Rangers get to Roark early (Nats fall 5-2)

If the Nationals are going to prevail in the first game of their weekend interleague series against the Rangers, they're going to have to come from behind.

Texas leads 1-0 after three innings, parlaying three consecutive singles in the third inning off Tanner Roark into the early edge. Elvis Andrus led off the inning with an infield hit to short, moved to third on Nomar Mazara's single to right and scored on Jonathan Lucroy's single to center.

Roark got Rougned Odor to hit into a 4-6-3 double play and induced a groundout off the bat of Jurickson Profar to escape without any further damage. Through three innings, Roark has labored a little, throwing 44 pitches, 29 for strikes, and stranding five baserunners.

The Nationals haven't been able to generate any significant offense off Rangers righty Andrew Cashner, who has gotten weak contact and five groundball outs. Bryce Harper singled with two down in the first and Anthony Rendon walked with one out in the second.

Through three, the Rangers hold a 1-0 lead.

Update: Lucroy's two-run homer to left off Roark in the fifth has upped the Rangers lead to 3-0. Shin-Soo Choo led off the inning by reaching on an error charged to first baseman Ryan Zimmerman on a hard-hit ball he couldn't snag behind the bag. Roark almost escaped unscathed, until Lucroy hammered an 0-1 slider over the left field wall for his fourth homer. Both runs were unearned.

Lucroy entered the game 5-for-13 lifetime against Roark and has been hit by a pitch, singled and homered.

Update II: The Rangers got another unearned run in the sixth when Joey Gallo reached on a fielding error by shortstop Trea Turner and later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Mazara.

But the Nationals got on the board in the bottom half of the inning when Zimmerman doubled off the wall in left with one out, barely beating the throw to second, and scored on Rendon's single to left. But the rally died when Rendon was thrown out trying to advance to second on the throw home.

Trailing 4-1, the Nats quickly restored the Rangers' four-run cushion when Odor led off the seventh by homering to right. That was all for Roark.

Roark worked six-plus innings, allowing five runs (two earned) on 11 hits. He walked two, fanned four, hit a batter and yielded two homers. He threw 97 pitches, 62 for strikes.

Enny Romero is now on to pitch.

Update III: Cashner is out after seven innings, with Alex Claudio on to work the eighth. Cashner allowed a run on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches, 59 for strikes.

Update IV: It's a final. The Nationals lose 5-2 to the Rangers. Pinch-hitter Stephen Drew's catchable fly ball should have been the final out, but it dropped for an RBI single.