MacKenzie Gore came within eight outs of the eighth no-hitter in Nationals franchise history, lifting visiting Washington to a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday afternoon.
Chicago didn’t get to Gore (10-12) until Patrick Wisdom clubbed a solo shot with one out in the bottom of the seventh. That was the only hit and run the left-hander allowed in his seven innings. He walked three and struck out nine.
Joey Gallo broke the game open with a three-run homer in the sixth for Washington (69-86), which had dropped five straight. Jose Tena went 3-for-4 with a run, and Luis Garcia Jr., Juan Yepez, Ildemaro Vargas and Gallo each added two hits.
The Cubs (79-76) are on the verge of being officially eliminated from postseason contention. Chicago trails the Mets by 6 1/2 games for the final National League wild-card spot with seven games left to play. New York was set to face the Philadelphia Phillies later Saturday.
Kyle Hendricks (4-12) got the start for the Cubs and yielded four runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and fanned two.
Garcia, Yepez and Tena opened the sixth with singles before Keibert Ruiz lifted a sacrifice fly to center. Gallo then drilled his ninth home run of the season for a 5-0 lead.
Vargas opened the scoring in the second with a sacrifice fly of his own.
Nico Hoerner killed a pair of potential rallies for Chicago. He grounded into two double plays, with one ending the second and the other spoiling a two-on, no-out situation in the fifth.
The Nationals loaded the bases with one out in the ninth but failed to push across an insurance run.
Washington was playing without All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams, who was sent to Triple-A Rochester prior to the game. Multiple media outlets reported that Abrams spent all night at a Chicago-area casino ahead of Friday’s contest, another afternoon affair with the Cubs.