Nolasco hangs tough

He gets the win despite suffering leg cramps in sixth.

WASHINGTON — A humid day ended Ricky Nolasco’s outing a batter earlier than he would have liked. He still did enough to help the Angels stymie the Washington Nationals.

Nolasco bounced back from a rocky first inning to pitch into the sixth Wednesday before departing with cramps, and Luis Valbuena and Kole Calhoun homered in the Angels’ 3-2 victory that secured a split of the teams’ two-game series. The Angels won for the seventh time in eight games.

Nolasco (6-12) pitched 52⁄3 innings, giving up two runs while striking out five. He improved to 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA in five interleague starts.

“He gutted it out and gave us a chance,” manager Mike Scioscia said.

Tanner Roark (9-8) gave up four hits in seven innings for Washington, but he was done in by the two home runs.

Valbuena hit his 13th homer of the season to center to lead off the fifth, and Calhoun followed Mike Trout’s two-out infield single in the sixth with a shot into the second deck in right field. It was Calhoun’s 14th homer of the year.

Reliever Cam Bedrosian survived a leadoff walk to Michael Taylor, who advanced on both a sacrifice and a groundout. Bedrosian then retired Howie Kendrick to earn his sixth save in eight tries.

“Kole got ahold of a fastball and didn’t miss it,” Scioscia said. “Big hit, and our bullpen again did a great job to hold the lead.”

Nolasco threw 31 of his 112 pitches in the first inning, but he escaped trouble in the third and fourth.

Nationals shortstop Wilmer Difo extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a first-inning single, then scored on Ryan Zimmerman’s two-out shot to left. It was Zimmerman’s 28th homer of the season.

It was the only damage Washington managed against Nolasco, who retired the first two hitters of the sixth before cramping in his calves led Scioscia to make a pitching change. Jesse Chavez struck out Jose Lobaton to end the inning.

“It was a hot one today, really, really hot,” Nolasco said. “That last inning everything was just sort of shutting down. I wanted to finish that guy there, but I understand the situation we’re in.”

Over the Angels’ last five games, their bullpen has allowed only two earned runs in 171⁄3 innings, striking out 15 while walking one.

Chavez, Keynan Middleton and Bedrosian combined for 31⁄3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts, a hit and a walk on Wednesday.