Yangervis Solarte provided power from both sides of the plate to help the Toronto Blue Jays end a record stretch of futility against left-handed pitchers.

Solarte hit two home runs Falcons Elite Jerseys , Devon Travis also connected and the 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).

”I was lucky enough that I had good opportunities and we took advantage of it,” Solarte said.

The victory snapped Toronto’s team-worst 11-game losing streak against lefty starting pitchers.

”We’re better than that,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. ”That shouldn’t happen like that.”

Solarte is the ninth player in Blue Jays history to homer from both sides of the plate. The last to do it was Kendrys Morales against Oakland on July 27, 2017. The homers were Solarte’s 13th and 14th of the season, extending his team lead and coming a year after his career high of 18.

It’s the second time Solarte has achieved the feat, having done it also against Arizona on May 27, 2016 while with the San Diego Padres.

”It’s hard but it’s my job,” Solarte said.

Travis hit a two-run home run in the third, his third.

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.

”I had it off the bat but as soon as it goes up, it’s a pretty helpless feeling,” Eaton said.

After the ball dropped for a ground-rule double, Miller came on and surrendered Smoak’s sacrifice fly and Solarte’s two-run blast.

”We had one fly ball that we didn’t see that kind of changed things real quick,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said.

The homer was the first earned run allowed by Miller in nine appearances this season.

”I was trying to throw a fastball away and it just kind of cut on me,” Miller said. ”Hats off to him, he hit a good pitch.”

Aaron Sanchez allowed three runs and six hits in six innings for Toronto.

GREEN LIGHT

The Blue Jays have hit an ML-leading six home runs on 3-0 counts this season. No other team had more than two entering play Friday.

FIRST OF THE SEASON

Washington’s Daniel Murphy singled in the eighth, snapping a 0-for-10 stretch since he returned from right knee surgery Tuesday.

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. ”I knew from the get-go it was bad Bills Elite Jerseys ,” Adams said. He is day to day. Murphy 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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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays continue to win games they perhaps shouldn’t, and they’ll have an opportunity for more of that Saturday against Houston’s Justin Verlander.

The Rays (40-41) hit the midway point of their 2018 season with a 3-2 win over Houston, giving them six wins in their last seven games. Their pitching has led the way — three times in the last four games, they have held their opponent to three hits or less, this after doing so only three times in the first 77 games of this season.

“If we are going to win a lot of game and we are going to string a bunch together, we have to have good pitching,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “The timely hitting is great, but we have to stay in the ballgame. For us to have allowed three runs in 18 innings against arguably the best team in baseball, we should find a way to win one.”

Houston will send Verlander, who has been dominant (9-3, 1.82 ERA) but has gotten surprisingly little run support from a potent Astros lineup.

Houston is just 11-7 in games he starts, and the Astros have scored a total of two runs in five of those losses.

So Saturday could look like Thursday’s 1-0 Astros win, or could look like Friday’s 3-2 loss, which saw two errors factor in Tampa Bay’s scoring.

Verlander faced the Rays just 11 days ago in Houston, again pitching well Panthers Elite Jerseys , allowing one run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings, but ultimately taking a no-decision in a 2-1 loss. He has 136 strikeouts in 113 innings this season and a ridiculous 0.81 WHIP.

Against the Rays for his career, Verlander is 8-3 with a 3.18 ERA, but since 2010, he’s just 4-3, despite a 1.72 ERA in his last five starts against the Rays. At Tropicana Field, he’s 5-2 all-time with a 2.53 ERA, including a 1.20 ERA in his last two outings.

The Rays counter with reliever-turned-starter Ryne Stanek, who has thrived in the “opener” role that Tampa Bay has essentially created in the past six weeks. He’s starting for the second time in three days against the Astros having thrown 1 2/3 innings of scoreless, hitless baseball Thursday night. For the month of June, he’s pitched in 11 games and 14 2/3 innings without allowing a run.

He’s held opponents to just four hits, lowering his season ERA to 1.85, just barely above Verlander’s.

The Astros know they have to be careful with the white ceiling of Tropicana Field — the Rays’ three-run fourth inning got a spark Friday when center fielder Jake Marisnick couldn’t hold onto a pop at the warning track, allowing a run to score.

“When you play here, you try to not take your eye off the ball,” Marisnick said. “With the ceiling, I kind of glanced quickly at the ball, then looked back up and lost track. I wasn’t able to come up with it. That’s a play I need to make 10 out of 10 times.”