WASHINGTON (AP) – Pavin Smith homered and four RBIs for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who earned a 10-5 win Tuesday night against the struggling Washington Nationals bullpen.
Josh Rojas also had three hits for Arizona, who overtook the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the American League West.
The Dodgers struck out late in the inning at Cincinnati. Arizona has won seven of nine games to improve to 36–25.
Former Diamondbacks pitcher Stone Garrett hit his first career grand slam for bottom-ranked Washington, losing three in a row and six of eight. Lane Thomas also worked out for the Nationals.
Washington entered the day with the worst bullpen ERA in the National League at 4.73.
Nicaraguan reliever Erasmo Ramirez (2-3) hit Christian Walker with his first pitch, balked to advance two runners and walked Emmanuel Rivera to load the bases. A pair of sacrifice runs before and after Gabriel Moreno’s RBI single made it 6–4.
Jose Ruiz (2-1) pitched another two-thirds scoreless innings to pick up the win.
For the Diamondbacks, Dominican Ketel Marte drove in two runs for a 6–1 win, Geraldo Perdomo drove in one run for a 3–1 win. Puerto Rican Rivera went 3–2 with one run and one RBI. Moreno of Venezuela finished 4-2 with one score and two assists.
For the Nationals, Mexican Joey Meneses drove in a single to make it 3–0. Dominican Jammer Candelario scored a run to make it 2–0. Caibert Ruiz of Venezuela 4-1.
