WASHINGTON (Interstat) — The New York Yankees scored four runs in the eighth inning to beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park before 34,054 fans in 2 hours, 56 minutes. Trent Grisham hit a two-run homer, his 10th, to cap the rally. Cam Schlittler pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out six. Brent Headrick (5-1) earned the win. David Bednar earned his 18th save with a scoreless ninth. Washington scored twice in the first inning on a solo homer by James Wood and a run-scoring hit by Curtis Mead. Miles Mikolas threw four scoreless innings for the Nationals. Clayton Beeter (3-2) took the loss. Ryan McMahon homered for New York. The Yankees had nine hits, the Nationals seven. New York improved to 53-42. Washington fell to 48-48. The teams conclude their series Sunday.

WASHINGTON (Interstat) — The New York Yankees erupted for four runs in the eighth inning Saturday afternoon, rallying past the Washington Nationals 4-2 at Nationals Park before a crowd of 34,054. The game lasted 2 hours, 56 minutes. New York improved to 53-42, while Washington dropped to 48-48. Yankees starter Cam Schlittler turned in a strong outing, allowing two earned runs on four hits over 6 2/3 innings with six strikeouts. He left with the Yankees trailing 2-0, but the offense finally broke through in the eighth. Washington took the lead in the first inning against Schlittler. James Wood led off the bottom of the first with his 27th home run, a fly ball to right-center field. Two batters later, Curtis Mead crushed his 16th homer to left-center, making it 2-0. The Nationals threatened to add to the lead in the fourth, loading the bases with two outs on walks to Jorbit Vivas and Drew Millas and a single by CJ Abrams, but Nasim Nuñez flied out to end the inning. Yankees hitters managed only scattered singles through the first seven innings against Washington starter Miles Mikolas and relievers Tom Cosgrove, Matt Krook and PJ Poulin. Mikolas worked four scoreless innings, allowing four hits. Cosgrove struck out two in 1 1/3 innings. Krook fanned one in 1 2/3 innings, and Poulin punched out three in 1 2/3 innings. The top of the eighth began with Austin Wells popping out. Then Ryan McMahon stepped to the plate against Nationals reliever Clayton Beeter and launched his ninth home run to right-center, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Ben Rice walked, and Trent Grisham followed by belting his 10th homer to right field, a two-run shot that also scored pinch runner Jose Caballero and put the Yankees ahead 3-2. Paul Goldschmidt made it back-to-back homers, drilling his 15th to left-center to extend the lead to 4-2. Cody Bellinger doubled, but the rally ended there. Yankees reliever Brent Headrick, who had entered in the seventh, got the win to improve to 5-1. He worked 1 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two. David Bednar pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing a single to Wood but stranding him, to earn his 18th save. Beeter took the loss, falling to 3-2. He gave up four runs on four hits and two walks in the eighth without recording an out. Wood finished 3-for-5 with a home run. Mead went 2-for-3 with a homer and a walk. Grisham was 2-for-4 with the homer and two RBIs. McMahon went 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk. Schlittler’s outing was a bounce-back from a rough start on June 30 against Detroit, when he allowed six earned runs in four innings. On July 6 at Tampa Bay, he threw eight innings of one-run ball. The Yankees also won the series opener Friday, 5-3. New York had lost three of its previous four games entering the weekend but has now won two straight. Washington has lost two in a row after winning five of its previous six. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Washington 6, New York 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Yankees a 57.60 percent probability to win. New York was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of six went over the over/under line of 8.5.

WASHINGTON (Interstat) — The New York Yankees and Washington Nationals open a two-game series Saturday evening at Nationals Park, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. under rainy conditions. The forecast calls for a 83-degree game time temperature with rain expected throughout the evening, potentially impacting the start or duration of play. New York (51-42) enters having won a 12-4 slugfest at Tampa Bay on Thursday, powered by designated hitter Ben Rice, who went 2-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs. Rice has been hot at the plate, hitting .300 over his past 10 games with four home runs and 12 RBIs in that stretch. Washington (48-46) counters with left-hander Foster Griffin, who has been dominant over his past five starts. Griffin is 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA in that span, most recently tossing seven innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts in an 8-2 win over Houston on July 8. The Nationals took the series opener 8-2 on Thursday, with Griffin earning the win and Luis García Jr. driving in three runs on a 3-for-4 afternoon with a home run. The series opener Friday was postponed due to weather, making Saturday the first head-to-head meeting of the weekend. New York comes off a split of a four-game set in Tampa Bay, alternating wins and losses. The Yankees have lost six of their last 10 overall. Washington has won three of its last four, including a wild 12-11 victory over Houston on July 6. The Yankees are installed as -1.5 favorites, according to oddsmakers. The over/under is set at 8.5 runs. New York right-hander Angel Chivilli is available out of the bullpen after firing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts on Thursday. Following Saturday’s game, the teams conclude the series Sunday afternoon before both clubs head into the All-Star break. The Yankees then host the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 17, while Washington travels to face the Athletics on the same date. Interstat’s game simulator projects a 6-3 victory for the Nationals.