LOS ANGELES—CJ Abrams homered in the first at-bat of the game and the Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2–0 on Wednesday to win a three-game series at Dodger Stadium.
Nationals starter Jake Irvin (1–1) threw six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits, to gain his first win of the season. Irvin was efficient and dominant all afternoon.
“He’s been unbelievable,” Washington Manager Dave Martinez said. “He’s been outstanding, actually. He keeps getting better and better. The confidence is growing, so he gives us the innings we need. We had a big conversation after the sixth inning. I felt he’d let the air out there that last inning, and we talked a little bit. We had a fresh bullpen, so we decided to go with the bullpen. I can’t say enough about what he’s done so far.”
Landon Knack (0–1) made his major-league debut for the Dodgers.
Abrams smacked Knack’s second pitch of the game to right-centerfield for his third career leadoff home run. Later in the inning, Joey Menses hit a sacrifice fly to center for a 2–0 lead. Those were the only runs of the game.
Knack settled down after that first inning and retired the next 12 batters.
“Started off and had a little bit of nerves going,” Knack said. “I was excited, and then back end of the inning started to calm down, and after we got through the first inning, started to do things as normal.”
He allowed those two earned runs on four hits, struck out four and walked one in five innings.
After a five-hit game the night before, Dodgers star Mookie Betts was 0-for-4. Teammate Shohei Ohtani was 3-for-4, with three singles.
“Shohei was fantastic. I thought he did a great job,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “He saw some good arms today. I thought he did a great job controlling the strike zone. When he got a pitch in the strike zone, he hit it hard. If he can continue to do that, as good as he is, I think that he can be even better.”
Kyle Finnegan earned his seventh save of the season by retiring the side in the ninth.
But Irvin’s fastball stole the show.
