WASHINGTON (AP) – Javier Baez gave the go-ahead in the 10th inning, and the Chicago Cubs defeated the Washington Nationals 4-3 Thursday in a match earlier this week.

Kris Bryant doubled with one in 10th against Sean Doolittle (3-3) and moved to third place on the single of the former National Daniel Murphy. Baez, who conceded victory in the sixth inning and scored three goals in the day, bowed to right-hander Ryan Zimmerman to score Bryant.

Baez, an MVP candidate, has 31 circuits and leads the NL with 103 RBIs.

Chicago extended their lead in NL Central 1½ more than Milwaukee. Washington fell 8½ games behind Atlanta in NL East.

Pedro Strop (6-1) launched 1/2-of-a-score games for Chicago, while Randy Rosario made the 10th match for his first career stop.

The game was a makeup of Sunday's rain. Washington went home between Philadelphia and Atlanta, while Chicago held the match between two home-time playoffs. Thursday was the last day of rest of the teams, and the Cubs arrived at their room around 4h – 12h before the first throw. The first player Anthony Rizzo boarded the flight to Washington in full uniform.

Washington took the lead on Spencer Kieboom's third-round solo circuit. However, the Cubs joined Nationals starter Joe Ross in the fourth, while Baez scored twice in the RBI before scoring a hitter later on Victor Caratini's single. The Nationals matched Victor Robles' sacrifice to fifth.

Baez's opposing striker in the center of the Nationals' sixth-seeded formation gave Chicago a 3-2 lead. A round later, Trea Turner beat Robles with a double RBI.

Ross battled the league major for the second time since his Tommy John operation in July 2017, allowing two runs, four hits and two ballads in five innings. Rain canceled his first start in the second heat last Friday.

Mike Montgomery allowed two runs on three hits in four innings for the Cubs, who used eight shooters.

TRAINER ROOM

Cubs: Kyle Schwarber and the starting pitchers of the team stayed in Chicago during the day trip to Washington.

FOLLOWING

Cubs: Chicago returns to Wrigley Field to open a three-game series against Cincinnati while LHP Cole Hamels (9-9, 3.71 ERA) gets the ball. Hamels is 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA since his Texas acquisition.

National Championships: RHP Max Scherzer (17-6, 2.31) begins the first game of a three-game series in Atlanta. The winning trio of Cy Young is 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 30 outs in 27 innings this season against the Braves.

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