For most of the first month of the season, the Nationals have gently suggested that breaks have not gone their way.
They have been beset by injuries and, once the game starts, bad luck led to eight straight one-run losses.
“This thing will turn around, I know it will,” manager Dave Martinez said.
It did for one day at least, on a chilly but sunny afternoon at Nationals Park, as the underperforming home club got enough breaks to salvage the series finale of the three-game series with a 3-1 victory against the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Nationals (12-16) won for just the fourth time in 14 games at home and for only the second time in the last eight outings overall. Washington began Sunday six games back of the first-place New York Mets in the National League East.
While no one wishes for an injury, the Nationals were the beneficiaries when Arizona left-handed starting pitcher Robbie Ray had to leave the game in the top of the second inning with a strained right oblique.
A former Nationals minor league prospect, Ray was a National League All-Star last season. However, he was forced to depart after throwing one pitch to Washington catcher Matt Wieters to lead off the second inning.
That meant fellow lefty T.J. McFarland, a former Orioles reliever, had to warm up quickly in the Arizona bullpen. Sure enough, the fifth pitch McFarland threw to Wieters was blasted over the fence in left-center for a 1-0 Nationals lead.
Later in the inning, McFarland made an error on a ball hit by Ryan Zimmerman with two outs and the bases loaded that allowed Wilmer Difo to score an unearned run to make it 2-0.
Then in the fourth inning McFarland (1-1) served up another homer, as this time Washington’s Michael A. Taylor lofted a moon shot into the Arizona bullpen in left for a 3-0 advantage.
The homers were the third each this season for Wieters and Taylor, who each entered the game with a batting average hovering near their listed weight.
That was more than enough offense for Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez, who was miffed when he was yanked after just five innings in his previous start by rookie manager Martinez.
This time, Gonzalez (3-2) went seven innings and allowed just six hits and one run with eight strikeouts.
His biggest out of came in the top of the seventh, as he fanned David Peralta with two outs and two runners on base and Arizona trailing 3-1.
Peralta slammed his bat on the ground after striking out for the fourth time in a row against Gonzalez, who went seven innings for the first time this season.
The 114-pitch outing by Gonzalez helped save the Washington bullpen, which was used heavily in the first two games of the series.
To aid the core of relievers, the National summoned right-handed pitching prospect Austin Voth, 25, from the minors before the game. He was the Nationals’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2015 and began this season as one of the top prospects in the system.
Voth, from Washington state, began this season at Triple-A Syracuse and was 1-0 with a 0.96 ERA in four starts before he got his first call to the big leagues. For now, he will pitch out of the bullpen after making his last start April 23 for Syracuse.
“I’ll do whatever I need to do, be whatever guy they need me to be,” Voth told reporters. “Right now, I just want to have an opportunity to contribute.”
But he wasn’t needed Sunday as Brandon Kintzler pitched the eighth and closer Sean Doolittle threw the ninth for his fifth save as he retired John Ryan Murphy for the last out with a runner on.
To make room on the roster for Voth, the Nationals sent right-hander Austin L. Adams to Syracuse. Adams walked in the winning run with the bases loaded in the 10th inning on Saturday in a 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks. It was the third one-run loss in extra innings this month for Washington at home.
Regular third baseman Anthony Rendon (toe contusion) was eligible to come off the disabled list Sunday, but Wilmer Difo got the start at third and Rendon was not used.
NOTES: Washington right fielder Bryce Harper entered the game hitting .196 in his last 15 games and saw his average drop to .250. He was 1-for-3 with a walk Sunday … First baseman Ryan Zimmerman (0-for-4) is now hitting .191 … The Nationals began the day 1-8 in one-run games this season. Washington was 0-6 in one-run games at home … Right-hander Tanner Roark (1-2, 3.77) is slated to face Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Jameson Taillon (2-2, 4.91) in the series opener at Nationals Park on Monday.
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