TAMPA, Fla. (Interstat) — The Washington Nationals defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Saturday evening at George Steinbrenner Field. The Rays grabbed an early lead in the first inning on Junior Caminero’s sacrifice fly. Washington answered with two runs in the second on Nasim Nuñez’s RBI double and added a run in the fifth on Andrés Chaparro’s groundout. After Tampa Bay cut the deficit to 2-1 in the third on Chandler Simpson’s RBI single, Washington extended its lead to 4-2 with a run in the fifth. In the ninth, the Rays rallied on Yandy Díaz’s RBI single, but Clayton Beeter stranded the tying run to earn his fifth save. Mitchell Parker (3-3) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. Ian Seymour (3-1) allowed three earned runs over five innings in the loss. Brad Lord starred with three scoreless innings, striking out five. Dylan Crews homered and drove in a run. Each team had 10 hits. Attendance was 20,996. Time of game 2:58. The Nationals improved to 40-37, the Rays fell to 42-31.