Cade Cavalli carried a no-hit bid into the seventh before settling for a one-hit gem after eight innings, fueling the host Washington Nationals to a 7-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
Washington rookie Abimelec Ortiz belted a three-run shot during a five-run fifth inning, marking his fourth homer of the season and third in his last four games. Ortiz, who was playing in his 11th career game, also scored on Dylan Crews’ RBI double in the fourth inning.
Cavalli (10-5) retired the first 15 batters he faced before Dansby Swanson ended his bid for a perfect game with a four-pitch walk to open the sixth. Cavalli induced Michael Conforto to hit into a double play and struck out Miguel Amaya to end the inning.
Cavalli retired the first two batters in the seventh before Michael Busch’s opposite-field bloop single to left field halted the no-hit bid.
Cavalli, who got Alex Bregman to fly out to center to end the inning, finished with 10 strikeouts against two walks after a career-high 103 pitches.
Daylen Lile and Jorbit Vivas each had an RBI single and Andrew Pinckney added a sacrifice fly for the Nationals, who salvaged the finale of a three-game series versus the Cubs.
Chicago, in turn, lost for just the second time in its last 10 games.
Making his second start with the Cubs, Kevin Gausman (6-11) allowed Ortiz to become the game’s first baserunner after the latter singled to right field with one out in the fourth inning. Ortiz didn’t stay on first base for long, as he lumbered around the bases to open the scoring on Crews’ double to left-center field.
Washington extended its lead in the following inning after Vivas walked, advanced to third on a single and scored on Pinckney’s sacrifice fly to right field.
CJ Abrams singled to put runners on the corners for Ortiz, who deposited a first-pitch fastball from Gausman over the wall in center field.
Crews singled to center field and stole second before coming around to score on Lile’s RBI single, giving Washington a 6-0 lead.
That spelled the end of the afternoon for Gausman, who yielded six runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.