Josh Bell hit a go-ahead three-run homer during Washington’s five-run ninth inning and the visiting Washington Nationals rallied for a 6-3 win over the Chicago Cubs in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday.
Chicago led 3-1 in the ninth before closer Daniel Palencia (1-6) allowed Robert Hassell III’s leadoff homer. After the next two batters reached safely, Bell homered on Palencia’s first offering to put the Nationals ahead.
Palencia exited with an apparent injury and was replaced by Porter Hodge, who allowed a run when Daylen Lile scored on Brady House’s inning-ending double play.
Mason Thompson (1-0) earned the win and Jose Ferrer pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his seventh save. Lile had two hits for Washington (58-84), which won for the fifth time in its last six games.
Carson Kelly hit a pair of solo homers and Nico Hoerner had two hits for Chicago (81-62), which held the Nationals to three hits before the ninth-inning uprising.
Kelly gave Chicago a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a leadoff homer against Andrew Alvarez.
Colin Rea entered after opener Drew Pomeranz threw a scoreless first inning and kept the Nationals off the board until the fifth.
Lile singled to begin the inning, moved to third on Luis Garcia Jr.’s one-out ground-rule double, and scored on House’s sacrifice fly.
Rea held Washington to one run on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.
The Cubs broke the 1-1 tie with a run in the fifth inning when Hoerner scored on Seiya Suzuki’s RBI single against Clayton Beeter, who replaced Alvarez with two runners on and two outs.
Suzuki’s single came after Kevin Alcantara was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Ian Happ’s grounder to shortstop CJ Abrams.
Alvarez allowed two runs on three hits over 4 2/3 innings in his second career start. He walked three and struck out two.
Kelly recorded his third multi-homer game of the season and fourth of his career with a solo homer in the eighth inning against Thompson. The 399-foot shot was Kelly’s 16th homer of the season.
