Los Angeles: Anthony Rendon homered and Gio Gonzalez pitched the surging Washington Nationals past the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on Monday night in a rematch of last year’s tight play-off series.
Matt Wieters had a two-run single for Washington in the first meeting between the teams since the Dodgers edged the Nationals in five games during their NL Division Series last season.
Washington, which owns the National League’s best record at 36-20, has won six of seven and increased its lead in the NL East to 11 games.
Gonzalez (5-1) outpitched Hyun-Jin Ryu, holding Los Angeles to two runs and four hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Oliver Perez got one out for his third career save. The other two came in 2013 with Seattle.
With a runner on, Perez threw a called third strike past Yasmani Grandal. Six different Nationals have earned a save this year.
Ryu (2-6) went a season-high seven innings, but allowed four runs and seven hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out four.
Rendon’s 11th home run came in the second. Wieters added his two-run single in the fourth, and Bryce Harper’s RBI single in the fifth made it 4-0.
The Dodgers scored both their runs in the sixth. Chris Taylor doubled in one and Franklin Gutierrez had an RBI groundout. Los Angeles had won five consecutive games against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium.
Results
(Home team in CAPS)
Washington 4 LA DODGERS 2 OAKLAND 5 Toronto 3 Houston 7 KANSAS CITY 3 CHICAGO CUBS 3 Miami 1 San Francisco 7 MILWAUKEE 2 Philadelphia 11 ATLANTA 4 CINCINNATI 4 St Louis 2
