The lead changed hands four times before Jackson Merrill's seventh-inning blast settled the outcome. San Diego defeated Washington 7-5 at Nationals Park, snapping a four-game losing streak behind Merrill's two-run homer that broke a 5-5 deadlock.
Merrill went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBIs, delivering the decisive blow in the seventh. Curtis Mead paced Washington's offense, going 2-for-4 with one home run and two RBIs. Ty France added a solo homer for San Diego, finishing 2-for-3 with one home run and one RBI.
The scoring began early when Bogaerts hit a sacrifice fly to bring Tatis Jr. home in the first inning. Washington answered immediately as Mead homered to center, scoring Wood for a 2-1 lead. Ruiz extended the advantage with a solo homer in the second before San Diego chipped away. Machado singled to right to score Sheets in the third, then Fermin grounded out to shortstop to bring Laureano home in the fourth. Tatis Jr. singled to right to score France, tying the game 4-4. Young singled to center to score Mead in the fifth, giving Washington a 5-4 edge. France homered to left center in the sixth to tie it 5-5, setting up Merrill's heroics.
Mitchell Parker took the loss for Washington, allowing 3 runs in 2.0 innings with one strikeout. His ERA: 5.28. Jeremiah Estrada earned the win for San Diego, pitching 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Mason Miller recorded his 17th save with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, carrying a 0.72 ERA.
San Diego improved to 31-24 while Washington fell to 29-28. Fernando Tatis finished 3-for-5 with one RBI and sits four runs away from 500 career runs scored.