Josh Bell homered for the second straight game, Konnor Pilkington earned his first major league win since 2022 and the Washington Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 on Tuesday.

Riley Adams had a bases-loaded single for Washington, which has won the first two games of a three-game series.

Pilkington, called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Rochester, pitched two perfect innings. The 27-year-old left-hander, in his Nationals debut, threw a 1-2-3 fifth inning, then struck out the side in the sixth.

Pilkington (1-0) went 1-2 for Cleveland in 2022 and made one appearance for the Guardians in 2023.

Washington starter Brad Lord allowed one run on six hits over four innings in his return to the rotation. He fanned one without issuing a walk.

Gavin Lux went 4-for-4 for the Reds, who have lost three straight.

Cincinnati rookie Chase Burns (0-2), making his fifth big-league start, gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out 10 for the second consecutive outing, and he walked two.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Elly De La Cruz led off with a double, went to third on a groundout and scored on Lux’s single.

Bell tied it with a one-out homer to right in the bottom of the fourth.

Brady House singled leading off the Washington fifth. He went to third on a pair of outs and scored on Jacob Young’s double to center. CJ Abrams followed with a double down the right field line, plating Young to make it 3-1.

The Nationals loaded the bases against Burns in the sixth on a walk, a double and a walk with no outs. House grounded into a fielder’s choice with Bell out at home and Daylen Lile struck out before Adams lined a single to right. Nathaniel Lowe and Luis Garcia Jr. scored and, when right fielder Jake Fraley’s throw got by catcher Tyler Stephenson, House came home as well to make it 6-1.

The Reds got a pair of two-out singles in the eighth, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch, but Andrew Chafin struck out De La Cruz to end the threat.

–Field Level Media