WASHINGTON -- By the time Danny Espinosa hit his two-run homer in the eighth inning, there were only a couple of hundred fans l

WASHINGTON -- By the time Danny Espinosa hit his two-run homer in the eighth inning, there were only a couple of hundred fans left in the ballpark, almost all of them congregated behind the two dugouts. NCAA Jerseys . A couple of times there was an ad hoc chant-off between the ones in red down the first base line and those in blue on the other side. "You can hear every word at that point," Espinosa said. "Its like a back-field spring training game." Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer in the first inning Monday night, and -- thanks to an odd-moving storm that produced an interminable rain delay -- Espinosa and the Washington Nationals didnt finish off the Los Angeles Dodgers until some six hours later on Tuesday morning, holding on for a 4-0 victory and gaining sole possession of first place in the NL East. Jordan Zimmerman pitched four shutout innings before the game was halted, and five relievers threw an inning apiece after play resumed. In between, there was an interruption of 3 hours, 17 minutes while a narrow, cigar-shaped storm took its time soaking D.C. and not much else. "You certainly wait around that long, you want to win the game," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. Aaron Barrett (2-0) got the win mainly because he happened to be Washingtons first reliever when play resumed. Zack Greinke (5-1) got a hard-luck first loss of the season, and plate umpire John Tumpane became the MVP for calling strikes and getting the game done in a reasonable hurry once the tarp was removed. There were four strikeouts before the delay, 16 after it. "We dont get off to a good start, they get a couple quick runs, and then obviously a three-hour delay in there and lose Zack," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Really, we had chances, we just didnt do anything." The rain limited Greinke to three innings, ending a streak that had been unmatched for a century. He had 18 consecutive regular-season starts of at least five innings while allowing two runs or fewer -- the longest such run in the majors since 1914. "Its not really like its an important streak; no one really cares about it anyway," Greinke said. "If it was like a consecutive win streak or something more important than that, it would mean a little more." Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig sat out the marathon, still sore after crashing into an outfield wall in the ninth inning of Sundays 5-4 road loss to the Miami Marlins. Manager Don Mattingly said Puig remained day to day and declined to say directly whether a concussion has been ruled out. Nationals left fielder Nate McLouth had his own crash-into-wall injury in the eighth inning, when he made a sliding backhand catch of a foul ball. Both hands and both knees hit the wall hard, and his right hand was bleeding as he walked off the field. Williams said McLouth wasnt seriously hurt. The cut didnt require stitches, although a banged-up knee will almost certainly be sore for a while. Zimmermann held the fort until the middle of the fourth, when the dozens of bags of sands poured on the infield by the grounds crew were no longer a match for the weather. The fans who stayed behind were treated to a scoreboard broadcast of their city-sports-brethren Washington Wizards winning an NBA playoff game. Also shown during the delay was the Atlanta Braves loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, which helped the Nationals vault into first in the division. The fans who remained when play resumed had unusually good odds when it came to chasing a foul ball, or catching a T-shirt tossed into the stands as part of a standard promotion. "Fans are going crazy," Zimmermann said. "Its a game, you have to play no matter how many fans are out there. The place wasnt exactly rocking, but it was a game we had to play." NOTES: Greinke had been unbeaten in his previous 13 starts (9-0) vs. NL East teams. ... The Nationals plan to promote RHP Blake Treinen from Triple-A Syracuse to start Tuesdays game. RHP Ryan Mattheus will be optioned to Syracuse. ... Clayton Kershaw (strained back) is scheduled to come off the disabled list Tuesday and start for the Dodgers. ... Kershaw is expected to take the roster spot held for a day by RHP Pedro Baez, who was recalled Monday from Double-A Chattanooga and made his major league debut in the eighth inning. RHP Stephen Fife, who started Sundays game, was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque. ... Mattingly said LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu, who missed Sundays start with a sore shoulder, did not need an MRI and would resume throwing Tuesday. ... Washington reinstated OF Scott Hairston (strained side muscle) from the 15-day DL and optioned OF