Jeremy Hellickson made it look effortless as he mowed his way through the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup, but the wheels began to rattle in the sixth inning and the end result was a 4-3 loss for the Washington Nationals.
Hellickson was stressed in the first inning and went on cruise control after that. Corey Seager doubled with one out in the bottom of the first, later advanced to third base, and Cody Bellinger walked with two outs. But both runners were stranded when Joc Pederson flied out.
That marked the start of 14 in a row retired for Hellickson, which was snapped by Chris Taylor’s opposite-field double with one out in the sixth inning. Seager walked on four pitches, and Yasmani Grandal extended his career-best hitting streak to 11 games with a two-run double.
Sammy Solis relieved Hellickson, only to give up a game-tying double to Cody Bellinger. Trevor Gott was next to enter the game, and his first pitch was uncorked to the backstop.
Although it allowed both runners to advance, Gott struck out Yasiel Puig and Chase Utley to end the threat. He wasn’t quite as fortunate in the seventh inning, however.
After being hit by a pitch, Austin Barnes went first to third base on Taylor’s single. Barnes’ hustle and awareness was cashed in by Seager on a sacrifice fly that gave the Dodgers a decided lead.
Josh Fields issued a leadoff walk in the seventh and worked out of a jam after Wilmer Difo reached third base with one out. Fields was aided by Andrew Stevenson being thrown out on his attempt to stretch a single to right field into a double.
Tony Cingrani struck out Bryce Harper to start the eighth inning, and Pedro Baez finished out the inning after issuing a two-out walk. Kenley Jansen ultimately converted the save opportunity but he didn’t exactly follow up his encouraging appearance with another strong showing.
The Nationals opened the ninth with back-to-back singles, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base. Jansen wiggled his way out of trouble by getting consecutive strikeouts before inducing Howie Kendrick into a fly out.
Alex Wood wasn’t at his sharpest, which Michael A. Taylor in particular took advantage of. Wood’s only real stress came in the second inning when Ryan Zimmerman led off with a ground-rule double and Taylor followed with a base hit.
Pedro Severino’s sacrifice fly gave the Nationals an early lead. Taylor then led off the fourth with a home run, and doubled with one out in the sixth inning. An errant pickoff throw allowed him to advance to third base, which came back to cost the Dodgers.
Moises Sierra’s sacrifice fly scored Taylor before Wood could get out of the inning, his final of the night. He exited having allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits, while collecting four strikeouts against one walk (intentional).
