San Francisco, CA – Jayson Werth drove in three runs to back Stephen Strasburg as the Washington Nationals posted a 6-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the rubber match of a three-game set at AT&T Park.
Steve Lombardozzi collected four hits, including two doubles, and Danny Espinosa clubbed a two-run homer for the Nationals, who concluded their road trip with an 8-2 mark.
Strasburg (14-5) limited the Giants to two runs on four hits over six innings. He walked four and struck out seven.
"We need to finish strong and we need to keep playing hard," Strasburg said. "We cant focus on the finish line when we have 40-something games left."
The Giants scored a run in the ninth, but Tyler Clippard struck out Buster Posey to record his 25th save of the season. Pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez kept the game alive with a two-out single and came around to score when first baseman Adam LaRoche dropped Pablo Sandoval's infield pop up.
Tim Lincecum (6-13) gave up four runs on eight hits in four frames for San Francisco, which learned before Wednesday's contest that outfielder Melky Cabrera was issued a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy.
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball said Cabrera tested positive for Testosterone, a performance-enhancing substance.
"This team will remain focused on trying to win ballgames and that's where we're at right now," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said about the suspension. "Sometimes you're dealt with some things that you have to handle and this is one of them, so that's our focus."
Werth plated a pair with a bases-loaded, two-out single in the first, but the Giants pulled even in the second on Brandon Crawford's two-run single.
San Francisco had loaded the bases with no outs on consecutive walks and a Brandon Belt base hit. After Gregor Blanco went down swinging, Crawford sent a Strasburg offering to right field.
Espinosa quickly untied the game with his two-out blast to center, knocking in LaRoche, who had doubled to begin the third.
Werth singled home Michael Morse in the fifth and came home on a Kurt Suzuki sacrifice fly two innings later, extending Washington's lead to 6-2.
The Giants got a run back in the eighth off Sean Burnett. Sandoval led off with a single and Posey followed by going the other way with a double to right field. After Hunter Pence grounded out to the pitcher and Belt struck out, Sandoval scored on Blanco's ground ball to second base. Lombardozzi made a nifty play to prevent the ball from reaching the outfield, but Blanco beat the throw to first.
Burnett, though, fanned Crawford to end the inning.
Game Notes
The Nationals haven't lost a road series since dropping two of three in Baltimore from June 22-24 ... Morse went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
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