WASHINGTON — Michael Soroka struck out seven in six sparkling innings, and the Washington Nationals beat Patrick Corbin and the Texas Rangers 2-0 on Friday night.
Soroka (3-3) allowed two hits and walked one. Brad Lord and Jose A. Ferrer each got three outs before Kyle Finnegan finished the two-hitter for his 18th save.
The speedy game was over in 1 hour, 50 minutes.
Adolis García singled with two outs in the fifth for Texas' first hit. Josh Smith added a one-out single in the sixth for the Rangers in their fourth consecutive loss.
Washington took a 1-0 lead in the second when Nathaniel Lowe and Alex Call opened with back-to-back singles. Lowe went to third on a flyout and scored on a groundout by Robert Hassell III.
Call led off the seventh with his first homer of the season.
Corbin (3-5) allowed five hits in eight innings in his longest start of the season. He struck out two and walked none against his former team.
The 35-year-old Corbin, who signed with the Rangers in March, went 47-77 with a 5.11 ERA over the past six seasons with the Nationals. In 2019 he was 14-7 with a 3.25 ERA and threw three scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win in Game 7 of the World Series against the Astros.
