Duvall's blast powers Red past Nationals
CINCINNATI -- Adam Duvall's three-run homer in the eighth inning lifted the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on a stormy Saturday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.
The game was delayed 20 minutes by rain in the fifth inning and again for 1:04 in the eighth.
Duvall homered on a 1-1 pitch from Shawn Kelley moments after the game was resumed in the eighth to snap a 3-3 tie. It was Duvall's 16th home run this season and third in as many games.
Joey Votto and Jay Bruce also homered for Cincinnati (21-35), which has won five of eight since ending an 11-game losing streak.
It was a historic day but painful afternoon for Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg, who reached 1,000 strikeouts for his career but later left with a lower leg injury.
In the sixth inning, he appeared to tweak something in his lower right leg. He was visited once by the trainer and appeared to be favoring his leg following several pitches before being removed from the game after allowing three runs and striking out 10.
Felipe Rivero (0-2) took the loss for Washington.
Reds starter Dan Straily held the Nationals hitless for 5 2/3 innings following Anthony Rendon's two-run homer in the second which accounted for the only two runs Straily allowed.
Straily got an assist from his defense when struggling leadoff batter Ben Revere crushed a pitch to center in the first, but Billy Hamilton made a leaping grab up against the wall.
Danny Espinosa's solo home run in the eighth off Ross Ohlendorf tied the score 3-3 before Duvall's homer earned Ohlendorf (4-4) the victory.
Tony Cingrani earned his fifth save for Cincinnati.
Rendon put the Nationals (33-23) ahead 2-0 with a two-run blast on a 1-2 pitch in the second.
Bruce answered with a solo shot to the opposite field. It was his 12th homer of the season and fourth in his past seven appearances.
Strasburg struck out five straight batters following Bruce's homer.
In the fifth, Strasburg fanned Straily for his 1,000th career strikeout, becoming the first pitcher in Nationals history to reach that mark.
Straily met with trainers on the mound just as the skies opened up. but returned following a 21-minute rain delay.
Another long ball -- this time a two-run shot to right field by Votto -- put the Reds ahead 3-2 in the sixth.
NOTES: Cincinnati recalled OF Kyle Waldrop from Triple-A Louisville on Saturday and optioned RHP Dayan Diaz to Triple-A. ... Reds RHP Homer Bailey's bullpen session Saturday went well. Bailey has not pitched since undergoing right elbow surgery last season. ... Nationals RHP Matt Belisle, on the disabled list with right calf strain, has thrown back-to-back days for Double-A Harrisburg but there is no timetable for his return. ... There was a moment of silence prior to Saturday's game honoring boxing great and humanitarian Muhammad Ali who passed away Friday. Ali participated in festivities at the Major League Baseball Civil Rights Game in 2009 at Great American Ball Park.