Gore sparkles on the mound as Nationals beat Cubs to stop a five-game slide

CHICAGO (AP) — MacKenzie Gore struck out nine in seven sparkling innings, and the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Saturday.

Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer for Washington, which had dropped five in a row. José Tena had three of the Nationals’ 12 hits.

Chicago (79-76) was eliminated from postseason contention when the Mets (86-69) closed out a 6-3 victory over the Phillies later in the day.

Washington (69-86) played without All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams, who was demoted to the minors earlier in the day. Abrams isn’t expected to play for the big league team again this season.

“I just want it to be known, it wasn’t performance-based — it’s an internal issue,” manager Dave Martinez said. “I’m not going to give specifics or talk about specifics because I need to keep these guys and everything on the down low. ... I’m going to support CJ. He’s a big part of our Nats family, and he will be. At this point, for me, it’s the right thing to do.”

Gore (10-12) earned his second straight win. The 25-year-old left-hander was working on a no-hitter before Patrick Wisdom connected for his eighth homer with one out in the seventh inning.

“His tempo was really good today,” Martinez said of Gore. “It looked like he slowed everything down and just was really attacking the strike zone. All of his stuff was electric. He pitched really well today.”

Gallo said Gore has “elite stuff,” and praised the pitcher for his work ethic.

“A lot of guys come to the ballpark, they see it as a job and whatnot, but MacKenzie really loves coming to the ballpark and just playing the game of baseball and being the best that he can be,” Gallo said. “He had little hiccups there in the middle of the year, but (it’s a) long year, and it says a lot for him to be able to get over that and be pitching well here at the end.”

Jose Ferrer got three outs before Kyle Finnegan finished the two-hitter for the Nationals, who improved to 1-5 against the Cubs this year.

Chicago right-hander Kyle Hendricks (4-12) allowed four runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings in what might have been his last home start at Wrigley Field. Hendricks, who helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series, is eligible for free agency after this season.

“Kind of excited just to take a step back, get away from baseball for a minute,” Hendricks said. “Refocus, re-evaluate where I'm at and make my adjustments and really attack this offseason with some motivation. Really got to get better in some areas.”

Ildemaro Vargas drove in Juan Yepez with a sacrifice fly in the second, and Washington broke it open with four runs in the sixth.

The Nationals put their first three batters on, and Keibert Ruiz chased Hendricks with a sacrifice fly. Gallo then greeted Keegan Thompson with his ninth homer, a drive to right that lifted his team to a 5-0 lead.

Gallo, Vargas, Yepez and Luis García Jr. each had two hits.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cubs: 3B Isaac Paredes was scratched because of a left wrist contusion.

UP NEXT

Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (14-3, 3.03 ERA) is slated to take the mound for Sunday’s series finale. RHP Jake Irvin (10-12, 4.07 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Nationals.

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