WASHINGTON (AP) — Luis García Jr. was a triple shy of the cycle in his second straight three-hit game, Kyle Finnegan got a four-out save in his first outing since blowing a four-run lead and the Washington Nationals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4 on Saturday to stop a five-game losing streak.
Travis Blankenhorn hit a two-run double on a ball that left fielder Jackson Chourio allowed to drop behind him at the base of the wall during a two-out rally as Washington took a 4-0, first-inning lead.
“We get the ball in the zone, we get the ball up, we put aggressive swings on it and good things happen,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We hit the ball really, really well. Luis García is really focused on trying to get the ball in the zone. He had a good day. Blankenhorn got a big hit for us. They played well.”
Aaron Civale (2-8) allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings, dropping to 0-2 in five starts since Milwaukee acquired him from Tampa Bay on on June 3.
“Obviously, he has been a really successful major league pitcher,” Brewers manager Patrick Murphy said. “He isn’t having his best year but he’s still kind of finding himself and how he wants to attack people and how he wants his arsenal to work. That two-seam fastball sinker down hasn’t really been there for him and cutter has been inconsistent.”
DJ Herz (2-4) got his second big league win, the first for the 23-year-old rookie left-hander after going 0-3 in a six-start winless stretch since he beat Miami on June 15. Herz gave up an unearned run and two hits over five innings with six strikeouts and a walk.
“I feel like when they scored the three runs kind of lit me up and got me going and we took it off from there,” Herz said. “I feel like (my fastball) always been my best pitch and it’s been the pitch that I attack with and when the fastball is on it’s going to be a good day. It has been good as of late.”
Finnegan had not pitched since allowing five runs in a 9-8 loss at Arizona on Monday. He replaced Joan Adon with a 6-1 lead with two on and two outs in the eighth.
Finnegan threw a run-scoring wild pitch and allowed Gary Sánchez’s RBI single before retiring Rhys Hoskins on a flyout. Then in the ninth, Finnegan gave up Brice Turang’s two-out single before inducing a game-ending groundout by Chourio for his career-best 29th save in 33 chances. Finnegan had 28 saves last year.
Rhys Hoskins hit his 19th homer for Milwaukee, a seventh-inning solo drive off Derek Law. Hoskins has hit 25 of his 167 home runs against the Nationals.
García’s two-out double past Hoskins at first base and down the right-field line started the opening rally off Civale, who needed 34 pitches to get his first three outs. Keibert Ruiz hit a go-ahead single and Alex Call capped the rally with an RBI single, the first of his three hits.
García homered in the third, his 12th this season. He has 11 extra-base hits and 16 RBIs in his last 21 games and is hitting .397 since July 3. Exactly a year earlier, García was demoted to Triple-A Rochester for what turned out to be five weeks.
“I have learned a lot,” Garcia said through a translator. “It’s something that probably had to be done. It was a lesson that had to be taught to me. I think now that I am up here I have learned a lot from it and just keep going forward.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: Murphy said LHP Bryan Hudson (left oblique) will pitch multiple innings as his rehab stint continues with Triple-A Nashville. … RHP JB Bukauskas (right lat) remains at Nashville but isn’t close to returning. “You got to give them some days down there to get acclimated and experience different things, back-to-backs,” Murphy said.
Nationals: RHP Josiah Gary is beginning his rehab from Tommy John surgery with an internal brace on July 25. “Every day has been positive,” Gray said. “Just getting a little better every day. I am looking forward to the big picture but obviously daily goals, just stacking those days.”
UP NEXT
Brewers RHP Tobias Myers (6-4, 3.10 ERA) starts Sunday’s series finale against Nationals LHP Mitchell Parker (5-6, 4.31).
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