Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Adam Dunn hit a pair of homers and knocked in three, and Stephen Strasburg threw six solid innings, as the Washington Nationals earned a 8-1 decision over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game set. Wil Nieves went 2-for-4 with a two-run single for the Nationals, who have won four of their last six. Willie Harristurned in a three-hit game and drove in a run in the win. Dunn has five homers and nine RBI in his last three games. Strasburg (3-2) snapped a four-start winless streak after giving up only one run on three hits. The rookie sensation struck out eight and walked one. Andres Torres hit a solo homer before leaving in the fifth inning with a left groin injury for San Francisco, which was coming off a four-game sweep at Milwaukee. Torres led off the game with a homer to right, but the Nationals got the run back in the home half. Roger Bernadina doubled with one away and scored on Cain's throwing error when he tried to pick off the speedster at second. Strasburg fanned Pablo Sandoval to work out of some two-out trouble in the top of the fourth, and Dunn put the Nationals in front 2-1 with a mammoth homer to right-center in the home half. Strasburg then gave up a double to Travis Ishikawa leading off the fifth, before settling down to retire the next three hitters. With the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, Nieves' two-run bloop single to right gave the Nats a 4-1 edge. Sean Burnett and Drew Storen combined to pitch a scoreless seventh and Washington tacked on four more in the bottom portion. Alberto Gonzalez led off the inning with a triple and scored on Nyjer Morgan's base hit. Then, two batters later, Dunn cracked a two-run shot to left-center. Later in the inning, Harris plated Cristian Guzman with a double for an 8-1 game. Joel Peralta tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the victory. The Giants won two of three games from the Nationals at AT&T Park from May 25-27 and despite the loss are still 13-4 against Washington since the start of the 2008 campaign. San Francisco is now 6-2 at Nationals Park during that time period. Earlier on Friday, the Nationals optioned rookie right-hander Luis Atilano to Triple-A Syracuse, but did not announce a corresponding roster move...Dunn has hit 20 or more homers prior to the All-Star break in each of the last eight seasons, which is a major league record.
Filed under: