Orioles hit 3 HRs in 1st inning, beat Nationals

Trey Mancini capped a three-homer binge in the first inning against Gio Gonzalez, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals 6-4 on Monday night for their season-high fifth straight victory.

Kevin Gausman (2-3) limited baseball’s most potent offense to two runs over seven innings. He retired the first 10 batters and struck out eight in his longest outing of the year.

Joey Rickard hit a leadoff homer and Mark Trumbo added a solo shot before Mancini connected with a runner on to make it 4-0. That was enough offense for the Orioles, who now hold a 37-24 advantage over their neighboring rivals in the so-called “Beltway Series,” which began in 2006.

Caleb Joseph had a career high-tying four hits for the Orioles. Baltimore (21-10) owns the second-best record in the majors behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.

Bryce Harper homered and drove in two runs for the Nationals, who lead the majors in runs, hits and batting average.

After the Orioles let a six-run cushion shrink to three, Brad Brach worked the ninth for his eighth save. After Brach gave up a one-out RBI double to former Oriole Matt Wieters, pinch-runner Trea Turner strayed too far from second base on a groundout to first and the game ended with a rundown in which Adam Lind was tagged out between third and home.

Cardinals ace Carlos Martinez drove in four runs, compensating for the two homers he gave up to Marcell Ozuna and leading St. Louis over the Miami Marlins for their season-best fourth straight win.

Neil Walker hit a game-ending single with two outs in the ninth inning, and the New York Mets put turmoil aside to beat the reeling San Francisco Giants.

Nate Karns struck out 10 while pitching into the seventh inning, Eric Hosmer had three hits and Kansas City busted out of an offensive slump to beat Tampa Bay.