Washington Nationals win HR Derby with New York Yankees, 11-4 final in Yankee Stadium...

The home runs were flying out of Yankee Stadium in the series opener between New York’s Yankees and the visiting Washington Nationals with five blasts between the two teams over the first six innings. It was tied up at 3-3 in the eighth when a couple errors by the Yanks set Trea Turner up with an RBI opportunity he cashed in with a single to center field, 4-3, and a three-run shot by Josh Harrison in the next at bat blew it open, 7-3. Final Score: 11-4 Nats.

Corbin vs NYY: Patrick Corbin has slowly but surely been turning it around after a rough start to his third season in D.C., with a 3.18 ERA, seven walks, 12 Ks, and .246/.319/.459 line against over 17 IP in his last three starts, after he put up a 21.32 ERA, seven walks, six Ks, and a .387/.525/.839 line against in his first two starts and 6 ¹⁄₃ IP.

Corbin, 31, earned his first win in a seven-inning outing against the Miami Marlins in his last start before tonight’s outing against New York in Yankee Stadium.

“I think he was just pumping strikes, both sides of the plate,” manager Davey Martinez said in discussing Corbin’s success against the Fish. “His fastball command was really good, so when he can command both sides of the plate like that — his balls were moving.

“His two-seamer was good, the velo was up, but he commanded the strike zone today.”

Tonight against the Yankees, Corbin got off to a rocky start with the third pitch of the game going out to right for a leadoff home run by DJ LeMahieu, whose second of the 2021 season traveled a total of 343 feet and cleared the right field fence, 1-0.

It was 3-1 in the Nationals’ favor when Corbin came back out for the bottom of the second and gave up another solo shot, this one by Gary Sanchez, who hit an 0-1 slider to left on a line for the fourth home run of the game, 3-2 Nationals.

Corbin retired eight straight batters after LeMahieu’s second hit of the game, a one-out single in the third, but the Yankees’ third baseman, who came into the game 18 for 51 with four HRs off the southpaw in their head-to-head matchups over the years, got him again in the sixth, hitting a 1-2 sinker out to right field for his second of the game and sixth off of the Nationals’ starter in their careers, 3-3.

Patrick Corbin’s Line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks, 3 HRs, 81 P, 48 S, 7/3 GO/FO.

Taillon vs D.C.: Acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates this winter, Jameson Taillon came into tonight’s outing with a 5.24 ERA, five walks, and 29 Ks in 22 ¹⁄₃ IP this season, with his last start before tonight a five-inning appearance at home against Detroit which saw him give up three hits, three walks, and one earned run in a 6-4 win in which he earned his first W of 2021 and his first since May of 2019, the start before he had Tommy John surgery.

“There were times when I wasn’t 100% sure whether I would be back in a big league uniform, let alone be on a team like the Yankees and [contributing] to wins throughout the year,” Taillon said, as quoted by the AP after his outing against the Tigers.

“So, it’s definitely meaningful. There’s a lot of people that played part in it to get me back to this point.”

Given a 1-0 lead to work with after one, courtesy of DJ LeMahieu’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the first, Taillon made it hold up for all of two pitches in the top of the second.

Josh Bell crushed a 93 MPH, 0-1 fastball in the first at bat of the frame, sending a solo home run to center field in Yankee Stadium for a game-tying blast, and his third of the season, 1-1.

Taillon walked Kyle Schwarber with one out in the Nats’ second, and gave up a two-run shot to left in the at bat that followed, with Yan Gomes lining a 94 MPH 2-0 fastball into the seats for his 4th of the year and a 3-1 Nationals’ lead.

Taillor retired 14-straight after Gomes’s home run in the second, finishing six innings at 92 pitches, and he got up to 15 before Starlin Castro’s one-out single in the seventh ended his outing after 99 pitches.

Jameson Taillon’s Line: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks, 2 HRs, 99 P, 61 S, 9/4 GO/FO.

Going, Going, Gomes!: Yan Gomes started the night with a five-game hitting streak going, over which he was 8 for 19 (.421 AVG), with a double, two home runs, four RBIs, and three runs scored. Gomes, the Nationals mentioned in their pregame notes, had also recorded multi-hit games in three of the five games and hit his third home run of the season in the second of three with the Braves in D.C. on Wednesday.

All three of those home runs were in D.C. His fourth was his first on the road.

This Video Isn’t That Gomes’ HR, Though That Totally Would’ve Fit Here:

Bullpen Action: Lefty Wandy Peralta took over for Jameson Taillon with a runner on and one out in the top of the seventh inning, after a single by Starlin Castro, and struck out both Kyle Schwarber and Yan Gomes to keep it tied at 3-3 after 6 1/2.

Kyle Finnegan got the ball in the bottom of the seventh inning, and worked around a one-out walk to Gary Sanchez in a 22-pitch frame.

Jonathan Loaisiga gave up a line drive to right off Yadiel Hernández’s bat in the first at bat of the eighth, and the Nationals’ right fielder took second base when Aaron Judge bobbled the ball. Pinch runner Andrew Stevenson took over at second base with Victor Robles up, and a bunt moved him over to third, with an error allowing Robles to reach, and Trea Turner’s RBI single in the next at bat made it 4-3 Nationals. Josh Harrison followed with a three-run shot to left on a 97 MPH 1-0 fastball inside from Loaisiga, 7-3. Harrison’s 3rd.

Luis Cessa took over for NY with a runner on and one out and walked Starlin Castro, which isn’t easy to do, then gave up an RBI single by Kyle Schwarber, 8-3, and 9-3 on a grounder through Gleyber Torres’s backhand at short off of Yan Gomes’s bat.

Tanner Rainey struck out DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Judge in three straight at bats after giving up a leadoff walk in the Yankees’ eighth.

Cessa walked Josh Harrison to start the ninth, then gave up a two-run shot to left by Juan Soto, whose third of the year made it an 11-3 game.

Will Harris got the ninth for the Nationals and gave up a walk and a run before it was done.

Ballgame.

Final Score: 11-4 Nationals

Nationals now 13-15