Washington Nationals shortstop Nasim Nunez delivered two hits, four RBIs and a stolen base during Saturday’s 6-3, 10-inning victory against the host Chicago White Sox.

Nunez acknowledged he was aiming to emulate one of his favorite players, current New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor — a path that might serve Nunez well again Sunday afternoon when Washington meets Chicago in the rubber game of a three-game set.

“Honestly, I was just like, ‘Let’s be nasty,'” Nunez said. “I told my parents before the game I was trying to channel my 2018 Lindor (then with Cleveland). I model my game after him, so I was watching some highlights and stuff. I just channeled that and just went out there to be.”

Washington evened the series behind an opportunistic attack. Automatic runner James Wood scored the go-ahead run in the 10th on a passed ball.

Nunez hit two-run singles in the fourth and 10th, and Keibert Ruiz doubled for the Nationals’ lone extra-base hit of the game.

Miguel Vargas doubled for the White Sox, who out-hit the Nationals 7-6 one night after out-hitting them 8-6 to key a 5-4 victory.

“It’s working, just putting the foot on the gas at all times,” Chicago rookie infielder-outfielder Sam Antonacci said.

The White Sox will try to rev their offense on Sunday against Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin (3-0, 3.38 ERA), who will oppose Chicago southpaw Bryan Hudson (0-0, 1.54).

Griffin is set to make his first career appearance against the White Sox. He pitched in seven games for Kansas City and Toronto over 2020 and 2022 but most recently competed in Japan.

Griffin defeated the Atlanta Braves 11-4 on Tuesday behind his first quality start, scattering five hits for three runs in six innings with one walk and three strikeouts.

“We hadn’t seen him before; that’s always a challenge,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He’s got a lot of pitches. He’ll throw the kitchen sink at you. When you do that and you throw strikes with it, it makes it tough on the hitter, because you’re not sure what you’re going to get.

“He really showed an ability to pitch, and with a lot of different offerings.”

Hudson will serve as the opener for Chicago, as he did Friday night, when he worked around a hit and walk to notch a scoreless first inning.

Right-hander Sean Burke (1-2, 4.10 ERA) is expected to follow in bulk relief. Burke took a no-decision at Washington on Sept. 27, 2025, allowing two runs — on a Daylen Lile home run — and two hits in 4 1/3 innings with one walk and 10 strikeouts.

Burke has pitched to a 3.63 ERA in four April appearances, including three starts. He’s coming off Tuesday’s 11-5 victory in Arizona, when he spaced two runs and five hits in six innings with one walk and three strikeouts.

White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami is 1-for-8 with a solo home run and four strikeouts to begin the series.

Murakami has homered in six of his past eight games, but the 26-year-old rookie has four multi-strikeout games over the same span. He shares the major league lead of 11 home runs with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez.

–Field Level Media

What should have been a day to remember for Nathan Church turned into one he’d almost like to forget.

The St. Louis rookie outfielder hit two home runs and robbed another with a leaping catch at the wall, but he grounded into a game-ending double play as the Cardinals fell 11-9 to the visiting Seattle Mariners.

The Cardinals will attempt to avoid being swept in the three-game interleague series when it wraps up on Sunday afternoon.

“It was a good day for our offense, put up a lot of runs, but the outcome wasn’t what we wanted,” said Church, 25, who was summoned out of the dugout by the fans after his two-run homer in the seventh inning broke a 7-7l tie.

Church hit a solo shot in the second and added a sacrifice fly in a four-run third as the Cardinals took their first lead.

In the sixth, he made a leaping grab at the left-field wall to deny Seattle’s Mitch Garver of a homer.

“Really good day for him,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Church, who was playing in his 50th major league game. “He just continues to play really good defense, and the two homers, man, his swing just keeps looking better and better and the confidence continues to grow, which is what he needs. Both sides of the ball starting to settle in. The path he took today … just the work going into what he’s doing is really positive.”

JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages also went deep for the Cardinals, but it wasn’t enough as Julio Rodriguez, Will Wilson and Cole Young homered for the Mariners.

Leading 9-7 in the eighth, Marmol called on closer Riley O’Brien with runners on second and third and one out. Pinch hitter Connor Joe greeted O’Brien with a tying two-run single.

In the ninth, J.P. Crawford reached on a bunt single with one out, Garver walked, and Young was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Leo Rivas lined the next pitch up the middle to break a 9-9 deadlock.

“It was one of those days,” said O’Brien (3-1), a Seattle native. “I’ll try not to think about the game for a little bit, watch it (Sunday morning) and see what I can take away from it.”

Rivas broke out of a 5-for-44 slump.

“I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball good the last couple days but right at ’em,” he said. And to have that one (fall) in a good situation like that is like — oooof — a relief for me.”

The 11 runs and 19 hits were season highs for the Mariners, who have won three games in a row and five of their past seven.

“What we’ve been waiting for,” manager Dan Wilson said. “Our guys, we don’t panic. We just continue to put together good at-bats, try to crawl our way back in the game. And that’s what they did.”

Sunday’s series finale will feature a pair of right-handers in the Mariners’ Emerson Hancock (2-1, 2.83 ERA) against the Cardinals’ Michael McGreevy (1-2, 3.29).

Hancock didn’t get a decision Monday in a 6-4 loss to the visiting Athletics after giving up three runs on seven hits over five innings. He’s 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in one career relief appearance against St. Louis.

McGreevy took a 5-3 loss Monday for the Cardinals at Miami when he allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings. He’s 0-0 with a 1.50 ERA in one previous start vs. Seattle.

–Field Level Media

The visiting Pittsburgh Pirates will turn to right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski on Sunday afternoon as they look to complete a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Mlodzinski (1-1, 3.28 ERA) will oppose Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison (1-1, 3.06).

The Pirates scored three runs in the 10th inning en route to a 6-3 victory Saturday, fueled by RBI singles from Bryan Reynolds and Nick Gonzales. It was Reynolds’ 51st RBI in 102 career games against Milwaukee, which lost its fourth straight contest.

The Pirates have clinched their third straight series victory against a National League Central rival this season.

“In division, to be able to win series is really important,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said following Saturday’s game. “We need to continue to do that, and I think that continuing that gritty, dirtbag style of baseball is what we need to do.”

Milwaukee is in last place in the division despite its .500 record.

Mlodzinski lost his last start, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings in a 5-1 defeat Tuesday at Texas. In the two starts before that, he did not allow a run in 11 1/3 innings.

He has not given up a home run this season in 24 2/3 innings in five games, including four starts.

Mlodzinski will make his first career start against Milwaukee after 12 relief appearances. He is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA against the Brewers, allowing 11 runs, but only six earned, in 15 1/3 innings.

Gonzales had three hits Saturday to extend his hitting streak to six games. He is batting .458 (11-for-24) over that span, with three RBIs.

“We need to keep earning it. It’s a daily thing,” Kelly said. “We still need to keep grinding it out and getting after it and continue to earn that respect every day.”

Without injured starters Jackson Chourio, Andrew Vaughn and Christian Yelich, the power-starved Brewers have just one home run in their last 10 games, including none in their last six — their longest streak since six games in July 2015.

“When you’re going through a spell where you feel like nothing’s going right, it seems like everything backfires,” manager Pat Murphy said Saturday. “But there’s a lot of great performances I can point out.”

Harrison lasted just three innings in his last start, allowing one run on four hits without a decision in a 12-4 win at Detroit on Tuesday. He struck out three but walked three, hit one batter and had a wild pitch in the 72-pitch outing.

Harrison has faced the Pirates once, when he was with the San Francisco Giants, tossing five scoreless innings without a decision in a 3-0 win in 2024.

“The Pirates are a couple games ahead of us, but you’d think they’re in first place,” Murphy said. “They’re playing with such great confidence. They’ve got a nice team.”

–Field Level Media