Matt Harvey tossed six shutout innings for the second consecutive start and the Baltimore Orioles held on to defeat the visiting Washington Nationals 5-3 on Saturday.
Trey Mancini and Ryan Mountcastle homered for Baltimore, which goes for the series sweep on Sunday.
Harvey (5-10), who came out of the All-Star break 3-10 with a 7.77 ERA, allowed one hit in winning his second straight start and lowered his ERA to 6.65. He struck out four batters without a walk.
Dillon Tate pitched the ninth for his second save.
Juan Soto hit his 17th homer of the season for Washington.
Max Scherzer, Washington’s scheduled starter, was scratched Saturday afternoon due to right triceps discomfort. Manager Dave Martinez said Scherzer expects to make his next start.
Jon Lester (3-5) moved up a day and made the start on full rest. He allowed three runs on three hits over five innings. The Nationals have lost three straight.
Trailing 5-1, the Nationals pulled within 5-3 in the eighth. Josh Harrison doubled leading off. Reliever Tanner Scott came on and hit Carter Kieboom and Tres Barerra to load the bases. After Victor Robles was called out on a borderline pitch, Alcides Escobar struck out swinging, but Turner lined a single to left scoring two runs before Soto popped out.
With two outs in the first, Mancini homered to left center on the first pitch to make it 1-0.
Harvey retired the first 10 batters he faced before Trea Turner’s one-out double in the fourth.
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Mountcastle made it 2-0 Baltimore with a solo shot off Lester in the fourth.
The Orioles gave themselves some room with a three-run sixth.
Cedric Mullins led off with a double and Lester was lifted in favor of Austin Voth. Austin Hays greeted Voth with an RBI-double and Mancini singled to put runners on first and third. Mountcastle walked to load the bases with no outs and Pedro Severino’s hard single to left made it 4-0. Soto made a fine catch on Maikel Franco’s drive to right, but Mancini came home with Baltimore’s fifth run.
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With Harvey gone, Washington scored its first run on Soto’s homer to left center in the seventh.
–Field Level Media