Fister, Nationals shut down Giants

[June 11, 2014]  Nationals 2, Giants 1: Doug Fister tossed seven shutout innings and outdueled Madison Bumgarner as visiting Washington defeated San Francisco for the second straight game.

Denard Span and Jayson Werth each drove in a run in the fifth inning for the Nationals, who have won nine of their last 11 contests. Fister (5-1) won his fifth consecutive start while allowing eight hits and one walk and Rafael Soriano permitted a run in the ninth before recording his 13th save.

Bumgarner (8-4) yielded two runs on eight hits with one walk over seven frames and saw his career-best six-game winning streak come to an end. Pablo Sandoval went 3-for-3 for San Francisco, which went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and lost its second in a row following a five-game winning streak.
 

Bumgarner cruised through the first four innings before running into trouble after Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa opened the fifth with back-to-back singles. The Nationals broke the scoreless tie as Span’s sacrifice fly plated one run and Werth’s two-out single to left field scored Espinosa from second base.

Fister’s outing marked the 11th consecutive quality start by Washington’s rotation, which has posted a 1.08 ERA over the last eight games. The Giants threatened in the ninth when Brandon Crawford hit a leadoff triple and scored on Brandon Hicks' groundout, but Soriano retired pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez and Angel Pagan to end the game.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Washington 3B Anthony Rendon returned after missing the last three games with a swollen right hand and singled twice in four at-bats. … Pagan, who was held out of the starting lineup for the last two games with a bruised right shin, batted leadoff and went 1-for-5. ... Nationals C Wilson Ramos left the game with a tight hamstring after sliding into second base in the ninth.

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