Joe Saunders tossed seven stellar innings and Stephen Drew collected his second run-scoring triple in as many days as the Arizona Diamondbacks recorded a 2-0 home win over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.
Xavier Nady plated Chris Young with an RBI double in the seventh inning as Arizona reclaimed sole possession of first place in the National League West with its 18th win in 22 games.
Saunders (3-5) secured his third consecutive victory after allowing just two hits – both to Jerry Hairston Jr. – and striking out five.
David Hernandez struck out two in the eighth inning and J.J. Putz worked around Rick Ankiel's double to notch his 17th save of the season.
Drew, who had a bases-clearing triple in Friday's 4-0 victory, opened the scoring by plating Kelly Johnson with a triple in the first inning.
Washington’s Livan Hernandez (3-7) permitted two runs on four hits in seven innings to suffer his fifth straight loss.
Washington | Arizona | |
Livan Hernandez | Player | Joe Saunders |
Loss | W/L | Win |
7.0 | IP | 7.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 5 |
4 | Hits | 2 |
2.57 | ERA | 0.00 |
Washington | Arizona | |
Jerry Hairston Jr. | Player | Stephen Drew |
2 | Hits | 1 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Washington | 4 | 0 | 6 | .133 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Arizona | 4 | 0 | 7 | .154 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 |