WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper hit a slump-busting home run, Danny Espinosa also went deep and the Washington Nationals got seven strong innings from right-hander Joe Ross in a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

Washington trailed 1-0 in the sixth inning before Harper ended a 4-for-33 skid with a no-doubt-about-it shot into the upper deck, far beyond the wall in right field. It was his 12th homer of the season, the first since May 13.

The light-hitting Espinosa snapped the tie in the seventh with a drive to right. Batting eighth, Espinosa came in with a .199 batting average and three home runs.

Both homers came off Mike Leake (3-4), who won his previous three starts while allowing only two runs over 21 innings.

PIRATES 8, DIAMONDBACKS 3: Josh Harrison came off the bench to hit a two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning to help Pittsburgh win at home.

The pinch hit gave the Pirates a 5-3 lead and the runs gave reliever A.J. Schugel (1-1) his first major league win after he had surrendered the lead inherited from starter Gerrit Cole in the top half of the inning. Schugel gave up a two-run single to Paul Goldschmidt in his only inning of work.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BLUE JAYS 3, YANKEES 1: J.A. Happ (6-2) pitched seven strong innings, Edwin Encarnacion and Devon Travis had two-out RBI, and Toronto won at New York to take the three-game series. CC Sabathia (3-3) was the tough-luck loser for New York, allowing just two unearned runs.

Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his first game since going on the disabled list May 4 with a strained hamstring.

ASTROS 4, ORIOLES 2: George Springer homered twice and Houston set a major league record for strikeouts in a three-game series, finishing a sweep of visiting Baltimore.

Houston starter Lance McCullers (1-1) allowed just one hit – a home run to Mark Trumbo – and had 10 strikeouts in five innings, helping the Astros break the major league record for strikeouts in a three-game series with 52. The previous mark was 47 by Washington earlier this season.

INTERLEAGUE

MARLINS 9, RAYS 1: Jose Fernandez struck out 12 in seven innings and won his sixth straight start for visiting Miami.

Fernandez (7-2) struck out eight of the last 10 batters he faced and struck out every hitter in the Rays lineup at least once.

The 23-year-old right-hander from Tampa gave up six hits in beating his hometown Rays for the first time in three tries.

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