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Juan Soto had three hits including a home run against his former team, and the visiting San Diego Padres defeated the Washington Nationals 7-4 on Tuesday night.

Xander Bogaerts, Brandon Dixon and Jake Cronenworth also homered for the Padres.

Soto added two singles and a walk and scored twice as he began his second series in DC since being traded to the Padres at the 2022 trade deadline.

Yu Darvish (3-3) allowed three runs on six hits over six innings. Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his 12th save.

Lane Thomas and former Padre CJ Abrams homered for the Nationals.

Washington starter MacKenzie Gore, who came over with Abrams in the group exchanged for Soto and Josh Bell, went 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

With two outs in the first inning Soto singled and Bogaerts followed with his seventh homer of the season.

Dixon led off the fourth inning against Gore with his first homer of the season and the Padres led 3-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, Dominic Smith singled with one out and, with two outs, Abrams launched a Darvish slider into the second deck in right. Thomas followed with a home run to left-center to tie the score 3-3.

The tie was short-lived as Rougned Odor singled against Erasmo Ramirez (2-2) leading off the sixth. Trent Grisham drew a walk and Odor went to third on a fielder’s choice. Fernando Tatis Jr. then flied to shallow right and the throw by Thomas appeared to have a chance to get Odor, but first baseman Smith cut it off and San Diego led 4-3.

The Padres built a cushion in the seventh. Soto led off with his ninth homer, a shot to center off Ramirez. After Bogaerts singled, Cronenworth hit a fly to right that hit near the top of wall. He ended up at second but after a review the hit was ruled a home run, making it 7-3.

The Nationals pulled within 7-4 in the eighth when Luis Garcia singled and scored on a double by Joey Meneses.

–Field Level Media