Trevor Williams and four relievers combined on a three-hit shutout and the Washington Nationals defeated the visiting Baltimore Orioles 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Joey Meneses and Jesse Winker had two hits apiece for the Nationals, who, at 18-17, are over .500 for the first time since July 2, 2021. Washington snapped a seven-game losing streak against Baltimore.
Williams (4-0) went five innings, allowed two hits and didn’t walk a batter while tying his career high with eight strikeouts and outdueling Orioles ace Corbin Burnes. Robert Garcia, Derek Law, former Oriole Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan each tossed a scoreless inning, with Finnegan picking up his 12th save.
Burnes (3-2) allowed three runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked three for Baltimore, which had won four straight.
The expected pitchers’ duel between Burnes and Williams materialized quickly, and the only early run came in the Washington second when Winker led off with a single, stole second and scored when Meneses lined a single to right.
Meneses doubled down the left field line leading off the seventh against Burnes. Keibert Ruiz grounded out, advancing Meneses to third. Eddie Rosario, whose two-run homer broke an 8-8 tie in Sunday’s win over the Toronto Blue Jays, lined a base hit to left to score Meneses. Rosario stole second and then beat the throw home when Trey Lipscomb poked a single to right.
The Nationals led 3-0, and Burnes’ night was over. Lipscomb stole second and Jacob Young walked, but Jacob Webb struck out CJ Abrams and got Luis Garcia Jr. to fly out.
In the Washington eighth, Nick Senzel walked and Winker doubled him to third. Keegan Akin retired the next two batters without further damage. Rosario then walked to load the bases, but Akin got Lipscomb on a groundout.
Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn and manager Brandon Hyde were ejected for arguing a called third strike on O’Hearn in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
