Lane Thomas belted a grand slam to help the host Washington Nationals cruise to a 13-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in the rubber match of the three-game series.

Washington’s Joey Meneses homered among his three hits and Dominic Smith also went deep. CJ Abrams hit a two-run double and Luis Garcia had three hits and scored four runs for the Nationals.

The Nationals (68-85), who won the last two games of the three-game series, posted their most runs in a game this season. Their previous high came in a 12-10 win at Kansas City on May 26.

The White Sox (58-95) have lost seven consecutive series. Andrew Vaughn posted two of the team’s six hits and drove in a run with a groundout.

Nationals starter Josiah Gray (8-12) posted his first victory since July 22 after holding the White Sox to one run in five innings.

The Nationals benefitted from 14 hits and seven walks. They struck out only twice – both times by Keibert Ruiz.

The big blow was Thomas’ 26th home run of the season in the third inning. That began a stretch of one Washington home run in three straight innings. Smith drilled his 11th homer in the fourth, and Meneses smacked his 13th in the fifth.

Meneses, who hit a game-winning home run on Tuesday, drove in the game’s first run on a fielder’s choice grounder.

The White Sox pulled even on Gavin Sheets’ sacrifice fly in the second inning. The Nationals were back in front courtesy of a three-run bottom of the second, with Luis Vargas driving in a run with a single and Abrams knocking in the next two with a double.

The White Sox used Michael Kopech in an opener role for one inning. Chicago sent three pitchers to the mound to get through the first two innings, with Tanner Banks (0-4) taking the loss after giving up three runs (two earned) while recording one out.

–Field Level Media