Nationals hit 4 straight HRs in the 8th, stun Padres 5-2
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Howie Kendrick, Trea Turner, Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon hit consecutive home runs off Craig Stammen with one out in the eighth inning and Stephen Strasburg beat his hometown team again as the Washington Nationals defeated the San Diego Padres 5-2 Sunday.
The Nationals became the first team in major league history to accomplish the feat twice, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The other time was July 27, 2017, against Milwaukee.
With the score tied at 1, Kendrick was pinch-hitting for Strasburg (7-3) when he started the homer parade with a shot to left, his 11th. Turner followed with a drive to center, his fourth, and Eaton's homer just cleared the wall in center, his sixth. Fans began booing then, and piled on after Rendon homered to right-center, his 12th.
The homers came in a span of seven pitches by Stammen (4-3), who was the fourth Padres pitcher to throw on a "bullpen day."
Kendrick's homer went 421 feet, Turner's 425, Eaton's 402 and Rendon's 391.
Strasburg held San Diego to one run and six hits in seven innings while striking out six. He improved to 8-2 in his career against the Padres and to 4-1 in five starts at Petco Park. He pitched at West Hills High in suburban Santee before pitching for the late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn at San Diego State.
Luis Perdomo started for the Padres, pitching 3 1/3 innings of two-hit ball and allowing only an unearned run.
Washington took a 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the first without the benefit of a hit. Leadoff batter Turner reached on an error by Ian Kinsler on a popup, advanced on Eaton's groundout and scored on Rendon's groundout.
San Diego got that run back in the fourth when Franmil Reyes hit a two-out single, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Kinsler's single to center. Kinsler probably would have been safe at second if he was running harder on Austin Allen's grounder to Turner at shortstop, but he appeared to slow up a bit and Turner, who bobbled the ball, was able to touch the bag for the third out.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: 3B Manny Machado got a day off for just the second time this season.
UP NEXT
Nationals: RHP Anibal Sanchez (1-6, 4.19) is scheduled to start Monday night in the opener of a two-game series at the Chicago White Sox. In two starts since returning from the injured list, he's allowed one earned run in 11 1/3 innings and struck out 14 with two walks.
Padres: Rookie RHP Chris Paddack (4-4, 2.97) looks to bounce back from two rough starts when he's scheduled to start Tuesday night in the opener of a two-game series at San Francisco. He's coming off consecutive losses to the New York Yankees, in which he allowed three homers, and the Phillies, in which he gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. The Giants will counter with Tyler Beade (0-2, 8.15).
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