Nationals 7, White Sox 4: Dan Haren rebounded from his disastrous Washington debut to pitch five solid innings and Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman each drove in two runs as the Nationals finished a three-game sweep of visiting Chicago.
Denard Span and Jayson Werth each had two hits and scored twice for Washington, which improved to 6-0 at home. Alejandro De Aza and Jeff Keppinger each had two hits and drove in a run for the White Sox.
Things fell apart in the fourth for White Sox starter Dylan Axelrod (0-1), who allowed six runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.
After allowing a one-out double to Haren and a two-out single to Werth to put runners at the corners, Axelrod uncorked a wild pitch to score Haren and give Washington a 4-3 lead. Axelrod then intentionally walked Harper, and Zimmerman followed with a two-run double to right to break it open.
Haren (1-1) struck out five and allowed three runs on 10 hits to atone for a debut in which he allowed four home runs against the Reds. Rafael Soriano worked around a two-out single in the ninth for his fifth save.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Chicago RF Alex Rios went 2-for-4 and has hit safely in all nine games this season and 15 straight dating to last year. … The Nationals failed to hit a home run for only the second time in nine games. … Chicago 2B Gordon Beckham is expected to miss six weeks after an MRI on Thursday revealed a broken left hamate bone. Beckham is expected to have surgery on the injured wrist in the next few days.
Chi. White Sox | Washington | |
Dylan Axelrod | Player | Dan Haren |
Loss | W/L | Win |
3.2 | IP | 5.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 5 |
7 | Hits | 10 |
14.73 | ERA | 5.40 |
Chi. White Sox | Washington | |
Conor Gillaspie | Player | Bryce Harper |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Chi. White Sox | 13 | 0 | 18 | .325 | 20 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Washington | 10 | 0 | 12 | .323 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 |