutout innings, allowing just one hit, a single by Jason Krizan with two outs in the fifth.
The right-hander walked four and struck out three.
Down 8-0, the Giants made it a game when they bombed the Washington bullpen for five runs in the seventh. Luis Gonzalez contributed an RBI single and Mike Ford a two-run hit to the uprising.
But the Nationals responded immediately with three game-breaking runs of their own in the eighth, all courtesy of a bases-loaded double by Hernandez that made it 11-5.
Soto scored three times, while Yadiel Hernandez and Cesar Hernandez scored twice apiece for the Nationals, who had just two extra-base hits – both of Yadiel Hernandez’s doubles — among their 12 hits.
Fox and Victor Robles finished with two hits apiece.
Gonzalez and Wilmer Flores each scored once and drove in a run for the Giants, who have lost three of four following a five-game winning streak.
–Field Level Media
