WASHINGTON (AP) — Shane Smith took a perfect game into the sixth inning, Brooks Baldwin homered and drove in three, and the Chicago White Sox limited the Washington Nationals to one hit in a 8-0 rout on Sunday in the season finale for both last-place teams.
Miguel Vargas and Dominic Fletcher also homered for the White Sox, who concluded their first season under Will Venable at 60-102. It was a 19-game improvement after the franchise went 41-121 in 2024 to set the modern record for single-season losses.
Washington closed at 66-96, a decline of five games after going 71-91 the last two seasons.
The Nationals finished last in the NL East for the fifth time in six years. Interim manager Miguel Cairo was 29-43 after taking over for with Washington at 37-53.
Smith (7-8) retired the first 16 batters he faced before Brady House singled. The right-hander struck out eight in six innings.
off Washington starter Brad Lord (5-10) in the first inning. and in the fourth.
Lord allowed five runs in four innings.
Baldwin added a two-run double off Shinnosuke Ogasawara in the fifth.
Former National Michael A. Taylor, who , before each plate appearance and had an RBI groundout in the eighth in his final at-bat.
Before the first pitch, the Nationals emptied the dugout and bullpen and doffed their caps toward broadcaster Bob Carpenter, who is retiring after 20 years as the team’s television play-by-play voice.
Washington OF James Wood struck out three times to finish with 221 for the season, the third most in a season behind Mark Reynolds (223 in 2009) and Adam Dunn (222 in 2012).
Washington’s season attendance of 1,916,768 was a 1% decrease from last year’s total.
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