Elijah Dukes drove in three runs, Ryan Zimmerman had three hits and the surprising Washington Nationals won their eighth straight with a 9-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
The Nationals eight-game run is the second longest in their five seasons in the nation's capital. They won 10 straight from June 2-12, 2005.
J.D. Martin (1-2) became the fifth Nationals pitcher to record their first win as a starter and the second in two games. On a sultry afternoon, with temperatures in the low 90s, Martin allowed one run and five hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out
one.
Martin's only mistake came three pitches in, when Trent Oeltjen led off the game with a homer. It was Oeltjen's second home run in four major league games.
Martin's most challenging inning was his last. In the fifth, Alex Romero led off with a single and Chris Young doubled. With runners on second and third and none out, Martin was able to pitch out of trouble.
Mark Reynolds homered in the eighth inning off Jorge Sosa his 36th of the season. Reynolds homered in each of the three games this weekend and has 11 in his last 13 games.
Sosa pitched the final 2 1-3 innings for his second save. Adam Dunn's two-run home run off Yusmeiro Petit (2-6) in the bottom of the first gave Washington a 2-1 lead. It was Dunn's 30th home run of the season the sixth straight year he's hit at least 30. Zimmerman scored ahead of Dunn. His double extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
In the third, Zimmerman doubled again and scored on Dukes' RBI single. With two outs in the fourth, Nyjer Morgan singled and stole second. Christian Guzman hit a slow roller to third. Reynolds threw wildly to first and Morgan scored. Guzman was credited with a
single extending his hitting streak to 15 games. Guzman's bases-loaded walk in the sixth gave Washington a 5-1 lead.
Petit, who didn't give up a hit until the eighth inning in his last start, against Pittsburgh on Aug. 4, gave up four runs – one unearned in four innings. He allowed nine hits, walked one and struck out three. In his previous two starts, he allowed just five hits in 15 innings.
Washington scored four runs in the eighth highlighted by Dukes' bases-loaded, two-run single.
