WASHINGTON — Major league losses leader Patrick Corbin ended Washington’s record 43-game drought without a starting pitcher earning a victory as the Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 Sunday.
Corbin (5-17) allowed one earned run and four hits in six innings while striking out five. A Washington starting pitcher had not earned a victory since Josiah Gray won at Philadelphia on July 6, shattering the previous big league record of 35 games set by the 1949 Washington Senators.
Stuart Fairchild homered for Cincinnati, which has dropped 13 of its last 17 but was trying for a weekend sweep.
Corbin has lowered his ERA from 7.02 to 6.56 in three starts since the Nationals skipped his turn in the rotation earlier this month. The left-hander had dropped seven consecutive decisions since defeating Pittsburgh on June 28.
Corbin began the game leading the majors with four more losses than any other pitcher.
Hunter Harvey worked around a leadoff single in the Reds’ seventh, Carl Edwards Jr. induced three consecutive flyouts in the eighth and Kyle Finnegan handled the ninth for his eighth save in 12 opportunities.
Ildemaro Vargas led off the fifth with a liner against Nick Lodolo (3-5) to left for his third homer in nine games, breaking a 2-all tie. Lodolo yielded three runs and struck out five over seven innings, which tied the longest outing of the rookie’s career.
The Reds took an early lead on Kyle Farmer’s RBI grounder in the first and Fairchild’s solo homer in the second. Washington tied it in the fourth with Nelson Cruz’s bases-loaded walk and Riley Adams’ RBI single.
Cincinnati second baseman Jonathan India had two singles to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games.
MENESES KEEPS HITTING
OF Joey Meneses singled in the fifth and has 28 hits in 22 games since debuting after Washington traded Josh Bell and Juan Soto earlier this month. The 30-year-old has the most hits for a Nationals rookie through 22 games, besting the 27 that Anthony Rendon had in 2013.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.