WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Chapman's RBI single in the 12th inning lifted the San Francisco Giants to their third straight victory, 7-6 over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.
The Nationals had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 10th, but didn't score. After each team was also blanked in the 11th, Chapman led off the 12th with a single off Cionel Pérez (1-2) to break the 6-all tie.
Caleb Kilian (1-0) closed out the Nationals in the bottom of the inning for his first big league win.
James Wood led off the bottom of the first with a homer for Washington, and Heliot Ramos went deep for the Giants as part of a three-hit day.
The Nationals had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 10th against Ryan Walker. Daylen Lile struck out and after a liner down the left-field line went just foul, Nasim Nuñez went down swinging on a 3-2 pitch. Then Jorbit Vivas sent a sharp grounder to shortstop Willy Adames.
Adames ran to second for the force, was beaten there by baserunner Jacob Young, and still had time to throw to first to retire Vivas with room to spare to prevent the winning run from scoring.
Brady House’s RBI single to center off Walker tied it at 6 with two outs in the ninth. Curtis Mead was thrown out trying to go from first to third on the play, but Wood had crossed home just before the tag, so the run counted and the teams played on.
Ramos doubled in the second and scored on Drew Gilbert's single to tie it at 1, but a botched grounder in the bottom half opened the door to a big Washington inning. Adames couldn't field a potential double play ball off the bat of Nuñez, and the error left men on first and second with nobody out.
Wood was eventually hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 2-1, and Luis García Jr. followed with a two-run single. José Tena's single brought in another run.
The Nationals had their own fielding issues. An error by Vivas at third left men on first and second with one out in the third. An out later, Casey Schmitt doubled to left, driving in a run — and another scored on the play thanks to Lile's error in left field.
Washington missed a chance to answer in the third when Giants catcher Patrick Bailey picked Lile off third base for the second out. Ramos' two-run shot in the sixth tied it at 5.
Rafael Devers hit an RBI single for San Francisco in the seventh.
Robbie Ray (2-2) takes the mound for San Francisco on Sunday as the Giants go for a three-game sweep against Miles Mikolas (0-3) of the Nationals.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
San Francisco Giants' Jung Hoo Lee is tagged out at home plate by Washington Nationals catcher Drew Millas while attempting to score on double hit by San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos against pitcher Cade Cavalli during the second inning of a baseball game, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
San Francisco Giants' Jung Hoo Lee is tagged out at home plate by Washington Nationals catcher Drew Millas while attempting to score on double hit by San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos against pitcher Cade Cavalli during the second inning of a baseball game, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall scored, and Frederik Andersen came through with a big third-period performance in net to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Saturday to open their first-round playoff series.
Carolina can take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series on Monday night in Raleigh.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour had gone with Andersen’s veteran experience as the starter over Brandon Bussi, and it paid off for the Eastern Conference’s top seed.
“We have good options and both guys have played well and we have confidence in both guys,” Brind'Amour said. “But clearly experience I think won out, and he looked like he knew what he was doing.”
Andersen finished with 22 saves, including back-to-back stops on a third-period power play that had Ottawa buzzing with quality chances in a 1-0 game. One of those was initially ruled a tying goal on Drake Batherson's rebound attempt at the top of the crease, only for a replay review to overturn the call in showing Andersen had gloved a loose puck as it went airborne near the post and kept it from fully crossing the goal line.
Moments later, he had another when Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk had position at the top of the crease, only for Andersen to fall backward and make the stop with his legs in a sequence that had Hurricanes fans roaring “Freddie! Freddie!”
“It's pretty mind-blowing how loud it gets and how fun it is to play here,” Andersen said.
By the final moments, Andersen and the Hurricanes were holding up against Ottawa spending most of the last 2 1/2 minutes with a 6-on-4 advantage after pulling Linus Ullmark for the extra attacker with the Senators on the power play.
It was a physical game with hard hits, little open space and chippiness throughout. It started with captains Tkachuk and Jordan Staal of Carolina locking up in an immediate fight, jawing in the moments before the opening faceoff before throwing punches, crashing into the ice and then heading to the box just 3 seconds into the game.
“We didn’t find a way to generate enough, but they’re a team also that does that to you as well,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “And I didn’t think we gave up too many grade-As (scoring chances). They were on their toes. They’ve got a real good team, they didn’t finish first for nothing.”
Stankoven got Carolina on the board early in the second period when he took a tap feed from Jackson Blake as he skated into the slot to slip the puck under Ullmark's left pad. That line struck again in the third, with Blake poking a puck loose after an Ullmark stop and sending into the crease — where Stankoven skated in to clean it up and sent the puck off Hall's skate for the 2-0 lead.
The Hurricanes are in the playoffs for the eighth straight year, reaching the Eastern Conference Final in two of the past three years and thrice in this current run that began in 2019. The Senators are in the playoffs for the second straight year after a seven-year postseason drought since a seven-game loss in the 2017 Eastern Conference Final.
Ullmark finished with 27 saves for Ottawa, which had surged since late January to secure the second wild-card spot in the East.
The Senators also had top-pair defenseman Artem Zub exit early with an undisclosed injury after taking two second-period shifts; Green didn't have an update when he spoke with reporters afterward and said the team would know more Sunday.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Ottawa Senators' Brady Tkachuk, right, protests a call with an official during the second period of an Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) looks past toward the net as Carolina Hurricanes' Logan Stankoven (22) celebrates his goal during the second period of an Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) blocks a shot by Ottawa Senators' Brady Tkachuk (7) with Hurricanes' Logan Stankoven (22) nearby during the second period of an Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes celebrate a goal by Logan Stankoven (22) during the second period of an Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Ottawa Senators in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
