Washington left-hander Foster Griffin looks to continue his stellar rookie season and help the Nationals gain in the National League wild-card race when the club hosts the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.

Arizona took the series opener 3-2 on Friday and has won four straight and six of seven.

Griffin (11-2, 2.69 ERA) has made eight consecutive starts without allowing more than one run, a franchise record. The 30-year-old All-Star has won three straight starts and has not taken a loss since May 14.

Washington is 16-4 in his starts this year, 10-1 in his past 11 outings. Included in that run was his lone career outing vs. the Diamondbacks. Griffin threw five innings of one-run ball for a 14-1 victory in Phoenix on June 5.

Last time out, Griffin allowed a run on eight hits over seven innings during a 5-2 win against the Athletics on Sunday.

Griffin, who spent the previous three seasons in Japan, is a free agent after this season and could be making his final start for the Nationals if they opt to trade him before the Aug. 3 deadline.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here, enjoyed the clubhouse, the staff and front office,” he said, according to the Baltimore Banner. “The pitching staff, specifically, I feel like we’ve gotten along great, so we’ll see what happens.”

Arizona rookie left-hander Mitch Bratt (0-0, 5.06) opposes Griffin in his fourth major league start. Last time out, he gave up two runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings during a no-decision against the Athletics on Monday.

Eduardo Rodriguez pitched six strong innings on Friday and the Diamondbacks scored the go-ahead run on Gabriel Moreno’s seventh-inning sacrifice fly.

Arizona recorded its first run on a safety squeeze and its second when Ketel Marte got down the line in time to beat the potential double-play relay. Paul Sewald pitched the ninth for his 24th save.

“I thought we did a lot of little things right,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It all added up and it was a great win. The bullpen went lights out, they executed. Paul got that big save.”

Moreno had two hits and reached base in his 40th straight start, moving into sole possession of the second-longest such streak in team history behind Corbin Carroll’s 44-game run in 2024.

Moreno has reached base two or more times in 12 of his past 15 games.

“It seems like he’s on base with every at-bat,” Lovullo said. “He spoils us with a really good approach. There’s just an ease to his game and he’s kind of in the middle of everything.”

The Nationals, who were opening a six-game homestand and had won three of four, got a two-run homer and a single from Dylan Crews. He is 6-for-21 (.286) in his past six games with two home runs, five RBIs and five runs.

CJ Abrams had two hits and is 11-for-21 (.524) in his past five games with two doubles, four home runs, eight RBIs and six runs.

Washington trails Arizona by three games for the third NL wild-card spot.

“We’re treating this like a playoff series,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “… Do whatever we have to do to come out of these with a win because we know how important it is against these guys.”

–Field Level Media

Two teams that have struggled in close games would like nothing better than to be on the winning end of a one-sided affair Saturday afternoon when the Los Angeles Angels and the host San Francisco Giants continue their three-game interleague series.

Nine innings weren’t enough to determine a winner in the opener on Friday. The Giants emerged with a 7-6 win when Rafael Devers delivered a bases-loaded, walk-off single with one out in the bottom of the 10th.

The teams left the field with the scoreboard showing 8-6, the result of Devers’ long fly to left field having bounced over the fence. It initially was ruled a ground-rule double, with two runs scoring, even though only one was needed to end the game.

The Elias Sports Bureau, the official statisticians for Major League Baseball, reviewed the play shortly thereafter and the hit was changed to a single, producing one run. That made the official final score 7-6 and dropped Devers’ RBI total for the game from four to three.

The confusion was appropriate for teams that have struggled to record one-run wins this season. The Angels lead the majors with 19 one-run defeats, while the Giants have 16, tied with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres for second most in the National League.

Having watched his team fail far more than succeed in tight games, Giants manager Tony Vitello had an unusual reaction to watching his club blow a late 6-4 lead before recovering.

