Lannan, Dunn Help Carry Nationals Over Orioles
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John Lannan #31 of the Washington Nationals deals a pitch
John Lannan took a four-hitter into the eighth inning, Adam Dunn hit a colossal home run, and the Washington Nationals defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.
Willie Harris also homered for the Nationals, and Josh Willingham had three hits and scored twice.
Lannan gave up three runs and six hits in 7 1-3 innings. The left-hander went 3-0 with a 2.19 ERA in June; he had never before won three games in one month.
Mike MacDougal worked a perfect ninth for his third save.
Washington trailed 1-0 in the fourth inning before Dunn connected off rookie David Hernandez following a double by Ryan Zimmerman. The ball soared over the right-field scoreboard, landed on Eutaw Street -- an estimated 442 feet from the plate -- before hitting the B&O Warehouse on one bounce.
It was the 50th home run to hit Eutaw Street in the 18-year history of Camden Yards, the first by a Nationals player. Dunn, who came to the plate locked in an 0-for-10 skid, has 19 homers this season and 297 for his career.
Washington added a run in the sixth when Elijah Dukes singled in Willingham, who scored after rookie catcher Matt Wieters tried to apply a quick tag and dropped the throw from Adam Jones in center.
Harris homered off Chris Ray in the seventh, and Willingham made it 5-1 in the eighth when he doubled, stole third and continued home on a throwing error by Wieters.
In 21 games as Baltimore's catcher, Wieters has caught only two of 15 would-be stealers and has made three errors.
Recalled from Triple-A Norfolk before the game, Hernandez allowed three runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. The homer to Dunn was the first against the right-hander in four big-league appearances.
The Orioles went up 1-0 in the second inning when Nolan Reimold drew a leadoff walk, took third on a double by Luke Scott and scored on a single by Oscar Salazar.
Baltimore didn't get another runner into scoring position until Robert Andino led off the eighth with a double. Ty Wigginton followed with a single to chase Lannan, and Nick Markakis hit a sacrifice fly off Joe Beimel before Aubrey Huff hit an RBI single. Huff, however, was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC4 Washington
Posted Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 7:11 PM EST
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