Field Level Media
Jul 8, 2021
Sparked by a three-run homer from Juan Soto, the Washington Nationals scored nine runs in the first three innings and cruised to a 15-5 victory over the host San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
After Soto gave Washington a 3-0 lead in the first, Josh Bell and Starlin Castro hit back-to-back, two-run singles in the second. The Nationals tacked on two more in the third and one in the fourth to build a 10-0 advantage.
Patrick Corbin (6-7) picked up the win, holding the Padres to two runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts over six innings.
Josh Harrison and Bell each had three hits, and Trea Turner, Yan Gomes, Castro and Soto added two hits apiece. Soto, Harrison and Castro all drove in three runs.
The Nationals' first nine runs were charged to Chris Paddack (4-6). He gave up eight earned runs on nine hits and a walk with two strikeouts in two-plus innings.
The game started poorly for Paddack and went down from there. He hit Nationals leadoff hitter Alcides Escobar with a pitch, then gave up a first-pitch single to Turner followed by a first-pitch, three-run homer to Soto. It was Soto's second homer in as many games and 11th on the season.
Paddack struck out the first two hitters in the second before giving up back-to-back singles to Escobar and Turner and intentionally walking Soto to load the bases. Escobar and Turner scored on Bell's line-drive single with Bell winding up at second on a throwing error by Padres left fielder Tommy Pham. Castro then drove in Soto and Bell with a single to center.
Harrison opened the third with a single and scored on Victor Robles' double. Paddack then exited the game after flubbing Corbin's sacrifice bunt for an error. Robles scored on Escobar's groundout.
The Nationals built their lead to 10-0 on a double by Castro and a RBI single by Harrison against Nabil Crismatt in the fourth.
Pham doubled and scored on Manny Machado's two-out single to put the Padres on the board in the fifth.
San Diego's Eric Hosmer homered to lead off the sixth.
The Nationals added four runs in the eighth on an RBI double by Gomes, a two-run double by Harrison and an RBI single by Gerardo Parra. They scored a final unearned run in the ninth.
Trent Grisham hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for the Padres, and Victor Caratini added an RBI single.
--Field Level Media