Gunnar Henderson helps Orioles knock off Nationals

Gunnar Henderson had four hits, including a home run, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Nationals 7-3 in Washington on Sunday to avoid the three-game sweep.

Henderson had a solo homer, double and two singles, and Coby Mayo and Colton Cowser also homered for Baltimore, which had lost three of four and scored three runs or less in eight of its past nine games.

Anthony Nunez (2-0) worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief for the win.

Jacob Young homered for the Nationals, who were looking for their first home series sweep of the season. James Wood had two hits and a walk.

Henderson, who came in 2-for-20 over his past five games, hit his 10th homer of the season in the first to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.

Samuel Basallo singled leading off the second and Miles Mikolas replaced opener Richard Lovelady one out later. Mayo capped a nine-pitch at-bat against Mikolas with a two-run shot to make it 3-0.

Lovelady (2-2) was charged with two runs on two hits over 1 1/3 innings.

Young homered in the bottom half to pull the Nationals within 3-1.

In the third, Taylor Ward walked, raced to third on a single by Henderson and scored on Pete Alonso's sacrifice fly.

Leody Taveras doubled to start the fourth and Cowser hit his first homer of the season to push the lead to 6-1.

The Nationals loaded the bases on a single and two walks with no outs in the fourth. Daylen Lile scored on a Keibert Ruiz sacrifice fly and Wood singled to load the bases with two outs. Nunez, usually a late-inning reliever, replaced starter Brandon Young and struck out Luis Garcia Jr. to end the inning.

Washington pulled within 6-3 in the seventh. Wood singled and went to third on a two-out single by Brady House. CJ Abrams smacked a grounder that deflected off Alonso's glove at first and rolled across the infield as Wood scored.

Henderson singled home Jeremiah Jackson to make it 7-3 in the ninth.

--Field Level Media