Trying to protect a 5-3 lead, Francisco Rodriguez (2-2) opened the ninth by walking Cristian Guzman. Willie Harris’ one-out single and a walk to Ryan Zimmerman loaded the bases.
Adam Dunn nearly hit a game-winning grand slam, but his drive to center hit the top of the wall and caromed back onto the field for a two-run double. Umpires went inside to look at the replay but upheld the call after a 2-minute video review.
Josh Willingham was intentionally walked and Ivan Rodriguez lined a 1-0 pitch into right field, scoring Zimmerman. The Nationals won for the first time in 40 games when trailing after eight innings, spoiling an excellent start by Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey before a sellout crowd of 39,214.
Strasburg battled early wildness, issuing three walks while throwing 37 pitches in the first inning. He allowed two runs and four hits in five innings, striking out five.
Washington has scored one run in the last 24 1-3 innings Strasburg has pitched, and none in his last 18.
Matt Capps (2-3) escaped a jam in the ninth for the win.
Cubs 3 Reds 1: At Chicago, Randy Wells took a no-hitter into the seventh inning to end his long losing streak and Geovany Soto hit a two-run double as Chicago beat Cincinnati despite stranding 17 runners.
Wells’ no-hit bid was broken up by Chris Heisey’s leadoff single in the seventh. The right-hander escaped a jam with the help of a baserunning blunder by Heisey, and Chicago won for the fifth time in 15 games.
The Cubs also left 17 runners on base in a 15-inning game April 9, 2004, at Atlanta, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That marks the franchise record since the live-ball era began in 1920, Elias said.
The NL record is 18, set by the Braves on June 23, 1986, at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Reds starter Johnny Cueto left after five scoreless innings and 101 pitches. Chicago finally broke through for three runs against Jordan Smith (1-1) in the sixth.
Braves 4 Marlins 1: At Atlanta, Tommy Hanson did not give up an earned run in his recovery from back-to-back ugly losses and Atlanta moved a season-best 15 games over .500 by beating Florida.
Hanson (8-5) allowed five hits and an unearned run with eight strikeouts and two walks in 6 2-3 innings. The second-year right-hander’s return to form came after he yielded a combined 15 runs in two straight losses while failing to complete the fourth inning in both starts.
Hanson, who has never lost more than two consecutive decisions, struck out four straight batters in the sixth and seventh. He is 3-0 in four career starts against Florida, which has lost three straight.
Brewers 12 Cardinals 5: At St. Louis, Rickie Weeks hit a leadoff homer to begin a miserable outing for Chris Carpenter, and Milwaukee capitalized on shaky defense by St. Louis.
Carpenter (9-2) failed to retire any of the four batters he faced in the fourth. He was charged with eight runs—seven earned—in his shortest outing since April 14, 2009, when he lasted three innings at Arizona before injuring a side muscle that landed him on the disabled list.
Jim Edmonds homered among his four hits and had three RBIs, and Corey Hart singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. Manny Parra (3-5) had two hits and an RBI and Ryan Braun had three hits and two RBIs for Milwaukee, which had the bases loaded in the second, third, fourth and fifth. The Brewers scored in the first five innings while building an 11-0 cushion.
Albert Pujols homered for the fifth time in seven games, but the Cardinals were trailing 11-2.
Phillies 12 Pirates 4: At Pittsburgh, Ryan Howard picked up Philadelphia’s slumping offense by driving in three runs, Jimmy Rollins homered among his three hits and the Phillies shook off a three-game losing streak to rout the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Shane Victorino also had three hits, including a triple, and Pittsburgh shortstop Bobby Crosby’s error on a seemingly routine double-play grounder led to a breakout five-run third inning—as many runs as injury-depleted Philadelphia scored in its previous three games.
Kyle Kendrick (5-3) gave up prized rookie Pedro Alvarez’s first career homer and Ryan Church’s solo shot among 10 Pirates hits, but still pitched his first major league complete game. Kendrick is 4-0 in four career starts against Pittsburgh.
Padres 1 Astros 0: At San Diego, Aaron Cunningham doubled leading off the eighth inning and scored on reliever Gustavo Chacin’s throwing error to give San Diego its second straight shutout over Houston.
Kevin Correia had his best start in more than a month but didn’t get the decision because the Padres’ offense didn’t show up until he was out of the game. Houston had six hits and San Diego five.
Correia did contribute to San Diego’s major league-leading 12th shutout. He and Houston’s Bud Norris each threw seven scoreless innings.
Giants 11 Rockies 8: At Denver, San Francisco tagged Ubaldo Jimenez for seven runs in the third inning, lost a big lead and then rallied against Colorado’s beleaguered bullpen to snap a seven-game skid.
Struggling right-hander Manny Corpas (2-5) was charged with two runs in the seventh after the Rockies fought back from a 7-1 deficit to put Jimenez in line for his 15th win.
Corpas allowed Nate Schierholtz’s leadoff triple and Andres Torres’ tying RBI single before Pablo Sandoval hit a sacrifice fly to give the Giants a 9-8 lead.
Aubrey Huff added a two-run homer off Matt Flores in the ninth.
