TORONTO — Yangervis Solarte homered from both sides of the plate, Devon Travis also connected and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Washington Nationals 6-5 on Friday night, their fifth straight home victory.
Washington has lost five of seven on the road.
Justin Smoak broke a 3-3 tie with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and Solarte, batting left-handed, followed with a two-run shot off right-hander Justin Miller. Solarte was batting right-handed when he homered in Toronto’s three-run third, a solo blast off left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-3).
Solarte is the eighth player in Blue Jays history to homer from both sides of the plate. The last to do it was Justin Smoak against Boston on July 1, 2015. The homers were Solarte’s 13th and 14th of the season, extending his team lead.
Travis hit a two-run home run in the third, his third of the season.
Seunghwan Oh (2-2) pitched one inning for the win and Ryan Tepera stranded the potential tying run at third base in the ninth to earn his fourth save in seven opportunities.
Wilmer Difo hit a leadoff single in the ninth, then stole second and advanced on a fly ball. Tepera escaped by getting Adam Eaton to ground out and striking out Trea Turner.
Gonzalez allowed season-worsts of five runs and nine hits in six-plus innings. The left-hander has allowed four or more earned runs in consecutive outings.
Travis singled to begin the seventh and Teoscar Hernandez followed with a fly ball that right fielder Eaton lost in the twilight. The ball dropped for a ground rule double, and Miller came on and surrendered Smoak’s sacrifice fly and Solarte’s two-run blast.
The homer was the first earned run allowed by Miller in nine appearances this season.
Sanchez allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: 1B Matt Adams took a pitch off his left hand while squaring to bunt in the second. Mark Reynolds replaced Adams on defense an inning later. … 2B Daniel Murphy, who returned from knee surgery Tuesday, will DH against the Blue Jays this weekend and return to the infield Monday when Washington returns home to face the Yankees.
Blue Jays: One week after he became eligible to be activated off the disabled list, 3B Josh Donaldson (left calf) has yet to run at full speed. Donaldson may play at least one minor league rehab game with Triple-A Buffalo before rejoining the Blue Jays. … RHP Marcus Stroman (shoulder) will make a second rehab start Monday, this time at Double-A New Hampshire. Stroman pitched 4 1/3 innings at Class-A Dunedin Wednesday. … OF Steve Pearce (oblique) will begin a rehab assignment at Buffalo Saturday. Pearce has not played since May 3. … RHP Deck McGuire was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers.
UP NEXT
Nationals RHP Max Scherzer (10-2, 2.00) faces Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrads (3-6, 5.09). Scherzer is 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA in eight career starts against Toronto. His June 10 loss against San Francisco snapped a streak of nine straight winning decisions. Estrada beat Baltimore on June 10, ending an eight-start winless stretch.
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