WASHINGTON_Ross Stripling set a career high with nine strikeouts and the Los Angeles Dodgers scratched together a 4-1 victory over the Nationals in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Stripling held Washington to one run across six innings. He benefited from the generous strike zone of umpire Mike Estabrook, who offered pitchers from both sides ample room with which to work. Kenley Jansen recorded his first save since May 9.
The Nationals had not completed a game since May 13. The weather had wrecked a midweek series with the New York Yankees and forced Saturday's doubleheader. The Dodgers (18-26) hoped they could capitalize on a rusty opponent.
The game started with a jolt. Joc Pederson engaged in a 10-pitch at-bat against Nationals starter Tanner Roark, ending the encounter by ripping a groundball down the first-base line. Pederson chugged into third base for a leadoff triple. He scored on a sacrifice fly from Yasmani Grandal.
Washington tied the score with a trio of singles in the third inning. Bryce Harper, the perennial most valuable player candidate, deposited an RBI single into center field. Stripling would give up only one more hit in the game.
Stripling struck out the side in the first inning; he repeated the feat in the sixth when Harper and first baseman Matt Adams both watched as off-speed pitches snapped into Grandal's glove. Harper stared at a slider. Adams took a looping curveball.
By that point the Dodgers had regained the lead. They pulled ahead in the fifth inning when Cody Bellinger beat out a potential double-play ball to score Logan Forsythe from third base. An inning later, Max Muncy smacked an RBI double off Roark to bring home Grandal. Muncy added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
