WASHINGTON — Trea Turner and Matt Adams homered, Erick Fedde pitched well after allowing a solo shot on the game’s first pitch and the depleted Washington Nationals held on Monday night to edge the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6.

Washington led 7-2 but blew most of that advantage before Sean Doolittle got his 27th save in 32 chances. He entered in the ninth with a 7-4 lead, but the struggling left-hand closer’s first pitch became Phillip Ervin’s pinch-hit homer. The next batter singled and came around on Joey Votto’s two-out double off the wall in left. Doolittle finally ended things on Josh VanMeter’s foul pop to third baseman Anthony Rendon.

Coming off a 5-4 trip that left them tied for the lead in the NL wild-card race, the Nationals opened a six-game homestand without a three-time Cy Young Award winner, Max Scherzer, left fielder Juan Soto or first baseman Ryan Zimmerman — all injured — and second baseman Brian Dozier was ill and limited to pinch hitting.

And Washington quickly trailed because Jesse Winker drove a sinker from Fedde to left for his 16th homer — and third leading off a game this season.

Votto then walked and took second on a groundout. But when VanMeter singled up the middle, Votto headed home and easily was thrown out by center fielder Victor Robles, who picked up his eighth assist of the season.

Fedde (3-2) settled down and ended up going six innings, giving up two runs and six hits. He finished by wriggling out of a two-on, one-out jam, striking out rookie sensation Aristides Aquino and getting Nick Senzel to ground out.

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Aquino hit his eighth homer — a record for a player’s first 12 major league games — off former Reds reliever Tanner Rainey in the eighth to make it 7-4.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

YANKEES SWEEP ORIOLES: Gleyber Torres hit three more home runs, including a pair of three-run drives in the night game that gave him 13 of New York’s record 59 long balls against Baltimore this season, and the Yankees completed a doubleheader sweep with an 11-8 win at home that stretched its winning streak versus the Orioles to 14 games.

Gio Urshela had six hits overall, including a 461-foot homer as the Yankees won the opener 8-5, and raised his average to .332 with 18 homers and 63 RBI.
New York hit seven homers and has five doubleheader sweeps to go with one split. The Yankees improved to 15-2 against Baltimore with two games left and have won 12 of their past 14 overall.

Torres set a big league record with his fifth multihomer game against a team in a season, breaking a tie with Ralph Kiner (1947), Gus Zernial (1951) and Roy Sievers (1955). His 26 homers are two more than his total as a rookie last year, and the 13 against Baltimore matched Roger Maris in 1961 against Cleveland for the second-most against one team in a season by a Yankees player, one behind Lou Gehrig’s total in 1936 versus Cleveland.

When Torres came to the plate with runners on first and second in the eighth, Baltimore intentionally walked him.

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Didi Gregorius hit a three-run homer in the first inning of the day game and had four RBI. Urshela, Torres and Cameron Maybin added solo shots, all off Gabriel Ynoa (1-7).

BLUE JAYS 19, RANGERS 4: Brandon Drury hit his first career grand slam, Justin Smoak had a two-run homer among his three extra-base hits, and Toronto won at home.

Bo Bichette had the first four-hit game of his career and Randal Grichuk had three hits, including a solo homer as the Blue Jays won for the 10th time in 15 games.
Drury had five RBI, and Smoak and Grichuk each had four.

Shut out for the ninth time this season in Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to the New York Yankees, the Blue Jays responded with season highs in runs and hits (21) against six Rangers pitchers, including catcher Jeff Mathis, who gave up a two-run homer to Danny Jansen in the eighth.

Toronto scored eight runs in the fourth, its biggest inning since an eight-run outburst against Seattle on Sept. 20, 2016.


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