Lowe homers as Nationals defeat Padres 4-2 to snap 5-game skid

WASHINGTON (AP) – Nathaniel Lowe homered and the Washington Nationals snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday with a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.

Mitchell Parker earned his first win at home since May 20 for Washington, which had dropped nine of 10.

Martín Maldonado and Luis Arraez each drove in a run for San Diego (53-45).

Lowe ripped a fastball to center field off reliever Yuki Matsui in the sixth inning for his 15th homer – one shy of his total last year with Texas.

Parker (6-10) allowed two runs in six innings while striking out four. The left-hander had lost seven of his last nine starts, with the only victory in that span coming June 23 at San Diego.

Kyle Finnegan worked the ninth for his 19th save.

Washington went up 2-0 on Drew Millas’ two-run single in the second.

The Padres evened it in the third when Maldonado’s double to deep left-center glanced off Jacob Young’s glove to bring in Jose Iglesias. Two batters later, Maldonado scored on Arraez’s single.

CJ Abrams’ run-scoring grounder in the fifth put the Nationals ahead 3-2.

Yu Darvish (0-2) allowed three runs in five innings, the longest of his three outings since missing the first three months of the season with elbow inflammation.

The threat of rain delayed the start of the game by 65 minutes.

With one out in the eighth, Nationals reliever Jose A. Ferrer fielded Gavin Sheets’ comebacker and threw home to trap Fernando Tatis Jr. in a rundown. Tatis was initially ruled safe back at third, but the call was overturned and Ferrer then got Xander Bogaerts to fly out on the first pitch to end the threat.

Finnegan ended the Nationals’ streak of 34 games without a save. Finnegan recorded Washington’s previous save June 6 against Texas.

San Diego RHP Nick Pivetta (9-2, 2.88 ERA), who threw seven shutout innings June 25 against Washington, faces LHP MacKenzie Gore (4-8, 3.02) when the three-game series concludes Sunday.