WASHINGTON, D.C. — James Wood delivered a leadoff home run to open the scoring, but the Houston Astros answered with a four-run fourth inning and two more runs late to beat the Washington Nationals 6-3 on Tuesday night at Nationals Park.
Wood’s solo shot off Houston starter Tatsuya Imai — his 25th of the season — gave the Nationals an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Houston answered in the top of the second on a Nick Allen sacrifice fly, then broke the game open in the fourth when Allen delivered a two-run single off Nationals starter Andrew Alvarez as part of a four-run inning that also included sacrifice flies from CJ Abrams and Christian Vazquez.
Vazquez added an RBI single in the sixth and Jose Altuve tacked on a solo home run, his 10th, in the eighth to make it 6-2 before Jose Tena’s solo shot in the ninth pulled the Nationals within three. Allen finished with a season-high three RBI to lead Houston, which bounced back after Washington took the series opener 12-11 a night earlier.
The Nationals dropped to 47-46 with the loss but remain in the mix in the National League East, while the Astros improved to 46-48. The series finale is Wednesday night at Nationals Park.