Morales Homers, Nationals Bullpen Holds Off Tigers 4-2 at Comerica Park

The Washington Nationals defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-2 on Wednesday at Comerica Park, breaking a scoreless tie with a three-run sixth inning before adding an insurance run in the seventh.

Yohandy Morales supplied the biggest blow of the game, going deep for a two-run home run in the sixth inning off Tigers reliever Tyler Kinley with a runner on and two out. Morales finished 1-for-4 with two RBI, a run scored and a strikeout. CJ Abrams also drove in a run, going 1-for-2 with an RBI and two walks, and James Wood added an RBI as well. Nasim Nunez stole two bases in the game, swiping second and third off Jacob Waguespack and catcher Dillon Dingler.

Washington starter Richard Lovelady worked 1.1 innings without allowing a run, and Brad Lord followed with 3.1 scoreless innings, striking out three. Will Dion took over and was charged with the win despite allowing Detroit's Ben Malgeri to hit a leadoff solo home run in the sixth inning; Dion finished with two innings pitched, three hits allowed, one earned run, four strikeouts and improved to 2-2. Jack Sinclair and Erik Tolman each recorded a hold in relief, and Yovanny Cruz closed out the ninth for his first save, allowing three hits and one run over 1.1 innings.

Detroit starter Framber Valdez took the loss, working 5.1 innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks. Malgeri finished 2-for-5 with two RBI, one of them coming on his solo home run off Dion. Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle each doubled for the Tigers, who also got a stolen base from John Peck. Detroit stranded 11 runners and went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, while Washington left four on base and went 2-for-6 in similar spots.

The Tigers scored their other run in the ninth inning off Cruz. Washington finished with six hits and four walks as a team, while Detroit collected eight hits, including three extra-base hits, but could not turn that production into more than two runs. The game was played before 21,373 fans at Comerica Park and lasted 2 hours, 44 minutes.