Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman each hit solo home runs in the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 7-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.
Ramos homered for the second game in a row, and Chapman was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Mike Yastrzemski also contributed with a solo home run and an RBI triple. The Giants have now hit 15 home runs in their last six games.
“Those homers make a big difference,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “They help us avoid needing a lot of hits and give our team energy, especially since we haven’t been great in certain situations lately.”
Blake Snell (2-3), who threw a no-hitter in his previous game against the A’s, gave up three runs on four hits over six innings. He retired the last nine batters he faced and struck out eight while walking one. Snell had allowed only two earned runs in his last five starts since returning from the injured list.
“It was a tough game because of the hot and humid weather,” Snell said. “But I managed to make it a quality start despite the conditions.”
The Nationals had the bases loaded against closer Camilo Doval with one out in the ninth, but Doval managed to get Alex Call to ground into a double play to secure his 22nd save.
“We had the winning run at the plate, but I couldn’t get it done,” Call said. He also made a leaping catch against the wall to end the top of the ninth.
Juan Yepez hit a home run and had two hits for the Nationals. Jake Irvin (8-10) gave up five runs on eight hits, including three home runs, in five innings. He admitted his execution was poor.
CJ Abrams drove in a run in the seventh to make it 7-4, and Washington loaded the bases with two outs before reliever Ryan Walker struck out Yepez.
