Cavalli Flirts With History, Nationals Crush Cubs Behind Electric Arm

WASHINGTON -- Cade Cavalli was one swing away from immortality. Instead, he had to settle for pure domination.

The Nationals' right-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Thursday, carving up the Chicago Cubs in a 7-0 rout that saved Washington from a three-game sweep at home.

The magic nearly held. With two outs in the seventh, Michael Busch floated an opposite-field bloop single to left, ending the no-hit bid and drawing a respectful ovation from the Nationals Park faithful. Cavalli was chasing the franchise's first no-hitter since Max Scherzer threw two of them back in 2015.

Cavalli (10-5) was absolutely surgical from the jump. He retired the first 15 batters he faced before walking Dansby Swanson to open the sixth. Swanson got erased on a double-play grounder from Michael Conforto, and Cavalli kept rolling.

The 28-year-old (he turns 28 on Friday) walked Swanson again with two outs in the eighth, but then froze Conforto with a called third strike to escape the frame. That punchout was his 10th of the afternoon, and it capped career bests in both innings (8) and pitches (103).

Clayton Beeter came on and nailed down a clean ninth to close it out.

Washington's bats took a while to warm up against Kevin Gausman (6-11), but once they got going, they didn't stop. Abimelec Ortiz singled with one out in the fourth, and Dylan Crews ripped an RBI double to left-center two pitches later.

The fifth inning was a full-on breakout. The first two hitters reached, Andrew Pinckney brought one home with a sacrifice fly, CJ Abrams singled, and then Ortiz launched a three-run bomb to right-center to make it 5-0. Daylen Lile later chipped in an RBI single, and Gausman was done after 4 2/3 innings, charged with six runs and seven strikeouts in just his second start since joining the Cubs from Toronto at the trade deadline.

Ortiz has been a revelation, swatting four homers in 11 games this season and hitting .389 with three homers and seven RBI during the Nationals' six-game homestand.

The Cubs couldn't get anything going against Cavalli. Nobody did. It just wasn't quite enough for the history books.