Danny Espinosa launched a pair of home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in seven to help pace an offensive outburst for the Nationals in a 13-4 victory against the Reds on Thursday night at Nationals Park. The 13 runs for Washington matched a season high and extended the club’s winning streak to five games. Meanwhile, Cincinnati dropped its fourth game in a row and eighth in its last nine.
The Nats already led 4-1 in the third inning when Espinosa hammered his second career grand slam to left-center off Reds left-hander Brandon Finnegan. Espinosa’s second homer of the night came in the fourth off right-hander Josh Smith, a three-run blast from the left side of the plate. It was Espinosa’s fourth career multihomer game, and he became the first player in franchise history since Geoff Blum in 2001 with homers from both sides of the plate, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“I wasn’t going up there trying to do that or trying to create,” Espinosa said. “I was just trying to have good at-bats, and it feels awesome to help the team out and give us a good win right there.”
Finnegan was finished after the grand slam to end the worst start of his young career. He allowed a career-high eight runs on five hits with five walks in 2 1/3 innings, the shortest start of his career.
“That combination of walks and homers, they don’t work terribly well together as you know,” Reds manager Bryan Price said.
The Nationals had lost each of left-hander Gio Gonzalez’s last seven starts, but he bounced back a bit with his outing. He struck out nine batters in six innings, but allowed four runs, including a three-run sixth by the Reds highlighted by a solo homer from Joey Votto.
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