In their first visit to Nationals Park since Game 5 of the 2016 National League Division Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers shut out the Washington Nationals, 7-0, behind early offense and a strong outing from Alex Wood.
The Dodgers slugged three home runs and chased Edwin Jackson in the third inning. The onslaught began with Justin Turner, who opened the scoring with a two-out solo home run in the first inning on a full count.
Yasiel Puig muscled a homer to right-center field to lead off the second, and Chase Utley followed with a double to the same gap.
Jackson got Ethier to hit a fly ball, but Jayson Werth never caught sight of it and his deke attempt proved futile as the ball hit the warning track and bounced over the wall for an RBI ground-rule double.
A walk by Chris Taylor prompted a mound visit from Nationals pitching coach Mike Maddux that proved futile. Jackson’s next pitch was crushed by Corey Seager to straightaway center field for a three-run home run. The homer was Seager’s 20th this season but first since Aug. 5.
Jackson walked Bellinger to start the fourth inning, and the Dodgers rookie promptly stole his 10th base of the season. After Puig’s base hit put runners at the corners, Chase Utley’s groundball out drove in a run and knocked Jackson out of the game.
He exited having allowed more runs than outs recorded. While the Nationals bullpen kept the Dodgers off the board the rest of the way, Wood turned in six shutout innings.
He needed all of 10 pitches to get through the first inning, and stranded Ryan Zimmerman after allowing a leadoff double in the second. Wood’s next brush with trouble came in the third when he hit Trea Turner with a pitch.
Howie Kendrick’s single into right field then put two on with two outs. Wood escaped the small jam by handcuffing Daniel Murphy to strike him out. Murphy struck out two more times on the night.
Wood walked Kendrick with two outs in the bottom of the sixth but followed it by collecting back-to-back strikeouts to give him eight in the game. The Nationals managed all of five baserunners on Wood (three hits, one walk, one hit by pitch).
Pedro Baez was the first reliever Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called on, and he issued back-to-back walks to start the bottom of the seventh. Though, the second came on a missed strike. Baez retired the next three batters to strand both runners.
Brock Stewart followed Baez with two scoreless innings to wrap up the win. With their 15th shut out of the season, the Dodgers trimmed their magic number to clinch the National League West to six and moved six games ahead of the Nationals for the best record in the league.
