Stone Garrett, Keibert Ruiz hit key homers to beat Red Sox

Byron Kerr

WASHINGTON -- Keibert Ruiz and Stone Garrett crushed back-to-back homers as the Nats broke open a close game late to beat the Red Sox 6-2 on Wednesday night at Nationals Park.

After the Red Sox had tied the game 2-2 in the eighth inning, Ruiz deposited a three-run shot, his 15th of the year, over the right-center-field wall off Boston reliever Garrett Whitlock.

Garrett followed with a mammoth 442-foot blast over the center-field wall, capping the Nationals' four-run response. It was the sixth time this season the Nats have gone back to back.

“That was a huge homer right there, and it seems like he's been clutch these past couple months in big spots,” Garrett said of Ruiz. “It kind of takes the pressure off of you, so you can just go up there and get your pitch and do some damage."

For most of the game, the theme was the pinpoint pitching from starter MacKenzie Gore, who was cruising through six innings.

But Gore’s night ended prematurely in the seventh thanks to a torn fingernail and blister on the middle finger of his left hand.

"That was frustrating, but that's something I deal with,” Gore said. “So there's no panic button. There was a lot of good tonight. We got ahead of guys. Keibert was awesome, turned a lot of double plays, and we hit some big homers.

"It was the side of the nail, middle finger. It's happened [before]. It's just once it gets to that point where it's ripped that much, you can't really do anything. But it will be fine by the next start."

Gore registered 17 first-pitch strikes to the 22 batters he faced. He dispatched 18 of his first 20 thanks to his command of the strike zone. The finger injury was all that stopped him.

"He split his nail a little bit, and it formed a blister,” manager Dave Martinez said. “We couldn't do anything about that, so we had to get him out of the game. He pounded the strike zone with his fastball, his changeup was good. He threw his slider when he needed to, his curveball when he needed to, but it was all about the fastball today."

Gore ended up going 6 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out seven on 85 pitches (56 strikes).

The Nationals crushed four homers, including a solo shot by former Red Sox infielder Michael Chavis, for their first win over Boston at home since 2009. The Nats are 18-13 since the All-Star break.

Ruiz and Garrett have become a formidable one-two (or four-five) punch in the middle of the Nats lineup.

Ruiz has hit .372 (16-for-43) his last 11 games, with four homers and 10 RBIs. He has been clutch late in games as well, with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday night and Wednesday’s three-run shot in the eighth.

"He's been awesome,” Martinez said. “He's getting the ball in the strike zone, and when he does that he's hitting the ball really hard. He's got great bat to ball skills. But he needs to focus on getting the ball in the zone. When he does that, the ball comes off his bat really hot."

"I feel like I don't try to do too much, and [I am] being more patient, waiting for my pitch,” Ruiz said. “I'm having good results. I've just got to keep it going."

Garrett homered to lead off the fourth inning and begin the first multihomer game of his career. He’s batting .471 (8-for-17) with two doubles, two homers and eight RBIs in his past five games.

"I'm trying to be on time and stay inside of the ball and use the whole field -- trying to hit it to right,” he said.

After Ruiz slammed the three-run shot late, Martinez let Garrett face the righty Whitlock. Garrett followed with just his second homer of the season off a right-handed pitcher.

"I'm just trying to work hard on competing versus righties,” Garrett said. “[Martinez] trusts me, and he's throwing me in the lineup against righties, so I try to do my best against them."

Jose A. Ferrer (2-0) notched the win by keeping the game tied in the top of the eighth. After giving up a single to Triston Casas, the left-hander struck out Connor Wong and Rob Refsnyder with mid-90s fastballs to end the threat.