Danny Espinosa broke a scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly off Heath Bell in the top of the ninth inning, and the visiting Washington Nationals emerged from an impressive pitchers’ duel with a 2-0 win against the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

With one out and the bases loaded, Espinosa scored pinch-runner Brian Bixler with a deep fly to right field. Laynce Nix added an insurance run with an RBI single off Bell (2-3).

Todd Coffey (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win, and Drew Storen worked around Chris Denorfia’s leadoff single in the ninth inning for his 15th save and third in as many games.

Nationals' starter Jordan Zimmermann made his eighth straight quality start, striking out 10 batters while giving up four hits and one walk over seven innings.

San Diego's Tim Stauffer allowed five hits with five strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. Stauffer has recorded 15 shutout innings over his last two starts, dropping his ERA from 3.99 to 3.28.

Washington won its third straight in San Diego for the first time in 16 years, but outfielder Jayson Werth struggled again. Werth went 0-for-4 and is 2-for-25 over the last eight games.