Grandal’s 3-run homer lifts Dodgers over Nationals 3-2

After hitting the ball hard for most of June, he finally had something to show for it.

Grandal’s three-run home run put the Dodgers ahead for good in a 3-2 victory over the Nationals, their season-high fifth straight victory and seventh in their last eight.

“Howie is making that transition to left field look seamless”, Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts said.

The spectactular play kept the Nationals lead at just two, allowing Grandal’s three-run homer to be the go-ahead runs the Dodgers need to win the game. “But in my third at-bat I was trying to hit the ball in the air in that situation”. This game is about inches and angles. “I was able to get it up in the air enough and actually hit it to dead center”. “Obviously, they’re going to start falling at some point”.

Scott Kazmir was decent tonight. “We know what he’s capable of”. Roark has pitched twice in relief against the Dodgers, but this will be his first time starting against them.

The Nationals lost their fourth straight despite solo homers from Bryce Harper and Espinosa. Kazmir went five innings, giving up two runs on eight hits, walking one (intentional) and striking out four. With two outs, Justin Turner crushed a solo home run to dead center field to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead.

Diamondbacks 3, Phillies 1: Shelby Miller threw 62/3 sharp innings, Jake Lamb hit a two-run homer and Arizona beat reeling Philadelphia to complete a four-game sweep. The right-hander had won his last three decisions.

Kershaw didn’t walk a batter and got through a tricky seventh inning to remain unbeaten since May 1.

“It was a little weird to intentionally walk a lefty, but I felt like the situation that we were in made sense”, Kazmir said of the situation. “Usually, it boils down to one or two pitches”.

Espinosa hit one in the fifth inning, a leadoff blast that also carried into the bleachers in left.

White Sox 3, Red Sox 1, 10 inn.: Jose Abreu doubled home two runs off Boston closer Craig Kimbrel with two outs in the 10th inning after Chicago escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth.

The Nationals tried to rally from a 3-0 deficit.

The Los Angeles offense was but a whisper against the Nationals starter Roark, who allowed just two Dodgers to reach second base in the first seven innings. The converted second baseman recorded his third outfield assist of the season when he gunned down Wilson Ramos at the plate to end the eighth inning.

Washington scratched Stephen Strasburg about 80 minutes before game time because of an upper back strain, depriving the fans at Chavez Ravine of a tantalizing matchup with Kershaw. Baker wasn’t sure whether Strasburg would make his next scheduled start on Sunday. To make room on the roster, the Dodgers optioned RHP Carlos Frias to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Washington Nationals pitcher Yusmeiro Petit throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, June 20, 2016, in Los Angeles. Puig has missed 17 games with a strained left hamstring.

“That means you’re staying on the ball and that means you’re letting your natural ability come through versus forcing it”, the 67-year-old former major leaguer explained.

The Nationals have dropped four in a row for the first time all season.

Strasburg has plenty of injuries in his history, missing the 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery, and being eventually shut down in 2012 to adhere to an innings limit.

“We were looking forward to seeing [the matchup] also”, Baker said.