Guile beats power; Cubs blank Nats

WASHINGTON — Relying on precision rather than power, Kyle Hendricks pitched the Chicago Cubs to another winning start in October.

Hendricks outdueled Stephen Strasburg as the Cubs opened defense of their first World Series title in 108 years by beating the Washington Nationals 3-0 Friday in Game 1 of their National League division series.

Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo produced RBI singles in the sixth inning for the first two hits off Strasburg. Hendricks gav up two singles in seven innings.

Rizzo added an RBI double off Ryan Madson in the eighth. Carl Edwards Jr. threw a perfect inning, and Wade Davis finished the two-hitter for a save.

Strasburg didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the sixth. Javier Baez reached on third baseman Anthony Rendon’s error to start the inning and was sacrificed to second.

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At Los Angeles, Justin Turner hit a three-run homer in Los Angeles’ four-run first, an RBI single in its three-run fourth and an RBI single in its two-run eighth as the Dodgers withstood four Arizona home runs in the series opener.

Clayton Kershaw allowed four runs — all on solo homers — on

Dodgers 9, Diamondbacks 5—

five hits and three walks over 6 1/3 innings to notch the win.

A.J. Pollock went deep in the third and J.D. Martinez in the sixth. Ketel Marte and Jeff Mathis homered on consecutive pitches in the seventh.

American League Astros 8, Red Sox 2 —

■ At Houston, Carlos Correa homered, doubled and drove in four runs to back Dallas Keuchel (1-0), who held Boston to one run on three hits and struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings, as Houston took a 2-0 series lead.

George Springer also homered, and Jose Altuve got two more hits for the Astros, who won the opener by the same score.