Nunez gets 3 extra-base hits off Strasburg, Giants top Nats
WASHINGTON (AP) - Eduardo Nunez got four hits, including two triples and a double off Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg, and the San Francisco Giants beat Washington 7-1 Saturday night in a matchup of NL division leaders.
Brandon Belt homered, doubled and singled as the Giants ended Washington's four-game winning streak. Slumping right fielder Bryce Harper of the Nationals left after the sixth inning with a stiff neck.
Matt Cain (4-6) won his third straight start, pitching five shutout innings and scattering five hits. Last Sunday, he threw five no-hit innings to beat the Nationals at home.
Strasburg (15-2) was trying to become the first pitcher in the majors with 16 wins this season. Instead, he lasted only 4 2-3 innings in his shortest outing this year, giving up four runs and eight hits.
Strasburg struck out eight but allowed two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. He threw 88 pitches overall.
Nunez had been hitless in his last 16 at-bats, and was just 2 for 20 since being traded over by Minnesota in late July. The AL All-Star scored three runs.
Buster Posey drove in two runs for the Giants, who had been struggling at the plate lately before getting 14 hits.
Danny Espinosa drove in the lone Washington run with an eighth-inning single.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: RF Hunter Pence bounced a foul ball off his face in the second inning. The ball hit banged off the ground and rebounded to hit him under his right eye, raising a large welt, but he remained in the game. ... RHP Cory Gearrin (shoulder strain) has thrown three scoreless innings of relief over three games on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Sacramento.
Nationals: 1B Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a bruised left wrist. The move is retroactive to Aug. 1, and OF Brian Goodwin was promoted from Triple-A Syracuse. Goodwin replaced Harper and made his major league debut, and had a flyout in his lone at-bat.
UP NEXT
Giants: LHP Madison Bumgarner (10-6) tries to rebound after his worst start of the season last Tuesday when he gave up eight runs on 10 hits in five innings during a 13-8 loss at Philadelphia.
Nationals: RHP Tanner Roark (11-6) has won five of his last six decisions, including his last two starts when he earned victories over Arizona and San Francisco.