Joey Meneses had two hits and drove in five runs, Patrick Corbin pitched six strong innings and the host Washington Nationals held on to beat the Boston Red Sox 10-7 in the rubber game of their series on Thursday.
Keibert Ruiz had three hits and Stone Garrett had two hits and three RBIs for the Nationals, who are 5-1 on their homestand and have won 10 of 14.
Corbin (8-11) allowed one run on four hits. He struck out six without a walk.
Boston put runners on second and third with no outs against Kyle Finnegan in the ninth, but Finnegan retired the next three batters without allowing a run for his 19th save.
Luis Urias hit a grand slam for Boston, Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer and Tristan Casas smacked a solo shot.
Chris Sale (5-3) allowed three runs — two earned — in 4 1/3 innings.
Boston trailed 9-1 entering the seventh. Adam Duvall led off with a single against reliever Robert Garcia. With one out, Pablo Reyes singled and Casas walked. After Connor Wong struck out, Urias hit a grand slam to center.
Rob Refsnyder walked and Devers followed with his 27th homer of the season, a shot into the second deck in right center that pulled the Red Sox within 9-7.
Garrett’s RBI-single in the eighth made it 10-7.
Casas gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead when he homered leading off the third.
The Nationals quickly tied it in the bottom of the third. Jeter Downs walked, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher Wong. Downs scored when third baseman Devers misplayed a Meneses grounder.
Alex Call and Downs led off with walks against Sale in the fifth. After Lane Thomas flied to right, Josh Winckowski replaced Sale. Meneses greeted him with a double to left center, scoring two runs to make it 3-1. Ruiz singled Meneses to third and Garrett doubled to bring him home. Riley Adams singled, scoring Ruiz and Garrett and the lead was 6-1.
In the sixth, Meneses doubled home Thomas and Downs, went to third on a single by Ruiz and scored on Garrett’s sacrifice fly to make it 9-1.
—Field Level Media
