Dodgers avoid sweep by Nats
Alberto’s 2-run double sparks LA’s rout of Corbin
Hanser Alberto had a two-run double during the Dodgers’ six-run first inning, and Los Angeles emphatically avoided an improbable series sweep with a 7-1 home victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
Gavin Lux had three hits and drove in two runs, while Mookie Betts reached base four times for the National League-leading Dodgers. Los Angeles had won 19 of 21 before curiously losing its first two this week against the major-league-worst Nationals.
Andrew Heaney threw four innings of scoreless, one-hit ball in his return from a lengthy injury absence in the finale of Los Angeles’ 5-2 homestand after hosting the All-Star Game.
The Dodgers chased Washington starter Patrick Corbin when their first 10 batters combined for seven hits — two by Betts — and a walk while making just two outs on 45 pitches. Corbin (4-14) had the shortest start of his 11-year major-league career, failing to get out of the first inning for the first time in his 250 starts.
Maikel Franco’s infield single leading off the third inning was the Nationals’ only hit until the seventh, when Luis García drove in their lone run with a groundrule double.
Late Tuesday
Nationals 8, Dodgers 3: Luis Garcia hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as Washington rallied. His shot into the rightfield seats with two outs against left-hander Garrett Cleavinger was his third home run of the season and brought home Josh Bell, who reached first on a throwing error by Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux.
Washington scored four more times against Cleavinger in the ninth.
Mookie Betts hit his team-leading 23rd home run and threw out a runner at home plate for the Dodgers. Cody Bellinger also went deep, and Freddie Freeman added an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Washington starter Josiah Gray, who was traded from the Dodgers to the Nationals last season in a deal that sent Trea Turner and Max Scherzer west, held his former team to one run through four innings.
Orioles 5, Rays 3: Ramón Urías hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning off reliever Colin Poche to undo a marvelous start by Tampa Bay All-Star Shane McClanahan in Baltimore. McClanahan pitched seven innings of two-hit ball and was lifted with a 3-2 lead after throwing 81 pitches on a humid night.
Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said the move was made because McClanahan had started only once (except for the All-Star Game last week) since July 13.
“The biggest factor was the brea — four or five days [off ], then four more days,” Cash said, adding that he probably would have pulled McClanahan after six innings if his pitch count wasn’t so low.