Gore, Candelario lead Nationals to a rout of staggering Padres

SAN DIEGO — Left-hander MacKenzie Gore pitched 5 robust innings in opposition to his former workforce, Jeimer Candelario homered and drove in three runs and the Washington Nationals took benefit of San Diego’s bullpen meltdown to beat the staggering Padres 8-3 Sunday to take two of three.

The Nationals blew open a tie sport by chasing Seth Lugo (3-4) with two runs within the sixth after which scoring 5 unearned runs within the seventh when reliever Tim Hill dedicated two throwing errors and hit a batter. Lane Thomas hit an RBI single and Candelario a two-run double off Hill earlier than Joey Meneses greeted Brent Honeywell with a two-run double. Meneses additionally had three RBIs.

The Padres, whose $250 million payroll is third-highest in baseball, proceed to be wildly inconsistent. They gained 10-0 at San Francisco on Thursday to keep away from a four-game sweep after which routed the Nationals 13-3 on Friday night time. But they’d solely 4 hits in dropping 2-0 Saturday night time and appeared flat once more on Sunday. They got here into the season with World Series aspirations, however have been underneath .500 since May 12.

Gore (4-6), who went to Washington within the blockbuster commerce for Juan Soto on Aug. 2, held the Padres to at least one run and 5 hits, struck out 9 and walked two. He acquired off to a fantastic begin by putting out the primary six batters, together with superstars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Soto to finish the primary and Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts to open the second.

The Padres, who had gone 13 straight innings with out advancing a runner previous second base, broke by within the fifth when Tatis hit a two-out RBI single to tie it at 1. Gore then struck out Soto with runners on the corners to finish the menace.

Mason Thompson walked the bases full with two outs within the sixth earlier than Joe La Sorsa got here on and struck out Gary Sanchez.

Candelario hit his tenth homer, driving a 2-0 pitch from Seth Lugo deep into the stands in right-center with two outs within the first.

San Diego’s Kim Ha-Seong homered within the seventh, his eighth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: Soto was shaken up after hitting the left area wall face-first whereas catching Dominic Smith’s fly ball within the second, however stayed within the sport.

UP NEXT

Nationals: RHP Trevor Williams (4-4, 4.14) is scheduled to start out Monday night time at Seattle versus RHP Luis Castillo (4-6, 2.89).