WASHINGTON — James Wood and Curtis Mead each homered in the first inning to give the Washington Nationals an early cushion, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it as the New York Yankees rallied for a 4-2 win Saturday at Nationals Park, taking a 2-0 lead in the three-game series.
Wood led off the bottom of the first with his 27th homer of the season, and two batters later Mead followed with his 16th, staking starter PJ Poulin to a 2-0 lead before the Yankees had come to bat. New York answered against Poulin and the Washington bullpen, getting a homer from Ryan McMahon, a go-ahead two-run shot from Trent Grisham and a solo blast from Paul Goldschmidt to turn a two-run deficit into a 4-2 lead. Beeter (3-2) took the loss in relief, and Bednar closed it out for his 18th save.
Miles Mikolas and Jackson Krook each worked scoreless relief innings for Washington to keep the game from getting further out of hand, and the Nationals’ outfield defense turned in a handful of sharp running plays to limit the damage. It wasn’t enough to overcome the two-out power the Yankees got from the middle of their order, and Washington fell to 48-48 on the season.
The Nationals now trail the season series with the Yankees 2-0 and need a win Sunday to salvage a split. First pitch for the series finale at Nationals Park is scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
Box score information via ESPN and Baseball-Reference.com.