Royals hit 4 homers to avoid sweep vs. Nationals

Carter Jensen, John Rave, Lane Thomas and Michael Massey each hit solo home runs to power the visiting Kansas City Royals to a 6-2 win over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

Jensen was 4-for-4 with a double and a walk, and Rave added a triple and scored two runs.

Luinder Avila (2-3) allowed one run on three hits with one walk while striking out five over 5 2/3 innings as the Royals salvaged the finale of the three-game series.

Nasim Nunez had two hits for the Nationals, who were outhit 12-6.

Kansas City went up 1-0 when Jensen tucked a leadoff home run inside the right-field foul pole.

One inning later, the Royals took a 2-0 lead when Rave homered on a first-pitch fastball for his first hit of the season.

With one out in the third, Kansas City launched back-to-back home runs to take a 4-0 lead. Thomas drove a sinker to deep center field and Massey bombed a 430-foot homer to straightaway center.

Keibert Ruiz started the third by lining a single to right. Jose Tena struck out, and Nunez reached on a slow roller to put runners on first and second. Both runners advanced to scoring position on James Wood's groundout, but Luis Garcia Jr. lined out to right to end the threat.

Later, Rave opened the sixth with a triple off the right-field wall. After Nick Loftin grounded out, Rave scored on Isaac Collins' sacrifice bunt to extend the Royals' advantage to 5-0.

With Collins on first, Jensen singled to right. Bobby Witt Jr. followed with an RBI single to center that scored Collins, extending the lead to 6-0.

After Avila walked Curtis Mead with two outs in the sixth, Matt Strahm entered in relief. He surrendered an RBI double to CJ Abrams and a run-scoring single to Dylan Crews as Washington cut its deficit to 6-2.

Nationals starter Zack Littell (6-6) gave up four runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in five innings.

--Field Level Media