San Francisco Giants vs Washington Nationals Box Score on Apr 17, 2019

Juan Soto and Howie Kendrick hit homers in the first inning and Matt Adams and Kurt Suzuki went deep in the seventh as the Washington Nationals held on to beat the visiting San Francisco Giants 9-6 on Wednesday.

Adams hit a three-run homer off lefty reliever Travis Bergen to give his team a 7-2 lead in the seventh. Two batters later, Suzuki went deep with a two-run shot to account for the final runs off Bergen.

The Giants erupted for four runs in the ninth as Gerardo Parra and Steven Duggar hit two-run homers to make it 9-6 off reliever Austen Williams with no outs. That brought on Kyle Barraclough, who retired the only batter he faced before closer Sean Doolittle got the final two outs after allowing a double to Buster Posey and a walk to Brandon Belt.

That came after Brandon Crawford had an RBI groundout and Evan Longoria drove in a run with a single as the Giants trimmed the margin to 4-2 in the fourth.

The Nationals grabbed a 4-0 lead in the second as Adam Eaton had an RBI single.

Washington scored three runs in the first as Soto launched a long two-run homer to right and two batters later, Kendrick had a solo homer to left. That gave Kendrick three homers and three doubles in his first 18 at-bats this season.

Giants starter Jeff Samardzija (1-1) has struggled against the Nationals in his career and that was the case again Wednesday. He gave up five hits and four earned runs in five innings and has not beaten Washington since Aug. 19, 2013, when he was with the Chicago Cubs.

Washington starter Jeremy Hellickson (2-0), who has not lost to the Giants since 2015, gave up two runs on five hits with four walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon has a 15-game hitting streak after getting a single in the eighth. Nationals second baseman Brian Dozier was out of the starting lineup after he fouled a ball off his foot Tuesday.

--Field Level Media