After losing six of their last seven games, the Washington Nationals desperately needed a win to avoid falling over six games back in the NL East for the first time in three years. Gio Gonzalez ensured they would do no such thing, tossing seven innings of one-run baseball Sunday to salvage a victory out of Washington’s three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Arizona lost starter Robbie Ray to an apparent oblique injury just one out into the second inning, setting the stage for the Nationals’ offense to take advantage and light up the scoreboard. Although they scraped across three runs early in the contest, the Diamondbacks’ bullpen prevented the Nationals from getting past second base at all after the third inning.