Familiarity haunted the Los Angeles Dodgers as Howie Kendrick hit a home run and Patrick Corbin dominated to lead the Washington Nationals to a 6-0 win. That snapped the Dodgers’ home winning streak at 10 games and ended a four-game losing skid for the Nationals.
Kendrick joined Yasiel Puig and Manny Machado as former Dodgers to hit a first-inning home run this season. His blast on a Rich Hill curveball put L.A. in a 3-0 deficit. That was part of a 27-pitch inning for Hill in which he lacked the tempo and rhythm he emphasized needing to find after struggling against the San Diego Padres.
Hill allowed the leadoff man to reach in the second and third innings but worked his way out of it and stranded two more in the fourth. Although he kept the Dodgers in the game, Hill’s pitch count limited him to just five innings.
Whether he’d allowed one run or more than the three the Nationals put up in the first inning, Hill was poised to take a loss.
Having moved on from the Arizona Diamondbacks to Nationals did nothing to impact Corbin’s historic success against the Dodgers. He struck out six and got through three no-hit innings. The Dodgers’ lone baserunners to that point were walks by Cody Bellinger (first inning) and Hill (third).
Bellinger led off the fourth with his second walk of the game, and it was followed by David Freese’s line drive going off Anthony Rendon for an infield single that gave the Dodgers their first hit. Corey Seager’s two-out walk loaded the bases, only for Chris Taylor to ground into an inning-ending double play on the first pitch.
Freese’s chopper up the middle in the sixth inning and Russell Martin’s sinking line drive in the seventh represented the only other hits the Dodgers managed to come up with against Corbin. The southpaw finished with eight strikeouts and more walks (four) than hits allowed (three) over seven shutout innings.
