Field Level Media
Apr 22, 2018
Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run double, and Corey Seager's sacrifice fly in the seventh inning completed a late rally that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Sunday.
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen gave up a pair of singles to start the ninth inning, then retired three consecutive batters to end it, getting former teammate Howie Kendrick on a fly ball to the edge of the warning track for the final out. It was Jansen's third save of the season and second in two days.
In his first career start at Dodger Stadium, Nationals pitcher Jeremy Hellickson was in cruise control until he reached the sixth inning. He held a 3-0 lead and had retired 14 consecutive batters when the Dodgers' comeback began.
The rally started with a Chris Taylor double, the Dodgers' first hit since a Seager double in the first inning. Seager's walk was followed by Grandal's two-run double, and Cody Bellinger added an RBI double off the wall in center field to tie the score 3-3.
Hellickson gave up three runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Dodgers starter Alex Wood allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked one.
Four Dodgers relievers held down the Nationals the rest of the way, with Josh Fields (2-0) pitching a scoreless inning for the victory.
Nationals reliever Trevor Gott (0-1) took the loss. In the seventh, he hit Austin Barnes with a pitch, allowed a Chris Taylor single that put runners on the corners, then yielded Seager's tiebreaking flyout to left.
The Nationals jumped on top in the second inning on Pedro Severino's sacrifice fly, then made it 2-0 in the third inning on a home run from Michael Taylor, his first of the season.
Michael Taylor helped make it 3-0 for the Nationals in the sixth inning when he scored on a sacrifice fly from Moises Sierra.
The Dodgers won their second consecutive series following a three-game sweep at San Diego. They had not won any of their first five series. Los Angeles improved to 10-10, moving back to the .500 mark for the first time since holding a 2-2 mark on April 1.
The Nationals (10-12) dropped the Saturday and Sunday games after taking the series opener Friday.
--Field Level Media