WASHINGTON (AP) — Zach Davies earned his first victory in more than a year, Corbin Carroll homered and the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Washington Nationals 6-2 on Wednesday night.
The surprising Diamondbacks have won eight of 10, lead the National League with 37 victories and hold a two-game advantage over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division.
Davies (1-1) had not earned a win since May 13, 2022, going 24 consecutive starts without one. But the 30-year-old right-hander was largely in control against the struggling Nationals, allowing only three runners to get into scoring position over 6 2/3 innings.
In his third outing since returning from a strained left oblique that sidelined him for nearly seven weeks, Davies struck out eight while allowing five hits and a walk. He closed his night with back-to-back strikeouts of Riley Adams and CJ Abrams. Austin Adams entered and got Alex Call to ground out and strand a runner at first.
Davies earned his third victory since joining the Diamondbacks before last season — two of them at Washington.
The Nationals have lost four in a row and seven of nine to fall to a season-high 11 games under .500.
Arizona's first two hitters reached against Patrick Corbin (4-6) before Emmanuel Rivera knocked both in with a double. Rivera came around two batters later on Evan Longoria's RBI double.
Despite getting 11 hits against Corbin, the Diamondbacks couldn't muster anything else against the veteran left-hander. Corbin struck out four in six innings. A two-time All-Star with Arizona, Corbin fell to 0-3 with an 11.42 ERA against his former team since signing with Washington after the 2018 season.
Longoria knocked in another run in the seventh on a double off reliever Carl Edwards Jr. Carroll hit a two-run shot off Jordan Weems in the ninth.
Washington scored twice in the third on Luis Garcia's RBI single and Jeimer Candelario's double-play grounder.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (right groin tightness) was out of the lineup for the third consecutive game, but took early batting practice.
Nationals: Washington recalled RHP Cory Abbott and designated RHP Erasmo Ramirez for assignment. Ramirez was 2-3 with a 6.33 ERA in 23 games and took the loss Tuesday against Arizona. ... RHP Andrés Machado cleared outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Rochester. Machado was designated for assignment Tuesday.
FOREIGN DIGNITARY
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak participated in the pregame lineup card exchange as part of the Nationals’ UK-US friendship celebration. Sunak’s two-day trip to Washington also includes a meeting Thursday with President Biden at the White House.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: RHP Merrill Kelly (7-3, 2.80 ERA), who is 6-0 with a 2.44 ERA over his last seven starts, gets the nod in the finale of the three-game series.
Nationals: RHP Josiah Gray (4-5, 3.09) allowed three runs in five innings while taking a loss May 5 against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
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