Gore outpitches Boyd as Nationals blank Cubs 2-0 to even series

WASHINGTON (AP) — MacKenzie Gore pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and Amed Rosario homered to break a scoreless tie in the seventh as the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 2-0 on Wednesday night.

Nasim Nuñez added an RBI double in the eighth to chase Cubs starter Matthew Boyd, who carried a perfect game into the sixth before walking Nuñez with one out and then giving up a two-out single to rookie Robert Hassell III.

Rosario's third homer — an opposite-field shot into the Washington bullpen in right — came on the first pitch thrown by Boyd (5-3) in the seventh.

Gore (3-5) has tossed 13 consecutive scoreless innings. He struck out seven, walked one and threw 94 pitches as the Nationals evened the three-game series.

The left-hander retired 21 of the final 23 batters he faced in a game that took only 2 hours, 11 minutes.

Brad Lord worked a clean eighth and Kyle Finnegan earned his 17th save after letting two runners on in the ninth.

Boyd permitted two runs over 7 1/3 innings while striking out seven, walking one and yielding four hits on 95 pitches.

Chicago loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning when Gore gave up singles to his first three batters. But he struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson before Nico Hoerner fouled out.

Gore has lowered his ERA in each of his last three starts, from 3.67 to 2.87 during that stretch.

The Cubs hadn’t announced a starter yet for Thursday’s series finale and could potentially use an opener, as they did when Drew Pomeranz threw the first inning of a 2-0 win over Cincinnati last Saturday.

Washington will send out right-hander Jake Irvin (5-1, 3.93 ERA) for his 13th start of the season.

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