Red Sox send Nationals to their fifth straight loss
Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in two runs, and starter Eduardo Rodriguez threw six scoreless innings as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Washington Nationals 3-0 in the finale of their interleague series at Nationals Park on Wednesday afternoon.
The Red Sox completed a three-game sweep of this series with the victory. Washington has dropped five straight games and slipped under .500 at 42-43 for the first time since May 2.
The Nationals, who many projected as the favorite to win the National League East, fell to 7 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta with this loss.
Rodriguez (10-3) kept the struggling Washington offense quiet throughout his six innings. He allowed three hits and struck out six with one walk and ended a personal two-game losing streak.
Matt Barnes and Joe Kelly then blanked the Nationals in the seventh and eighth, respectively, before Craig Kimbrel closed it in the ninth and earned his 26th save. Kimbrel gave up two singles but worked out of trouble.
Erick Fedde started for the Nationals but did not last long. He left with an undisclosed injury after giving up a single to Rafael Devers to begin the second inning.
Matt Grace then threw four shutout innings. Brandon Kintzler got through the sixth before Ryan Madson (2-4) came on and ran into trouble in the seventh.
Devers led off with a double to center and moved to third when Eduardo Nunez singled. Bradley then hit a fly ball that drifted into foul territory in left field.
Adam Eaton raced over and made a sliding catch near the stands, and Devers scored from the third on the sacrifice fly. That gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
Later in the inning, Andrew Benintendi drew a two-out walk. But Madson bounced the 3-2 pitch that catcher Pedro Severino could not come up with. Nunez raced home from the third on the wild pitch.
Bradley and Nunez combined for a third run in the ninth. Nunez got a one-out single off of Kelvin Herrera and scored when Bradley followed with a double that gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.
—Field Level Media