The Washington Nationals trailed 4-0 after four batters, but the Nats fought back to take a 5-4 lead into the middle innings, then, down 6-5 in the ninth, had James Wood at the plate with runners on second and third and two down.
Wood hit a 102-mph grounder to second for the third out, and the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged the third game of the three-game series with the 6-5 win.
Yes, that’s right, the Dodgers had to salvage one, after dropping Games 1 and 2 to the upstart Nats, who were 1-6 on the season just a few days ago.
Washington finished off the Arizona Diamondbacks with wins on Saturday and Sunday to take the weekend series, then defeated LA on Monday, 6-4, behind MacKenzie Gore, and posted a dominant 8-2 win on Tuesday.
Wood, the second-year player acquired in 2022 in the Juan Soto trade, had a big series, with a homer in Monday’s win, and two homers and five RBIs in the blowout win on Tuesday.
CJ Abrams, also acquired in the Soto deal, had a leadoff homer in the first, keying a three-run rally that got the Nats back into it.
Washington took the lead in the third on an RBI double from Luis Garcia and a sac-fly RBI from Alex Call.
Jake Irvin battled back from his rough first, holding the Dodgers scoreless in his final five frames, finishing with a line of six innings pitched, four runs allowed on four hits and three bases on balls, and seven Ks.
LA took the lead in the seventh, getting a leadoff homer from Andy Pages to tie the game at 5-5, then going ahead on an RBI single from Teoscar Hernandez, who had a two-run homer in the four-run first.
Eduardo Salazar (0-1, 4.05 ERA) was the victim there, getting touched for two runs on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
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Chris Graham
