WASHINGTON (AP) — Shane Smith took a perfect game into the sixth inning, Brooks Baldwin homered and drove in three, and the Chicago White Sox limited the Washington Nationals to one hit in a 8-0 rout on Sunday in the season finale for both last-place teams.
Miguel Vargas and Dominic Fletcher also homered for the White Sox, who concluded their first season under Will Venable at 60-102. It was a 19-game improvement after the franchise went 41-121 in 2024 to set the modern record for single-season losses.
Washington closed at 66-96, a decline of five games after going 71-91 the last two seasons.
The Nationals finished last in the NL East for the fifth time in six years. Interim manager Miguel Cairo was 29-43 after taking over for Dave Martinez, who was fired July 6 with Washington at 37-53.
Smith (7-8) retired the first 16 batters he faced before Brady House singled. The right-hander struck out eight in six innings.
Vargas hit a two-run homer off Washington starter Brad Lord (5-10) in the first inning. Baldwin hit a solo shot and Fletcher had a two-run homer in the fourth.
Lord allowed five runs in four innings.
Baldwin added a two-run double off Shinnosuke Ogasawara in the fifth.
Former National Michael A. Taylor, who announced his retirement before the game, received applause before each plate appearance and had an RBI groundout in the eighth in his final at-bat.
Before the first pitch, the Nationals emptied the dugout and bullpen and doffed their caps toward broadcaster Bob Carpenter, who is retiring after 20 years as the team’s television play-by-play voice.
Washington OF James Wood struck out three times to finish with 221 for the season, the third most in a season behind Mark Reynolds (223 in 2009) and Adam Dunn (222 in 2012).
Washington’s season attendance of 1,916,768 was a 1% decrease from last year’s total.
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