Jul 3, 2015 4 min read

Clint Robinson, a 30-year-old non-roster invitee by Washington in spring training who had just 13 major league at-bats before this season, hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to give the Nationals a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.

Robinson, playing first base in place of the injured Ryan Zimmerman, is 20 for 69 (.290) with four homers and 12 RBIs in his last 21 games. His homer off right-hander Jake Peavy (0-3) made a winner of left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-4) who allowed a run and five hits in seven innings.

Buster Posey had homered on Gonzalez’s first pitch of the seventh inning to give San Francisco a 1-0 lead in the teams’ first meeting since the Giants beat the Nationals in five games in the 2014 NLDS.

Angel Pagan’s single past Washington second baseman Danny Espinosa with one out in the sixth ended Gonzalez’s streak of 10 straight outs. Two of the first three Nats got hits, but Peavy, who was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, didn’t allow another one until Robinson came through to extend the defending World Series champions’ losing streak to four games.

A crowd of 41,683, Washington’s 10th sellout in 37 home games, watched newest Racing President Calvin Coolidge win his debut by knocking over fellow Republicans Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.

Bryce Harper, who came in ranked in the top five in baseball in homers, RBIs, slugging percentage and on base percentage, walked in each of his first three plate appearances before he was retired with two on in the eighth by rookie left-hander Josh Osich, who was called up from Triple-A Sacramento earlier Friday. Nats closer Drew Storen recorded his 24th save, second in the NL.

Miami 2, Chicago Cubs 1: Justin Bour spent five years in the minor league system for the Cubs.

Still for him, his winning solo home run in the sixth inning to send the Marlins over Chicago 2-1 on Friday didn’t mean more than any other.

“It feels good to win – there’s no real difference (from) playing against any other team,” said Bour, who was picked up by the Marlins for $12,500 as a Rule 5 selection in 2013.

Bour homered for a fourth straight game, this time off Cubs starter Jason Hammel. It snapped a 1-all tie and spelled the difference for Tom Koehler (7-4), who allowed five hits and an earned run in his six innings while striking out four and walking one for the Marlins, who have won four straight.

The Marlins bullpen recorded three scoreless innings to protect the one-run lead. A.J. Ramos pitched the ninth to earn his 13th save in 16 opportunities.

Solid pitching – combined with just enough offense – proved to be a winning recipe for the Marlins.

Atlanta 2, Philadelphia 1: Juan Uribe hit a tie-breaking homer in the seventh inning, Julio Teheran delivered another strong home start and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Friday night.

Uribe pulled Adam Morgan’s first pitch in the seventh over the 380-foot sign in left field. It was one of the few mistakes for Morgan, a rookie left-hander who also gave up a second-inning homer to Jonny Gomes.

Teheran (6-4) allowed one unearned run and seven hits in seven innings. He improved to 5-0 in eight starts at Turner Field. He is 1-4 in nine road starts.

A-Rod and Yankees settle dispute: Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees settled their dispute over a marketing payment with a deal announced Friday that gives $3.5 million to charitable groups, saves the team $5.5 million and gets A-Rod the home run ball from his 3,000th hit.

At the time Rodriguez and the Yankees signed their $275 million, 10-year contract in December 2007, they reached a separate marketing agreement. It called for $6 million each for up to five milestone accomplishments in exchange for marketing rights, such as using A-Rod’s name and image in selling licensed goods. The first was to be for A-Rod’s 660th home run, tying Willie Mays for fourth on the career list.

“I’m very happy, not only for what happened here with 3,000, but obviously with the big news of the day, which we all heard about,” Rodriguez said Friday. “It’s been a good day.”

The club’s relationship with Rodriguez deteriorated during 2013, when he was a target of Major League Baseball’s Biogenesis drug investigation. That led to A-Rod’s suspension for the entire 2014 season after then-Commissioner Bud Selig concluded he violated the sport’s drug agreement and labor contract. Rodriguez sued MLB, the players’ union and the Yankees’ team physician, then dropped the litigation.