WASHINGTON — Stephen Strasburg threw eight masterful innings and bunted in a run and Michael Taylor hit a two-run homer that broke the game open as the Washington Nationals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Friday night in the first game after the All-Star break.

Strasburg (13-0) allowed one run and three hits with six strikeouts. The eight innings tied his longest start of the season.

Washington improved to 16-1 with Strasburg on the mound this year. He is the only qualified starter in the majors without a loss.

The Nationals did most of their damage in the seventh inning, scoring one run on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Strasburg, another on a wild pitch and throwing error and two more on Taylor’s seventh homer.

METS 5, PHILLIES 3: Neil Walker hit a three-run homer and Juan Lagares also went deep to lead New York at Philadelphia.

Asdrubal Cabrera had three hits for the Mets, who opened the second half of the season by snapping a three-game losing streak.

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REDS 5, BREWERS 4: Adam Duvall and Tucker Barnhart doubled in runs in the sixth inning, rallying Cincinnati at home.

ROCKIES 11, BRAVES 2: Colorado scored four times in the third inning and pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn had a grand slam in the ninth in a win at Atlanta.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

ORIOLES 4, RAYS 3: Jonathan Schoop hit a tie-breaking homer in the eighth and the AL East-leading Orioles came back from an early deficit to win at St. Petersburg, Florida.

Schoop got his 15th homer leading off the inning against Chris Archer (4-13), who leads the majors in losses. Schoop is 5 for 13 with two homers in his career against the Rays’ opening day starter.

Mychal Givens (7-1) worked a scoreless seventh for the win one day after his daughter was born. Pedro Alvarez homered and had two RBI for the Orioles.

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TIGERS 4, ROYALS 2: Victor Martinez drove in two runs with a tie-breaking infield single in the seventh, and Detroit took advantage of that fluky hit, holding off visiting Kansas City.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Martinez’s comebacker deflected off reliever Joakim Soria and rolled to the area between first and second. With the second baseman playing deep, there was no chance to retire Martinez, and two runs came home on the play.

INDIANS 5, TWINS 2: Mike Napoli had three hits, including his 19th home run, Carlos Carrasco pitched into the seventh and Cleveland won at Minneapolis.

Napoli scored three runs, one on his solo shot into the bullpen in left-center in the eighth inning that stretched Cleveland’s lead to three runs.

That was more than enough for Carrasco (6-3), who allowed two runs on four hits in 62/3 innings.

INTERLEAGUE

CUBS 6, RANGERS 0: Kyle Hendricks and four relievers combined on a five-hitter, Addison Russell had a two-run single to key a five-run sixth inning, and host Chicago beat Texas in a matchup of slumping division leaders.

The Cubs returned from the All-Star break to win for the seventh time in 22 games, while the Rangers lost their eighth in 10 games.


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