Steven Souza Jr. to Triple-A Syracuse. ... Washington C Wilson Ramos (hand) caught nine innings for Double-A Harrisburg on Monday and could rejoin the team later this week. Wholesale College Jerseys . The time off didnt slow them down. Tyler Zeller scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 14 points and the Cavaliers pushed their winning streak to five games Tuesday night with a 114-85 victory over the skidding Philadelphia 76ers. College Jerseys . Watching them over the past year - and in some cases, two years - has given us a starting point for this seasons Craigs List. https://www.cheapncaajerseysjustwholesale.com/ . DArnaud hit one of three doubles for the Mets as they took a 4-0 lead in the first. Then the catchers seventh home run of the season broke the game open in the fifth. The 41-year-old Colon (10-8) retired the first 20 batters in his last outing Wednesday against Seattle, eventually allowing two runs on three hits in 7 1-3 innings in a 3-2 win.MINNEAPOLIS -- Texas closer Joakim Soria bobbled a slow-bouncing ball hit by Minnesotas Danny Santana to the left of the mound with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning, allowing the winning run to score in the Twins 4-3 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday night. The day began ominously for the Rangers when star pitcher Yu Darvish was scratched from his scheduled start with stiffness in his neck. Fill-in Scott Baker gave up three hits over six innings and Chris Gimenez hit a tiebreaking two-out RBI single in the sixth off Phil Hughes. But Soria (1-2) took his first blown save in nine chances with a shaky ninth inning patched together by the Twins, who ended their four-game losing streak. Oswaldo Arcia hit a one-out double off the wall in right-centre, just a few feet shy of where he homered off Baker in the second inning, and Eduardo Nunez tied the game with a two-out single. Then Nunez kept the rally alive with some nifty running. He moved up on the throw home that was up the line by right fielder Alex Rios. On a fielders choice grounder to Adrian Beltre, Nunez stopped short of the third basemans glove, scooted right and circled around to the bag before the tag. Then he scored the winning run when Santana ended the game with the softest of contact. Glen Perkins (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory, stranding Rios after a leadoff triple that Santana, normally a shortstop, appeared to misplay in centre field and couldnt catch after getting twisted around. Hughes had his winning streak stopped at five. Over his last five turns, he had a 1.08 ERA and a 27-0 strikeout-walk ratio. Aaron Hicks saved Hughes from a huge deficit by sprinting to the warning track and snagging the ball with a perfectly timed leap above and beyond the centre field wall to steal a three-run homer from Donnie Murphy, who settled for a sacrifice fly. Rougned Odor followed with an RBI doubble to get one of those runs back. NCAA Jerseys For Sale. Shortstop Eduardo Escobar and left fielder Josh Willingham let a ball by Mitch Moreland bounce between them for a single to start the sixth. After giving up six runs in six innings in his only other start this season, last Friday at Detroit, Baker was supposed to resume a role as a long reliever. But he was in control the entire night. Baker was a second-round draft pick by the Twins in 2003 who spent five years in their rotation, including a 15-win season in 2009, but he developed elbow trouble and needed Tommy John ligament replacement surgery in 2012. So the last three years for the right-hander have been all about rehabilitation and re-establishing his place in the majors. The Rangers, who picked up Baker at the end of spring training, are his third team in two seasons. This was a stellar performance for him, even if hes bound to return to the bullpen soon. Baker didnt allow a walk and struck out four. He surrendered an RBI double to Joe Mauer with two outs in the third before retiring the last 10 batters he faced. NOTES: Rangers manager Ron Washington passed Bobby Valentine on the franchises all-time list for most games managed with 1,187. ... The Rangers will reinstate LHP Joe Saunders (0-1, 9.82) from the DL to start on Wednesday night, with RHP Kyle Gibson (4-4, 4.68 ERA) pitching for the Twins. ... Saunders was hit by a line drive on the left ankle in his first start on April 4, and after nearly two months of rehabilitation he will pitch with no restriction, Washington said. "The Minnesota Twins are going to tell us how limited hes going to be," he said. ... Gibson is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts this year at home. ... Twins assistant GM Rob Antony said OF Sam Fuld, on the DL since May 8 due to concussion symptoms, has yet to resume on-field workouts, still lacking the three straight symptom-free days required for clearance. ' ' '