The Sports Xchange
May 28, 2017
WASHINGTON -- Ryan Schimpf hit his 13th homer, and Chase d'Arnaud had two hits and drove in two runs as the San Diego Padres beat the Washington Nationals 5-3 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.
Schimpf lined a two-run homer down the right field line in the first off struggling Washington starter Joe Ross (2-1) to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. Schimpf has just nine singles this year and is hitting .163 for San Diego, which struck out 31 times in the first two games of the series.
The Nationals (30-19) trimmed the margin to 2-1 in the last of the first as Adam Lind drove in a run on fielder's choice. That broke a streak of 14 scoreless innings by San Diego starter Jhoulys Chacin at Nationals Park.
San Diego (19-33) scored again in the second as Chacin had an RBI single to make it 3-1.
Washington responded again in the bottom of the second. Wilmer Difo singled with one out, took second on a Trea Turner single and scored on a single by Brian Goodwin.
D'Arnaud had a two-run single in the fifth as the Padres jumped ahead 5-2.
Lind had an RBI double in the fifth to make it 5-3 and send Chacin to the showers, but the San Diego bullpen came through with a strong effort.
The winning pitcher was Kirby Yates (1-0), who came on in the fifth and retired all five batters he faced. Brad Hand pitched the eighth for the Padres. Brandon Maurer threw the ninth for his sixth save as he retired Turner, pinch hitter Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rendon.
Turner, Difo and Goodwin had two hits for the Nationals.
Ross, whose fastball dropped from 94 mph to 89 during his outing, gave up 12 hits and five runs in just four innings. He has made five starts this year and has a 6.18 ERA.
Franchy Cordero had the first two hits of his major league career for the Padres. Allen Cordoba, d'Arnaud, Chacin and Hunter Renfroe also had two hits for San Diego, which improved to 10-19 on the road.
Chacin gave up eight hits and three runs in 4 1/3 innings.
NOTES: The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 20 minutes by rain ... Washington 2B Daniel Murphy, who has been ill, was out of the starting lineup for the third straight day before he pinch-hit in the ninth. Getting rest days were RF Bryce Harper, C Matt Wieters and LF Jayson Werth. Werth and Wieters also pinch-hit. ... San Diego 1B Wil Myers, held out the previous two games, started Sunday and went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts. He had 14 strikeouts in his previous 28 at-bats ... Washington RHP Tanner Roark (4-2, 4.32 ERA) will face Giants LHP Matt Moore (2-5, 5.28) on Monday in San Francisco. ... Washington bench coach Chris Speier filled in for the third game in a row as manager Dusty Baker was in California to celebrate the high school graduation of his son, Darren. Baker will join the team Monday in San Francisco. ... Padres RHP Jarred Cosart (0-1, 4.50) will face Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (4-2, 3.25) on Monday.