Giants get offensive, homer three times in 10-5 win against Nationals

Jerry McDonald, Bay Area News Group on Apr 17, 2026

Published in Baseball

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The Giants rediscovered their offense Friday, battering one of their former pitchers and winning, 10-5, against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.

Coming as it did after a 3-0 win over Cincinnati to close out that series, the Giants improved to 8-12 and could return home with a 5-4 road trip should they sweep Washington with wins on Saturday and Sunday.

The Nationals fell to 9-11.

Logan Webb, given more than adequate run support for a change, improved to 2-2, giving up four earned runs with two walks and six strikeouts in six innings.

On the flip side, former Giants pitcher Zach Littell (0-2) gave up at least one hit to every player in the lineup through four innings and trailed by seven runs by the time he was lifted.

Heliot Ramos hit a three-run home run for the Giants in the second inning, his first of the season. Drew Gilbert hit his first home run of the season in the fourth, a solo shot. In the seventh, Casey Schmitt hit a line drive down the left-field line that cleared the fence for his second home run. The Giants had only nine home runs coming in to the game.

For Washington, Daylen Lile hit a 417-foot home run to center field in the fourth inning, his first of the season. It was a two-run shot that brought the Nationals to within 8-3. James Wood homered against reliever Matt Gage in the seventh, his sixth.

The Giants wasted no time going to work on Littell in the second inning, with back-to-back singles by Casey Schmitt and Jung Hoo Lee putting runners at first and third.

Ramos, who was 1 for 7 in the previous series and has been striking out at an alarming rate, then took advantage of a gift-wrapped 0-2 off-speed pitch down the middle of the plate. Ramos hit it 417 feet to center field at 107.1 miles per hour and the Giants led 3-0.

They weren’t done.

Daniel Susac, in the lineup for Patrick Bailey at catcher, singled to left field but was thrown out stealing for the first out. Gilbert walked and Willy Adames followed with a single. A ground out to first by Luis Arraez sent the runners to second and third, and Matt Chapman followed with a single to enter to bring home Gilbert and Adames.

Rafael Devers then doubled over the head of Wood in right field, bringing in Chapman and suddenly, Webb had a six-run lead, supported by seven hits in the inning, and every member of the Giants lineup had a hit.

Webb gave up a run in the third inning but should have been out of it with another zero. With one out and runners on first and third on singles by Jose Tena and Keibert Ruiz, Brady House bounced a would-be double play to Arraez at second. The relay from Adames was in time, but slightly high, and Devers dropped it with a run scoring.

Webb escaped further trouble but needed another dozen pitches to finish the inning.

Littell continued to take it on the chin in the fourth. Gilbert hit a 3-1 pitch out to right field, and Chapman recorded his third RBI with a single to bring in Adames, who had doubled. At that point, Littell had given up 10 hits and eight earned runs with four walks. He didn’t come out for the fifth.

After breezing through the first two innings, Webb gave up three runs in the third and fourth and needed 56 pitches to get through them. He righted himself in in the fifth, retiring the side on three ground balls to the right side, two on nice plays by Arraez at second base.

With Webb giving up a .292 batting average to left-handed batters and .217 to right-handers, Washington stacked its lineup with seven left-handed hitters.

Tena’s two-out RBI single in the sixth brought Washington within 8-4. Wood’s home run against Gage was a leadoff shot in the seventh.

Notable

— The Giants added on in the 10th inning when Ramos drew a bases loaded walk against Richard Lovelady.

— Caleb Killian pitched a scoreless eighth and Blade Tidwell the ninth for the Giants.

— In Game 2 of the series Saturday at 1:05 p.m., right-hander Arian Houser of the Giants (0-2, 5.06) opposes Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli (0-1, 4.60). Sunday’s matchup on getaway day at 10:45 a.m. pits the Giants’ Robbie Ray (2-2, 2.42) against Nationals’ right-hander Miles Mikolas (0-3, 11.49).

— Outfielder Jared Oliva had hamate bone surgery Thursday and is expected to be out four to six weeks.

— Chapman, who had three hits, drove in three runs, and improved his batting average to .291, also had a throwing error in the seventh that Devers couldn’t dig out.