WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Interstat) — Foster Griffin pitched seven strong innings and shortstop CJ Abrams and right fielder Dylan Crews hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to lead the Washington Nationals to a 5-2 victory over the Athletics on Sunday evening at Sutter Health Park.

Griffin allowed one earned run on eight hits with two strikeouts over seven innings to improve to 11-2. Clayton Beeter earned his eighth save, working 1 1/3 innings and allowing one run. Jacob Lopez took the loss for Oakland, dropping to 4-4 after allowing two earned runs on two hits over 4 1/3 innings with six strikeouts.

The Nationals improved to 50-50, while the Athletics fell to 42-57. The game drew 9,088 fans and lasted 2 hours, 43 minutes.

Washington opened the scoring in the third inning. Nasim Nunez led off with a single, moved to second on a strikeout of James Wood and scored on a groundout by Curtis Mead. The Athletics answered in the bottom half when Alika Williams doubled and later scored on a single by Tyler Soderstrom.

The Nationals regained the lead in the fourth. Dylan Crews was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice attempt and scored on a double by Harry Ford to make it 2-1.

The decisive rally came in the fifth. Curtis Mead walked and advanced to second on a groundout before Abrams crushed a 2-1 pitch from Lopez over the center-field wall for his 21st home run, scoring Mead. Crews followed by driving the next pitch to left field for his seventh homer, extending the lead to 5-1.

Griffin settled in after the third inning, retiring 10 of the next 11 batters he faced. He allowed only one baserunner to reach scoring position after the third. The Athletics mounted a brief threat in the sixth when Shea Langeliers doubled, but Griffin induced a groundout and a popout to end the inning.

Oakland’s pitching staff held Washington scoreless over the final four innings. Brady Basso relieved Lopez and tossed two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. Geoff Hartlieb followed with two innings of one-hit, one-strikeout relief.

The Athletics scored their final run in the ninth. Jeff McNeil walked and moved to second on a strikeout before Jacob Wilson singled to center to drive him in. Reliever Tom Cosgrove entered and allowed two hits but struck out two to preserve the lead before Beeter closed out the game.

Abrams finished 2-for-4 with the home run and two RBIs. Crews went 1-for-3 with a homer, an RBI and a walk. Williams had two hits for Oakland, including a pair of doubles.

The series finale followed a lopsided split of the first two games. Washington won 23-4 on Friday, then lost 15-1 on Saturday.

Washington will open a three-game series at Colorado on Monday, while the Athletics travel to Arizona for a three-game set.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Washington 4, Athletics 3. Interstatl’s ELO system had given Washington a 52.70 percent probability to win. Washington was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 7 went over the over-under line of 11.