James Wood homered and drove in four runs Monday night as the visiting Washington Nationals topped the San Diego Padres 10-6.
Wood clinched Washington’s first win over San Diego since June 2023 with a towering three-run homer off the right field foul pole in the top of the eighth to make it 9-3. It was the 22nd homer for Wood, a former Padre prospect who the Nationals acquired three years ago in an eight-player trade that sent Juan Soto the other way.
Mitchell Parker (5-8) got the win, allowing six hits and three runs in six-plus innings with two walks and a strikeout. It was just the third win in 16 games for Washington and just its second road win in June.
Stephen Kolek (3-3) absorbed the loss, permitting five hits and five runs (four earned) over 4 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Kolek sailed through the first three innings, allowing just a leadoff walk in the third and striking out four. But the game turned negatively for him after he committed a two-base throwing error on CJ Abrams’ slow comebacker to start the fourth.
Wood followed with a one-hop single off the left field wall, kicking off a four-run rally. Nathaniel Lowe added an RBI single, followed by Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly to deep center and a run-scoring single from Brady House.
Manny Machado got San Diego on the board in its half of the fourth with a solo homer to center, his 13th of the season. But the Nationals made it 6-1 in the fifth via Luis Garcia’s RBI single off reliever Wandy Peralta and Bell’s run-producing single.
The Padres got a run in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Gavin Sheets, then closed within 6-3 in the seventh on Jake Cronenworth’s leadoff homer to right-center, his sixth of the year.
Bell added a solo homer to the second deck in left, his 10th, in the Washington ninth. Fernando Tatis Jr. launched a three-run blast to left-center in the San Diego ninth to cap the scoring.