Jeter Downs hit a walk-off single with two outs to cap a six-run ninth inning as the Washington Nationals rallied to an 8-7 victory against the visiting Oakland Athletics, completing a three-game series sweep on Sunday afternoon.
Shaky relief from Oakland’s Trevor May in the ninth inning led to Kirby Snead (1-1) coming on and issuing a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Dominic Smith before shortstop Nick Allen’s error led to two runs to tie the game. Downs, who began the inning with a walk, won the game with a single to center field.
Washington’s Stone Garrett had a run-scoring double, a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to account for his team’s first three runs. Ildemaro Vargas had a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Teammate Keibert Ruiz, who smacked the game-winning home run in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s game, went 3-for-5. Joey Meneses had three hits and two runs and Michael Chavis added two hits.
Zack Gelof hit solo home runs in the first and fifth innings and racked up four hits, but the Athletics lost for the ninth time in their last 12 games. Seth Brown also homered and drove in four runs for Oakland.
Gelof’s seventh and eighth career home runs came in his 25th game in the major leagues. The Athletics scored more than two runs for the first time in five games.
Joe La Sorsa (1-0) pitched two shutout innings for the victory — his first in the majors.
Athletics starting pitcher Ken Waldichuk worked five innings and was in line for his first victory since July 5. He allowed one run on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Adrian Martinez followed Waldichuk by logging three innings, giving up one run and three hits.
May came on for the ninth and yielded three hits, two walks and five runs (three earned) before Snead replaced him.
Nationals starter Trevor Williams was drilled for five runs in 4 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and walking two. He has now given up six home runs in his past two starts and 10 in his past six.
The Athletics struck for three first-inning runs, beginning with Gelof’s home run to center. Two batters later, Brown’s 11th home run of the season was a two-run blast.
The Nationals, who are 10-2 in home games since the All-Star break, responded to score on Garrett’s first-inning double.
Aledmys Diaz, who joined Brown with two hits, provided a run-scoring single in the third inning as Oakland stretched its lead to 4-1.
Gelof’s second homer of the day gave him his first career multi-homer game.
–Field Level Media
