CHICAGO — Joey Wiemer and Keibert Ruiz homered and the Washington Nationals earned a season-opening series win with a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Jake Irvin (1-0) allowed two runs and three hits with seven strikeouts and a walk in five innings and Clayton Beeter, the last of four Washington relievers, worked a clean ninth for his first save. Washington took two of three in the series.<\/p>\n
Alex Bregman hit two solo home runs \u2014 his first since joining the Cubs as a free agent \u2014 and Ian Happ added one.<\/p>\n
Brady House and Daylen Lile hit consecutive two-out singles off Shota Imanaga (0-1) in the first and Wiemer followed with his second homer of the season to give Washington a 3-0 lead. <\/p>\n
Imanaga also gave up Wiemer\u2019s leadoff triple in the fourth, but stranded him there with three straight outs. Wiemer was 3 for 3 with a walk.<\/p>\n
Ruiz added a two-run homer off reliever Hoby Milner in the eighth. <\/p>\n
Bregman, who signed a five-year, $175 million contract in January, hit a solo shot to center to start the fourth and Happ added his second of the season two pitches later to make it 3-2. <\/p>\n
Bregman added an eighth-inning solo shot to right field off Cionel P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n
Imanaga was pulled after walking the leadoff man in the sixth. He gave up six hits and four runs while walking two and striking out seven.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets forward Jonathan Toews, who captained the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.<\/p>\n
Nationals: at Phillies where Washington’s Foster Griffin faces Philadelphia’s Taijuan Walker on Monday.<\/p>\n
Cubs: host Angels. Ryan Johnson starts for Los Angeles against Chicago’s Edward Cabrera on Monday.<\/p>\n
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