James Wood and Luis García Jr. homered, Zack Littell allowed two earned runs and the Nationals beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 in the rubber game of their series Sunday at Nationals Park.

Keibert Ruiz threw out three Padres trying to steal. All three ended innings, with two coming on strikeout pitches.

García hit his fifth home run leading off the fourth — a line-drive shot to right field on a 3-0 pitch from Griffin Canning (0-4) — to give the Nationals the lead.

Ruiz had a one-out single and Wood followed with his 16th homer — a 417-foot line-drive to right center — for a 3-0 lead in the fifth.

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Littell (5-4) allowed three singles and a walk through the first six innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

Xander Bogaerts walked and Jackson Merrill singled to start. Ty France doubled in a run to chase Littell.

Orlando Ribalta gave up a sacrifice fly to Nick Castellanos, but Miguel Andujar struck out looking and Ruiz threw out Sung-Mun Song trying to steal to end the inning and keep it 3-2.

José Tena drew a walk in front of a Jorbit Vivas single to start the seventh against Jeremiah Estrada. Adrian Morejon entered with one out and retired Wood on a forceout, but Andrés Chaparro had a pinch-hit double for a 4-2 lead.

Clayton Beeter followed Ribalta and allowed Merrill’s one-out single in the ninth before finishing his fourth save in six opportunities.

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Canning yielded three runs on six hits in five innings.

The Nationals are 24-10 this season when scoring first.

Up next

Nationals RHP Cade Cavalli (3-3, 3.62) starts Monday in the opener of a three-game series with the visiting Marlins, who counter with RHP Sandy Alcantara (3-4, 4.66).