“It made for a better win to be honest with you — more exciting, more memorable for the guys,” he said. “A moment, hopefully, they can build confidence on, that we can come back if things don’t go perfect.”

Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (8-6, 3.33 ERA), who started a one-run loss against the Colorado Rockies in his most recent home outing, will take the mound on Saturday.

Ray is 3-1 with a 2.53 ERA in five career starts against the Angels, with the .750 winning percentage equaling his second best against any opponent. With a win on Saturday, Ray would match his mark against the Chicago Cubs, 4-1.

Ray got a no-decision on Sunday after yielding three runs (one earned) on seven hits in four-plus innings against the Seattle Mariners.

The Angels will send out rookie right-hander Ryan Johnson (2-4, 6.10 ERA) to oppose Ray, 34.

Johnson, 23, faced four batters in relief and retired them all in his only previous meeting with the Giants, on April 19, 2025. In his latest outing, Johnson threw five innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

While many Angels might be wondering where they will be after the upcoming trade deadline, Johnson, one of the franchise’s top prospects, has only pondered how he can be most effective the rest of this season and moving forward.

“I don’t know if there’s any specific goals other than just keep competing and getting a feel for being in the rotation week to week,” Johnson said following his Sunday outing. “I feel like I’ve been able to get into a good routine and figure out what I want to do in between starts that makes me feel good.”

–Field Level Media

Playing decent baseball hasn’t been enough for the Miami Marlins.

They’ll need to dig deeper if they hope to avoid tying their franchise record for the longest losing streak.

Miami has lost 10 straight games heading into its matchup on Saturday afternoon against the visiting San Diego Padres.

The Marlins have lost 11 games in a row three times, most recently in 2011. All 10 losses in the current streak have been by three runs or less, including a 4-2 setback in the opener of the three-game series against San Diego on Friday night.

“It’s been a tough stretch,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. “We’re not finding a way to get over the hump here in certain moments of the game. So I don’t have any doubt that they’ll come out here (Saturday) and be incredibly motivated to come out and try to win a game and get us going in a different direction.”

“Losses all sting,” McCullough added. “If half of these losses were by double digits, I think we’d feel just as horrible as we do now.”

The Marlins were the best team in the majors from June 1 to July 9, going 26-8 to move into a wild-card spot. Then the losing streak began with a 3-2 loss to the visiting Cleveland Guardians on July 10.

“You take some solace in the fact that, hey, there’s still a lot of good things going on,” McCullough said. “We’re giving ourselves opportunities within games. We just, right now, aren’t coming through in those moments, but trust that if you continue to give yourselves those opportunities in those moments, it’s going to flip.”

Miami will send 23-year-old right-hander Eury Perez to the mound in hopes of ending the skid. Perez (5-7, 3.53 ERA) has a 1.14 ERA over his past seven starts. He most recently allowed one hit over six shutout innings Sunday vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. He did not receive a decision, however, in a 3-1 loss.

Perez made his only MLB start against San Diego on July 21 of last season and took the loss after allowing two runs and five hits in five innings of a 2-1 defeat.

The Padres plan to counter with left-hander JP Sears, who’s also pitching well this month but has lost two consecutive starts. Sears (2-3, 4.38 ERA) wasn’t feeling well in his most recent outing Monday but limited the Atlanta Braves to one earned run and three hits over five innings in a 3-2 loss.

“Really efficient,” Sears said after the performance. “I was happy to get some quick outs.”

Sears has made two starts against the Marlins in his career, going 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA.

Luis Rengifo continues to look like a smart acquisition for the Padres. His pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth inning on Friday gave San Diego a 4-2 lead it maintained the rest of the way.

The Padres signed Rengifo to a minor-league contract on June 26 after he was released by the Milwaukee Brewers three days earlier. He is 10-for-21 in his past six games, with two homers and seven RBIs.

“The guys push me, and the support, that’s the most important (thing),” Rengifo said of his new teammates in San Diego.

–Field Level Media