ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Dylan Crews homered in the ninth inning, C.J. Abrams also hit a solo homer and the Washington Nationals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Saturday.
The Nationals look to win a franchise record-tying sixth consecutive road series when the teams finish off the three-game set Sunday.
Mitchell Parker (3-3) worked 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Brad Lord threw three shutout innings. Clayton Beeter finished for his fifth save,
striking out Ben Williamson with the tying run on second base to end it.
Ian Seymor (3-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits. Tampa Bay lost at home for the 10th time in 35 games.
Washington starter Cade Cavalli, scratched from the lineup the previous day due to illness, labored through 2 2/3 innings. But despite loading the bases in each of the first two innings and allowing six hits, Cavalli limited the damage to two runs.
After Junior Caminero put the Rays up 1-0 on a sacrifice fly in the first, Washington answered with Abrams’ 16th home run of the season and a double by Nasim Nunez in the top of the second. Chandler Simpson singled in Caminero in the bottom off the third to make it 2-2.
Andres Chaparro put Washington in front for good with a squib grounder in front of home plate that brought home Keibert Ruiz in the fifth inning.
Washington LHP Andrew Alvarez (1-0, 3.49 ERA) was scheduled to face RHP Nick Martinez (6-2, 2.60 ERA) on Sunday.
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