Nationals’ 10-run first inning too much for Diamondbacks

The visiting Washington Nationals exploded for 10 runs in the first inning and held on for an 11-7 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night in Phoenix.
Daylen Lile had a double and a triple for the Nationals, who have won four straight and scored nine or more runs in each game.
Mike Soroka (2-3) was the beneficiary of the early support and got through 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out three batters.
Randal Grichuk had three hits including a home run, and Josh Naylor had a homer and a double and for the Diamondbacks, who have lost four straight, allowing nine or more runs in each game.
Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt (7-4) gave up eight runs on six hits and did not retire a batter.
CJ Abrams was hit by a pitch leading off the game and James Wood singled. Nathaniel Lowe doubled home Abrams, and Luis Garcia, Jr. doubled home Wood and Lowe. Josh Bell was hit by a pitch and Robert Hassell III singled to load the bases. Keibert Ruiz doubled home two runs to make it 5-0. Jose Tena’s double increased the lead to 7-0, chasing Pfaadt.
Lile greeted Scott McGough with the fifth double of the inning and it was 8-0. After Abrams was again hit by a pitch, Wood singled home Lile. Lowe fanned for the first out of the inning and Abrams scored when Garcia grounded into a fielder’s choice to make it 10-0 for the highest-scoring first inning in Nationals history dating back to 2005.
Washington tied the National League record with nine runs before the first out, matching the Phillies on Aug. 13, 1948, per the Elias Sports Bureau. The Red Sox scored 10 runs before the first out on June 27, 2003, for the most in the expansion era since 1961, per Elias.
The lead was 11-0 after Tena scored on Lowe’s fielder’s choice grounder in the second.
Geraldo Perdomo singled with two outs in the fourth for the Diamondbacks’ first hit off Soroka and Naylor followed with a two-run homer.
The Diamondbacks chased Soroka in the sixth. Naylor doubled with one out and Eugenio Saurez singled him to third. Jackson Rutledge replaced Soroka and Pavin Smith greeted him with a two-run triple. Smith scored on a single by Gabriel Moreno, and Grichuk homered down the left field line to make it 11-7.
In the eighth, Arizona had runners on first and second with one out. Grichuk singled and left fielder Wood threw out Smith at home.