Washington catcher Riley Adams and reliever Tanner Rainey celebrate after a 1-0 win Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Washington. Nick Wass/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Erik Fedde and three relievers combined on a six-hitter, Cesar Hernandez had an RBI single and the Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.
Washington snapped a nine-game skid against Los Angeles. The Nationals had not defeated the Dodgers since Game 5 of the NL Division Series in 2019.
Tanner Rainey stranded two in the ninth inning for his fourth save in six tries, getting fly balls from Cody Bellinger and Will Smith to end it.
Los Angeles lost for only the second time in 11 games, but the Dodgers still own the best record in the National League at 29-14. Los Angeles had outscored Washington 19-5 in the first two games of the series.
NL home run leader Mookie Betts was out of the lineup for a planned day off, but he struck out as a pinch hitter to lead off the eighth. That snapped Betts’ 12-game streak with a run scored, which was tied with Rafael Furcal (2010) for the Dodgers’ longest such stretch since they moved to Los Angeles and trailed only Zack Wheat’s 13-game run in 1925 in franchise history.
Fedde (3-3) pitched six innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out six. Carl Edwards Jr. pitched the seventh, Kyle Finnegan escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth and Rainey did the same in the ninth.
The Nationals manufactured a run in the sixth off Julio Urias when Victor Robles walked, Alcides Escobar followed with a bunt single and Hernandez singled to left to bring in Robles.
GIANTS 9, METS 3: Evan Longoria homered twice and Joc Pederson hit his fourth in two games as San Francisco went deep four times in the first two innings off rookie Thomas Szapucki and routed visiting New York.
Mike Yastrzemski also homered off Szapucki, a 25-year-old left-hander making his first major league start and second appearance after the Mets summoned him from the minors due to a string of injuries.
New York lost 2 of 3 in San Francisco, the Mets’ second series loss in their first 14 series this season. New York had won its previous 14 games following a loss, the third-longest such streak in major league history behind the 1934 New York Giants (16) and 1911 Philadelphia Athletics (15).
The Mets also lost consecutive games for the first time since April 10 and 11. New York overcame an 8-2 deficit Tuesday to take leads of 11-8 and 12-11 before losing 13-12. That was the Mets’ first loss in the 181 games in their history in which they scored 12 runs or more.
PIRATES 10, ROCKIES 5: Jack Suwinski hit a tying three-run home run in the sixth and Josh VanMeter followed with a three-run homer in the seventh to break open the game as Pittsburgh rallied past visiting Colorado.
Suwinski fueled Pittsburgh’s 10th comeback victory of the season by sending a pitch from Carlos Estevez into the first row of the right-field stands with two outs in the sixth to erase a three-run deficit. The drive increased Suwinski’s home run total to five, tops among National League rookies.
Ben Gamel gave the Pirates their first lead in the seventh with an RBI single off Justin Lawrence (1-1) and VanMeter followed two batters later with his third home run of the year to give the Pirates some breathing room as they won their second straight.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TIGERS 4, TWINS 2: Jeimer Candelario hit the tie-breaking two-run homer in the 10th inning after Harold Castro went deep twice earlier, and visiting Detroit dodged another sweep in Minnesota.
Candelario knocked a first-pitch fastball from Trevor Megill (0-1) into the grass berm behind center field, just beyond the reach of Gilberto Celestino’s glove to drive in the automatic runner and give the Tigers their first lead of the series.
The Twins, who had their six-game winning streak stopped, loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half. Michael Fulmer struck out Carlos Correa before yielding to Andrew Chafin, who struck out Max Kepler and retired Gary Sanchez on a foul pop for his first save this season.
NOTES
YANKEES: Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton is going on the injured list for the fourth straight season.
Stanton was placed on the 10-day IL with a strained right calf as the ailing Yankees made a flurry of roster moves less than an hour before their series finale against Baltimore.
New York also put struggling reliever Jonathan Loaisiga on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 23, with right shoulder inflammation – the latest blow to a depleted bullpen that had shined most of the season.
Left fielder Joey Gallo was reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list and was in the starting lineup at designated hitter.
TWINS: The Minnesota Twins placed starting pitcher Joe Ryan on the COVID-19 injured list, bumping the surging rookie from his upcoming turn.
Ryan was scheduled to pitch on Thursday against Kansas City. Manager Rocco Baldelli said Ryan was “doing OK.”
The 25-year-old right-hander, who made five starts last season after being acquired in a trade with Tampa Bay, is 5-2 with a 2.28 ERA in eight starts this year. Ryan has 14 walks and 42 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings with a .186 opponent batting average. He leads all major league rookies in wins and innings and is second in strikeouts.
The Twins recalled left-hander Devin Smeltzer from Triple-A St. Paul to take Ryan’s spot in the rotation.
ROCKIES: Outfielder Kris Bryant’s balky back has him on the injured list for the second time this season.
The Rockies placed Bryant on the 10-day injured list. The move is retroactive to Monday, when Colorado initially held Bryant out of the lineup with what the club called back soreness. Bryant sat out Tuesday’s extra-inning victory over the Pirates and with symptoms lingering, put him on the IL.
Bryant, signed to a seven-year, $182-million deal with Colorado in March, spent nearly a month on the injured list after initially tweaking the back in late April.
He returned to the lineup last weekend against the New York Mets before complaining of soreness.
Bryant is hitting .270 with no home runs and four RBI in 17 games this season for Colorado.
ARBITRATION: The Miami Marlins defeated Pablo Lopez in salary arbitration and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated Adrian Houser in a pair of cases involving right-hander pitchers, giving teams a 5-2 lead over players in decisions with 11 cases remaining.
Lopez will receive $2.45 million rather than the $3 million he requested, according to the decision by Allen Ponak, Scott Buchheit and Brian Keller, who heard the case Friday.
Houser will get $2.425 million instead of the $3 million he asked for. Howard Edelman, Mark Burstein and Robert Herzog heard the case on May 4.
BRAVES: Right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. was scratched from the lineup with right quadriceps tightness.
Acuna is hitting .292 with two homers, eight RBI and eight stolen bases in 65 at-bats since returning from reconstructive right knee surgery April 28.
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