Jesse Winker, Patrick Corbin and taut bullpen lift Nats past Diamondbacks

But Lane Thomas, who rarely swings at anything outside the strike zone, laid off all six pitches in his at-bat to draw a walk. Jesse Winker, who swings less than almost any full-time starter in MLB, then watched the first pitch of his at-bat zip by on the outside edge of the plate. Umpire Ryan Wills called it a strike. Winker, unmoved, did not change course, shrinking the zone as he waited for his pitch.

The next ball out of Pfaadt’s hand, an 89.7 mph four-seam fastball just a sliver more inside, was that pitch. Winker sent it 399 feet over the center field wall at Nationals Park for a 2-1 lead and Washington’s first run in 17 innings. The bullpen made the lead stand up.

Taking some of the joy from the win was the postgame news that shortstop CJ Abrams, a scratch shortly before first pitch, would be getting an MRI exam on his sore left wrist. Manager Dave Martinez said the team will know more Thursday. Abrams said he did not know what caused the issue.

“He just said it felt weird,” Martinez said.

Patrick Corbin, Winker and another strong bullpen performance provided a lift in the shortstop’s absence.

“Our pitching has carried us,” Winker said. “We’re facing a really good team, really good pitchers. [Pfaadt] was pitching outstanding. So, just tried to hit the ball hard.”

Behind five strong innings from the left-hander Corbin, two perfect innings of relief from Derek Law and another pair of scoreless innings from Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan, that homer was enough. The Nationals will have a chance to win their fifth consecutive series if they can beat the defending NL champions Thursday.

“We’re gritty,” Law said. “We know the starters are going to keep it close and ideally it’s 1-0 — well, ideally it’s 10-0 — but it seems like everybody’s keeping it close. We know we’re going to be coming into some close ballgames. … Just have to keep that train rolling.”

In the past month, the Nationals have seen just 3.63 pitches per plate appearance, fewer than all but one team, per TruMedia. On certain days — think the seven-run inning June 9, when they had hits in seven straight at-bats on just 15 pitches — that strategy can be valuable.

Sometimes, however, it can look like a defect. When the hits aren’t falling, the tactic keeps opposing starting pitchers in games longer. When Trey Lipscomb popped up on a first-pitch sweeper to lead off the sixth, it didn’t seem probable Washington would break that mold. But walks to Nasim Nuñez (who was caught stealing) and Thomas set up Winker to face Pfaadt.

The Nationals (36-37) pushed an insurance run across in the seventh, when Ildemaro Vargas pinch-hit for Lipscomb and poked a single into right field. Third base coach Ricky Gutierrez made an aggressive call — Keibert Ruiz and his team-low sprint speed was hustling from second, and Diamondbacks right fielder Randal Grichuk gathered the ball from a shallow approach — that paid off as Ruiz scored before the throw reached the plate.

The Diamondbacks (36-38) couldn’t touch Corbin or the stable of relievers. The lefty notched a season-high seven strikeouts, allowing just one earned run in the fourth inning. But after loading the bases before recording an out, Washington couldn’t have asked for much more, limiting the damage to a Gabriel Moreno bases-loaded walk thanks in large part to a heads-up play by Nuñez, who leaped for a line drive, watched it deflect off his glove, then gathered the ball and rifled it to the plate in time to nail Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

“The only kid that can make that play is him,” Martinez said.

“Playing some good, clean defense, the way we’ve been pitching, it’ll keep us in a lot of ballgames,” Corbin said. “I think if you do the things you can control, play clean baseball, it will help and it’s definitely something I think we’ve been able to do more consistently this season.”

Notes: A partial power outage at Nationals Park cut the MASN broadcast at the start of the sixth inning and lasted nearly 15 minutes before returning to air. …

Nuñez took Abrams’s place at shortstop and hit ninth, going 0 for 2 in his third MLB start with two nice plays in the field. Because the 23-year-old was selected in the Rule 5 draft in the offseason, the team must keep him on the active roster for the entire season or risk losing him. …

Nationals Park held a moment of silence for Willie Mays before Wednesday’s game following the MLB legend’s death at 93 on Tuesday. Martinez, who played for the San Francisco Giants in the 1990s, got to know Mays well then. He offered fond memories of Mays’s wit and baseball intelligence, as well as his condolences, before the game.

“He was truly a legend of the game. Everybody knows what he was as a baseball player. I had the privilege to meet him as a person. Always telling stories. Was really funny. Great to be around. He knew the game of baseball really, really well,” Martinez said. “He was always fun to be around. Always had a smile on his face. So it was a pleasure for me to actually get to know him and be able to work with him, be able to talk to him one-on-one about the game. It’s something I’ll never forget.”