Luis Arraez, Jurickson Profar hit back-to-back homers as Padres blank Nats 4-0

WASHINGTON (AP) Luis Arraez and Jurickson Profar homered on consecutive pitches in the fifth inning, and the San Diego Padres blanked the Washington Nationals 4-0 on Tuesday night.

Randy Vásquez pitched six innings to earn his first victory since June 22 for San Diego, which has won three in a row.

Washington, which had won five of six, is 0-4 against the Padres this season. The Nationals were shut out for the 11th time.

Nationals starter DJ Herz (1-4), recalled from Triple-A Rochester earlier in the day, breezed through three innings, then escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. He retired the first two batters in the fifth before facing the top of the lineup for the third time.

Arraez lofted a 1-2 slider that just cleared the wall in right-center for his third home run of the season. There was little suspense one pitch later, when Profar lined a changeup 425 feet over the visitor’s bullpen in left-center for his 15th homer.

“Today I hit right-handed, so it was a little different, but I can see where the pitcher’s at and get him tired a little bit,” the switch-hitting Profar said of batting behind Arraez, who was acquired from Miami on May 4. “I can come in and swing the bat.”

Herz’s night ended after he retired Xander Bogaerts to end the fifth. The rookie allowed five hits and struck out four in his first outing with Washington since July 7. He is winless in five starts since striking out 13 in six shutout innings against Miami on June 15.

San Diego’s Jackson Merrill added a two-out RBI single in the sixth and a run-scoring groundout in the eighth.

Washington first baseman Juan Yepez doubled to lead off the seventh to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and end Vásquez’s night. Vásquez (3-5) yielded four hits and didn’t issue a walk while throwing 68 pitches. He struck out one.

“Tonight was a very exceptional outing for him, getting into the seventh,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said. “A lower pitch count, but man, he’d more than done his job.”

The right-hander is 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA in his last five starts and while lowering his ERA from 5.70 to 4.17.

The Nationals were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

“It seemed like we got a lot of early swings and didn’t work any good at-bats,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “We hit some balls hard, but really couldn’t get any good swings off.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: Washington optioned RHP Eduardo Salazar to Rochester to make room for Herz. Salazar struck out seven and allowed one unearned run in four innings with the Nationals.

UP NEXT

San Diego RHP Matt Waldron (5-9, 3.59 ERA) seeks his first victory since June 19 on Wednesday night, while Washington rookie LHP Mitchell Parker (5-5, 3.90) looks for his first win since June 16.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb